 Edmonton Eskimos' QB Ricky Ray makes a pass against the Saskatchewan Roughriders during the first half of CFL football action at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium on Friday. (CP Photo) |
EDMONTON (CP) - Both teams rested many of their regulars Friday in the Edmonton Eskimos' 20-18 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, but they did so for very different reasons.
The Roughriders, who sat a quarter of their usual starters, were looking ahead to next Sunday's playoff match against Calgary.
Meanwhile, the Eskimos were looking all the way to next season, giving some of their second-stringers a chance to impress.
It was essentially an exhibition match as fans in Edmonton continued to come to grips with the fact that the defending Grey Cup champions won't be making a playoff appearance for the first time in 35 years.
Edmonton head coach Danny Maciocia was glad to see the way his team fought to win their last two games of the season with not much left to play for than pride.
"This is my tenth year as a coach and I've been to four Grey Cups and I'm as proud of these guys as I am of those four teams that went," Maciocia said. "I'd like to go back in history and find out how many teams that were in our situation would have packed it in a month ago."
Ron McClendon and Jason Tucker each scored touchdowns to help the Eskimos (7-11) win back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Despite missing out on the CFL post-season, the Eskimos actually ended up with the best record against Western teams. The Riders (9-9), meanwhile, haven't won a game in Edmonton since 2000.
"This really is so messed up. We finish 6-4 against Western teams and here we are, not playing next week. Now we have to watch six other teams battle for something you had in your possession."
Even though they didn't bring their complete 'A' team to Edmonton, Riders starting quarterback Marcus Crandell says the team still wanted the win.
"It meant a lot to us because we wanted to finish the season strong going into the playoffs," he said. "We really wanted to come here and get a win. We're not happy that we lost. We were happy we had a chance to win at the end but we also had some missed opportunities. Those are the kind of things we can't do next week. We do that and we'll be going home."
The Eskimos struck first blood as Ed Hervey was ruled to have caught a long 46-yard pass from Ricky Ray after a wrestling match for the ball with Rider James Johnson late in the first quarter.
Saskatchewan head coach Danny Barrett tried to challenge the play, but was told it was not reviewable. He tried again and was assessed a delay of game penalty, taking the ball down to the Roughrider four-yard line.
Ron McClendon was able to punch it in for a 7-0 Eskimos lead. Then, Sean Fleming added a single on a long punt into the end zone.
The Riders were able to cut the lead to one late in the second quarter when Dominique Dorsey ran a punt 49 yards to the Eskimos three, leading to a short TD run by quarterback Marcus Crandell.
Penned in deep at the end of the second quarter, Rider kicker Luca Congi conceded a safety with 12 seconds remaining. Edmonton quickly got back into scoring position as Fleming nailed a 47-yard field goal with no time remaining to put the Eskimos ahead 13-7 at the half.
The Eskimos picked up right where they left off on their first drive of the third quarter as they marched downfield and Ray found Jason Tucker on a 29-yard touchdown pass.
There were a couple of milestones on the play as Ray hit the 5,000 yard passing mark for the season and Tucker moved into a tie with Waddell Smith for third in TD receptions in Eskimos history.
Ray was happy that the team left him in to start the second half so he would have a shot at the milestone.
"I'm glad Danny left me in there for that series in the second half to be able to get that," he said. "It's just another little thing to try and take into the off-season as a positive note."
The Riders responded with a 40-yard Congi field goal to close out the scoring in the third. The Saskatchewan kicker added a 42-yarder to start the fourth to pull his team to within seven, 20-13.
With just over five minutes left Fleming conceded a safety and Congi was able to nail another field goal to narrow the score to 20-18, giving the Riders a chance to complete the comeback as they marched into scoring range with just nine seconds to go.
But Congi was short on his 49-yard field goal attempt and the Eskimos held on for the win.
With their semi-final march against the Stampeders looming, the Riders say they will be ready.
"The guys that were sitting at home will be well rested," said Crandell. "I think we're going to be coming at Calgary with a great attitude. We're going to be ready."
"I think the biggest thing we have to work on right now is ball security," said Barrett. "That more than anything else. You can't afford to turn the ball over against anybody and especially on the
road. If we take care of that we should be OK."
Notes: The game marked the official end of an era as it was Hugh Campbell's final outing as Eskimos CEO. Campbell, who will remain part of the organization as a consultant, announced he was
stepping down from the top spot at the Eskimos' Annual Dinner earlier this week. Campbell won 10 Grey Cups over the course of his career, including one as a player, ... Eskimo Signor Mobley
passed the 600 career CFL tackles mark in the second quarter. ... The Riders have clinched a spot in the post-season for the fifth straight year. ... By missing the playoffs the Eskimos incredible streak of 34 straight playoff appearances came to an end. It was the longest post-season streak in North American professional sports, followed by a 29-year-in-a-row run by the Boston Bruins from 1967-95 and the Chicago Blackhawks' 28-year run from 1969-96. The longest current consecutive playoff streak now belongs to the Detroit Red Wings at 14 years in a row followed by the New York Yankees at 12 and the Montreal Allouettes at 11.
