July 21, 2017

Eskimos improve to 4-0 with another narrow victory

Close only counts in horse shoes, hand grenades and, apparently, Eskimos football games.

The Eskimos won their fourth consecutive nail-biter on Thursday, this time rallying from a 28-23 deficit when wide receiver Vidal Hazelton scored a 15-yard pass-and-run touchdown with 23 seconds left in the game at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton.

Hazelton’s second TD of the season gave the Eskimos their only lead of the game, but it was the only lead they needed to preserve their perfect 4-0 record with a 31-28 victory over the winless Hamilton Tiger-Cats (0-4).

“That was a tough one to grind out and I’m glad we did,” said Hazelton, a newcomer to the Esks lineup this season who finished four catches for 67 yards.

Edmonton, which finally scored a touchdown in the first quarter after getting blanked during the first 15 minutes of the last two contests, has won each of its games by four points or less, scoring only 12 more points than it has surrendered all year.

“If we keep finishing the way we do and start a lot better, it’ll be a better outcome for us,” said Eskimos head coach Jason Maas. “But the outcome is 4-0 and you don’t get style points for winning by 10 or 20.

“It was a gutty win for us and a lot of guys had to play,” added Maas, who lost three more players (weakside linebacker Blair Smith, defensive back Brandyn Thompson and kick-returner Kendial Lawrence) to injuries in the game. “I think our whole locker room had to play and step up.”

It’s the first time the Eskimos have opened a CFL season with four consecutive wins since 2014. Their next game is against the B.C. Lions on The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium on July 28.

Hazelton started the game-winning drive that took only 47 seconds and five plays to move 75 yards with a 30-yard catch-and-run effort to the Hamilton 45. A couple of carries by running back Travon Van moved the yardsticks, then second-year slotback Brandon Zylstra caught a 20-yard pass over the middle to move the ball to the Ticats 15. Overall, Zylstra had eight catches for 113 yards, his third 100-yard outing in four games.

“At the end of the day, our guys always have that belief, probably because we’ve been in this situation before, but there was no doubt in anybody’s mind we were going to go down there and score at the end,” said quarterback Mike Reilly, who has led three game-winning drives in the fourth quarter this season and 17 in his career.

Reilly (27 of 37 passing for 350 yards and three TDs) took several big hits during the physical game, but said he received good protection from the offensive line during that lightning-quick final series and pointed out that the Eskimos were confident enough to have Van run the ball twice, including once on short yardage (second-and-two).

“We’ve just got to make sure we figure out how we can play with that confidence and that intensity throughout the entire game,” he said.

Tiger-Cats defensive back Justin Rogers appeared to try for the interception on the game-winning pass to Hazelton, but the former Toronto Argonauts receiver pulled in the ball and turned for the end zone with the help of a block by his roommate, rookie wide receiver Duke Williams. Then he had to wait out a video review after the Ticats challenged the legality of the Williams’ block.

“I caught it and I felt the DB (defensive back) on my back and I just told myself that I’m not going down, I’ve got to score,” said Hazelton, who asked Reilly to “trust” him before the final series.

Rookie Bryant Mitchell (five catches for 76 yards), who was playing in place of injured all-star slotback Adarius Bowman (hamstring), scored his first CFL touchdown on a 29-yard pass-and-run play late in the first quarter while Van (16 carries for 57 yards) had a two-yard run for his second major of the year with one minute left in the first half to pull the Esks within 15-13.

After Hamilton scored a TD on a blocked Sean Whyte punt and added a field goal to go up 25-13 in the third quarter, Edmonton started yet another comeback with a 34-yard major by 33-year-old national slotback Cory Watson, who caught a short pass and ran the final 29 yards for the score 39 seconds into the final quarter.

Whyte, who also had his first convert attempt blocked in the game, kicked two converts and a 40-yard field goal (actually twice, because the first one was nullified when Maas threw the challenge flag for the previous play).

Mitchell completed the scoring with a three-yard pass-and-run play for a two-point convert after Hazelton’s TD to give the Eskimos a three-point lead.

Outside linebacker Kenny Ladler, who had a game-high eight defensive tackles, sealed the win with an interception (his second of the season) on Hamilton’s first play after Edmonton’s final kickoff. Josh Woodman, a 2016 draft pick, also had his first CFL ‘pick’ during the fourth quarter.

Christophe Mulumba-Tshimanga, a 2017 draftee, stepped into the lineup when Smith, who was making his first CFL start on defence, became the Eskimos’ third weakside linebacker (WIL) to be injured this season.