Eskimos win a fitting finale to a great season

Article by Duncan Gray

Winnipeg greeted the 103rd Grey Cup with decent weather and, after a rush of fans from Ottawa arrived, it saw a sold out Investors Group Field on Sunday night. The teams responded with a thrilling game that went down to the wire

 

 

Ottawa Redblacks 20 -26 Edmonton Eskimos

 

Ottawa started the game on fire. Henry Burris led his team down the field on the opening possession and finished it with a Patrick Lavoie touchdown pass. The Eskimos Kendial Lawrence then fumbled away the kick off return and Burris threw a second TD, this time for seven yards to Ernest Jackson. The extra point was missed but the Redblacks were 13-0 ahead before the Edmonton offence had got onto the field.
The Eskimos' fight back wasn't long in coming and they pulled back 10 points before the end of the quarter. A Sean Whyte field goal was followed by Burris being intercepted and Mike Reilly connecting with Adarius Bowman for a  23 yard TD. Before half time Reilly threw a second touchdown, this one to Akeem Shavers, and Edmonton had a one point lead.

 

There was a long half time break while the crowd was entertained by the band Fall Out Boy. This gave the coaches plenty time to make adjustments and the second half was very different to the first as the defences took charge. The Redblacks had edged back in front through a Chris Milo field goal but with the three minute warning getting close it was Edmonton who got the breakthrough. The field position they needed came from 65 yards made on back to back defensive pass interference calls. The second one only came after Head Coach Chris Jones was persuaded to throw a challenge flag when he didn't seem to want to. The call gave the Eskimos  first and goal on the Ottawa ten. Three plays later back-up quarterback Jordan Lynch made a one yard dive on third down to clinch the go ahead score.

From there, the Eskimos defence, which held Ottawa to scoring only seven points after the first quarter, saw out the game. QB Mike Reilly, who had survived a constant battering from the Redblacks pass rush, finished with 21 of 35 for 269 yards and two touchdowns. He was named the game's MVP.

 

Game Highlights

 

 

So the Eskimos had their long awaited Grey Cup victory and their city is rightly celebrating. Almost as soon as the game was over head coach Chris Jones had his name added to the list of names rumoured to be signing targets for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. It doesn't look like he's planning to leave though.

The Redblacks  can be proud of what they achieved in only their second year. With an exciting style and fanatical sell-out crowds they've been a great addition to the league.