Deon Lacey hauled in a late-game interception, helping the Eskimos beat the BC Lions 27-23 in a hard-fought game Friday night at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
Lacey’s pick with 3:18 left accented a fabulous defensive effort by the Eskimos, which stiffened up after giving up a pair of early Lions touchdowns.
“Lacey, how much he’s matured as a player is dramatic,” said linebacker J.C. Sherritt. “It’s not going to be long before he’s the best defensive player and it’s not even going to be close. It was a huge play by him and by the defence.
“Once again, we made it close when it didn’t need to be. We have to start getting harder on ourselves to make sure we put people away.”
Running back Shakir Bell proved to be the offensive workhorse, gaining 108 yards on 23 carries and helping grind down the clock in the late drive that resulted in a 32-yard field goal by Sean Whyte.
“Hats off to the offensive line, coaches and everybody on offence,” said Bell. “We did the little things we needed to do to get the win. B.C.’s a great team and their record shows it. We just have to do a lot of little things different and hopefully we’ll come out with more results like this. That was a great defence we were up against. Just because 33’s in the end zone doesn’t mean that nobody else had a part in it.”
B.C. tried a desperate Hail Mary pass on the last play of the game, but that ball was intercepted by Brandyn Thompson.
Quarterback Mike Reilly passed for 300 yards, completing 77% of his passes, in guiding the team to a balanced attack.
Edmonton’s home field win improved the team’s record to 6-7, moving them to within four points of the Lions and Winnipeg Blue Bombers and in a position where they’re very much alive in the torrid CFL West playoff race.
“That was an intense football game,” said Reilly. “The guys knew it and they turned it on. We were better in the red zone today but we still need to improve. The running game started working for us and we punched it in. There was a bunch of stuff that happened to spark us.
“It was a hard-fought battle that came to the last play. It was nice to be on the winning side of it. We wanted to wipe the slate clean and consider it a six-game season. We want to take care of business to get into the post-season and give ourselves a chance.”
B.C. jumped out to a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter as Emmanuel Arcenaux hauled in touchdown passes from 26 and 68 yards.
Reilly then engineered a couple of drives to even up the score, plunging in from one yard out, then handing off to Bell, who took the ball in from three yards out.
A 75-yard punt single by Richie Leone gave the Lions a 15-14 half-time lead.
On the opening drive of the second half, Bowman finished off a 77-yard drive with a 22-yard catch to give Edmonton its first lead of the game at 21-15.
But the Lions bounced back to take a 23-21 lead after Edmonton conceded a safety and Richie Leone hit field goals from 42 and 18 yards.
Whyte put the Eskimos up 24-23 with a 19-yard field goal before Lacey’s late-game heroics.
“We sure made up for it starting in the second quarter and in the second half.” said Eskimos head coach Jason Maas. “I couldn’t have been more proud of our locker room to hang in there. Three tough losses and here we get jumped on early … a 14-0 deficit. No one’s complaining or worried. You could see the fight and the want in their faces. When things started going our way, you could see they wanted it more than anything.”
Edmonton travels to Winnipeg Friday to take on the Blue Bombers.