The Eskimos may have set a North American record with a 50/50 jackpot, presented by belairdirect, of $435,919.50 on Friday night thanks to a season-high turnout of 36,260 fans at Commonwealth Stadium.
But the only record the team really cared about was 3-0.
Backed by another strong defensive effort, offensive production when needed and a couple of big plays on special teams, the Eskimos emerged as the CFL’s only undefeated team from a hard-fought 23-21 victory over the defending Grey Cup champion Ottawa Redblacks at The Brick Field.
“The games are going to be tight,” said Esks head coach Jason Maas. “We realize that, but we’ve been fortunate the first three (games) of the year. We’ve come out on the right end of them and you get confidence from that.
“We have a tough task at hand going into Hamilton next on a short week, but it feels good being 3-0 doing that.”
Edmonton will be trying to open a season with four straight wins for the first time since 2014 when they visit the Tiger-Cats on Thursday.
Friday’s win marked Maas’s first as the Eskimos head coach against the Redblacks, who won all three games against their former offensive co-ordinator last season, including the East Division final.
“I said going in it meant something more,” Maas said. “I’m not going to lie. I’m an emotional person. When you’ve got stuff vested in this and someone took your heart out last year, yeah, this is just the beginning of that though.
“We’re glad to come out on the winning end.”
It didn’t look good early as Ottawa jumped out to a 9-0 lead early in the second quarter. The Eskimos used a successful third-and-two gamble at the RedBlacks’ 48-yard-line to get on the scoreboard as kicker Sean Whyte eventually booted his career-high 25th consecutive field goal.
“I think our offence needed that; I think our team needed that to show that we’re aggressive at the right time,” Maas said. “To come up with a play there, I think it set the tone for the better part of the game after that.”
On the Redblacks’ next play, Eskimos defensive halfback Brandyn Thompson scooped up a loose ball on a dropped lateral pass and ran 31 yards for his first CFL TD. Whyte’s convert gave Edmonton its first lead of the game, 10-9.
“We want to be known as a defence that plays fast and swarms to the ball and those type of plays are a direct result of doing that,” said Thompson, a fourth-year veteran who spent his first two CFL seasons with the RedBlacks.
Quarterback Mike Reilly finished off the first half with an impressive seven-play, 85-yard drive, completing all six passes to four different receivers, including Vidal Hazelton for a 42-yard gain and Adarius Bowman for the four-yard touchdown and a 17-9 halftime lead.
“We certainly didn’t play our best football,” Reilly said. “But this early in the year, as long as you’re playing good enough football to win, you’ll take it. But … we’ve got a lot of stuff we need to improve on.”
Reilly marched the Eskimos into Ottawa territory to open the third quarter, but the wind helped Whyte’s 47-yard field goal attempt drift wide to the right to end his club and personal record at 25 in a row. He had made 18 straight kicks last year after missing a 52-yarder against Calgary on Sept. 10 and seven more this season.
“I didn’t even know I had a streak until the end of last game,” said Whyte, who broke Sean Fleming’s club record of 22 consecutive field goals in 2001 in the Eskimos’ home opener on June 30.
“Now it’s time to start a new record,” said Whyte, who is already up to two after making field goals of 10 and 36 yards in the second half for an 11-point night.
Running back Travon Van, who was making his first start in place of the injured John White, joined White as the only CFL players to rush for 100 yards this season when he totalled 103 yards on 18 carries. Included were a couple of impressive runs in the fourth quarter as the Eskimos attempted to run out the clock for the second game in a row.
Van said he was more relaxed this game after getting a full week of practice with the starting unit and thought he did a good job of helping the offensive line protect Reilly from the Ottawa defenders.
“The one thing with Travon you’re going to see is he’s just going to get better as he goes around,” Maas said. “He’s very capable. I see it every day in practice.”
Ottawa scored two touchdowns in the second half to force the game to come down to the wire in the final minute, but failed to score a two-point convert after each major, leaving the Redblacks two points short and trying a desperation onside kickoff with 27 seconds left. But Hazelton, who was replacing Bowman on the play, batted the ball out-of-bounds to clinch the Edmonton victory.
“That was probably the biggest play because if they would have got the ball back, they could have gone down and scored,” said Hazelton, who had previously knocked an onside kickoff off the field when he was with the Toronto Argonauts. “I knew they were coming fast to hit me, so I just got my hands on (the ball) and slapped it out out-of-bounds as hard as I could.”