The Edmonton Eskimos only had one good quarter in Saturday's rematch against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. It was all they needed.
Maurice Mann and Andrew Nowacki reeled in touchdown passes from Ricky Ray as the Edmonton Eskimos put 31 points on the board in the second quarter in a 36-22 victory over the Bombers.
Down 14-2 after the first, the Eskimos successfully went to their bag of tricks early in the second quarter as kicker Noel Prefontaine faked a punt and instead passed to Calvin McCarty for 19 yards. That soon led to a 19-yard TD pass from QB Ray to Mann to cut Winnipeg's lead to 14-9 and triggered an Edmonton offensive explosion for the remainder of the quarter.
"It all came off that third and five fake," said Eskimos head coach Danny Maciocia. "You sort of felt the momentum shift right then. That's a play we've been working on for the last couple months."
Ray was pretty impressed with what the Eskimos were able to accomplish in the quarter, especially considering the 31 points put up in the second was more than Edmonton had scored in its last two games combined: a 40-4 loss in Montreal and a 30-23 defeat in the first game of the home-and-home series with the Bombers.
"After the last two games it was nice to put up some points like that," he said. "To give our defence some breathing room and let them go out there and play their game with a lead and some confidence. It's getting to that point in the season where every win seems to count so much. We need to keep pace with the other teams."
The Eskimos snapped a two-game losing skid to improve to 8-6 on the season and to remain two points back of the three-way tie for the West Division lead.
"Four weeks ago people were saying we were the best team in the CFL," Maciocia said. "Last week they had us playing in Winnipeg in the Eastern semifinal. Tomorrow, I don't know what they'll say. But we have four teams separated by two points and we're going to find out in the next little while what kind of football team we have. But one thing I do know is that we have this on the right track."
Winnipeg (5-9) had a three-game winning streak snapped and sits eight points back of first-place Montreal in the East.
"We can't have a letdown like that," said Bombers running back Fred Reid of the second quarter collapse. "We had them going in the first quarter and then we let them right back into it. We have to play all four quarters. You can't take a quarter off because every time we do that teams seem to get right back into the game."
Winnipeg got off to a solid start in the game, scoring on its first possession. Reid did the majority of the damage on the drive, taking the Bombers into scoring position with a 36-yard run and then the additional two yards into the end zone a couple plays later for a 7-0 lead four-and-a-half minutes in.
Edmonton came back with a single before the Blue Bombers padded their lead with a massive passing play. Quarterback Kevin Glenn went deep to Romby Bryant and he outran defender Jason Goss to reel it in and blaze to a 75-yard touchdown with five minutes to play in the first. Edmonton once again responded with a Prefontaine punt single to make for a 14-2 Winnipeg lead after the opening frame.
After the fake punt play that got Edmonton rolling, another big play just over a minute later would give Edmonton its first lead of the game as Tristan "Action" Jackson found a seam on a punt return and blazed 67 yards up the sidelines for his third return TD of the season and a 16-14 Edmonton lead.
Edmonton conceded a safety to tie the game but soon had the lead back following a big defensive play as Jim Davis hit Glenn during his delivery and Lenny Williams was able to pick off the wobbling pass. That quickly led to a 12-yard passing major deep in the end zone to Nowacki.
And the Eskimos were able to add a fourth touchdown in the second quarter with just under two minutes left as a 27-yard interception return by Jonte Buhl eventually led to a four-yard ramble across the goal-line by Calvin McCarty. Prefontaine hit a 48-yard field goal with 13 seconds left as Edmonton scored 31 points in the second to lead 33-16 at the half.
Edmonton had another field goal to start the third, the only scoring in the quarter.
Alexis Serna replied with a three-pointer of his own to launch the fourth and added a single on a missed field goal attempt just past the mid-mark and the Eskimos conceded a late safety but that was it for scoring in the fourth as the game finished off with a whimper.
Both teams are back in action next Friday as Winnipeg plays host to the Toronto Argos and the Eskimos travel to Vancouver to face the B.C. Lions.
Notes: Worries about the Blue Bombers seeking retribution in the contest following the theatrics late in last week's 30-23 Winnipeg win were for the most part unrealized. The CFL handed out five fines after that game, most notably to Eskimos' linebacker Agustin Barrenechea for an illegal helmet-to-helmet hit on QB Kevin Glenn with less than two minutes to play. The biggest infraction came late in the game on a major foul to Edmonton's Kenny Onatolu There was a long delay early in the third quarter as Eskimos defensive back J.R. LaRose was attended to. LaRose left the game in an ambulance with a broken tibia and a possibly broken fibula Bombers defensive back Jovon Johnson returned to play for the Bombers after missing last week's game following the shooting death of his younger brother in Erie, Pa.
