June 15, 2018

Late-game heroics nothing new for Reilly, Eskimos

Photo: Johany Jutras

Nate Behar caught the first three passes of his CFL career, including a game-tying two-point convert with 82 seconds left on the clock, as the Eskimos rallied for a wild 33-30 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday night.

Kicker Sean Whyte then booted a 44-yard field goal with 13 seconds remaining for the winning points at Winnipeg’s Investors Group Field.

“It seems like when the game is on the line, he always comes up big,” Eskimos Head Coach Jason Maas said about Whyte, who also made field goals of 52 and 32 yards, on the 630 CHED post-game show.

Meanwhile, Behar shone in his first chance to play with the offence after veteran wide receiver Vidal Hazelton was injured late in the game. The Eskimos first-round draft pick in 2017 – a 23-year-old who played only on special teams in 12 games last season – caught passes of 23 and three yards in the fourth quarter before hauling in a rainbow pass from quarterback Mike Reilly for the two-point convert at the back of the end zone.

“I’m elated; it feels great to finally show up and do something to help the team win,” Behar said. “I’ve been getting to watch this offence perform, and now it just feels great to be a part of it.”

“Amazing catch in a huge moment for a guy who was playing out of position,” said Reilly, who completed 32 of 46 passes for 408 yards and a touchdown while also diving into the end zone for a pair of one-yard TDs. “Vidal (Hazelton) had gone down. That’s a play we had been working on as a two-point play and Vidal had been running it all week.

“For (Behar) to come in, know the motion, get through it and get to the right spot, that in and of itself was impressive based on him being out of position, but then to come down with the catch, to have the focus and determination and drive to pull that ball in knowing what was on the line,” Reilly added. “If he doesn’t catch the ball, the game is potentially over. That really was the game on the line, and he came up big for us.”

The inexperienced Behar tried to reassure Reilly on the sideline before that drive.

“I told Mike, ‘Hey, I know you’re not used to me being here, but I promise you I’ll be where you need me to be at the right time,’” he said. “So, when that ball was in the air, there was no chance I was doing anything but trying to catch that with all my might.

“It was a bit of a throw-back,” he added. “I haven’t had a ball thrown up to me like that since college. I kind of felt like I was back in that red-and-black at Carleton (University) and just went up for it. I’ve made that catch a couple of times in the past, so I felt pretty good about it.”

The late-game heroics are nothing new for the Eskimos. Reilly led the Green and Gold to six game-winning drives in the fourth quarter last season.

Mike Reilly (13) of the Edmonton Eskimos during the game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg, MB on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo: Johany Jutras / CFL)

“As long as Mike Reilly is back there throwing it, everyone believes that anything can happen and it showed it again tonight,” Maas said. “We weren’t at our best all night, but when it mattered the most we were, and that’s a great sign of a (good) football team.

“You’re going to face adversity throughout an 18-game football season plus some, and you need to find ways to win games, and we found a way to win tonight, which was awesome.”

The Eskimos not only had to deal with the Bombers on their home field in the earliest CFL season opener in history, but they also had to contend with weather delays of 84 and 94 minutes because of nearby lightning storms. The breaks were separated by 22 minutes of playing time late in the first half. As it turns out, the total elapsed time of five hours and 40 minutes was also a record for a CFL game.

“That was one of the wildest games I’ve been a part of just (because of) all the non-football stuff,” Reilly said. “Having to come in, go back out, come in, go back out. Once we finally got back out, the field reminded me of Guelph in 2013 (for a Hamilton Tiger-Cats home game). There were puddles everywhere. I’m getting tackled into puddles. (Offensive lineman) David Beard had a towel down his pants to keep it dry and kept pulling it out so I could dry my hands off.

“Give credit to both teams because, honestly, with those scenarios that were playing out, both teams could have come out and really been like, ‘Man, I’m over this. I just want to get done with it.’ That clearly wasn’t the case. Both teams were battling to the end. It was a barn-burner and a classic, for sure, so a great way to start the season.”

The Eskimos started the game in complete control, dominating the time of possession in the first half and leading 17-7 the first time the game was stopped. They appeared to be on the verge of extending a 19-14 lead after the second stoppage when Whyte attempted a 45-yard field goal that turned the game upside-down on the last play of the first half.

When Whyte missed wide right, Winnipeg kick-returner Kevin Fogg returned the ball 110 yards for a touchdown to give the Bombers their first lead of the game – 20-19 – and new life.

After a three-minute rest for “halftime,” Winnipeg rookie quarterback Chris Streveler threw his third touchdown pass of the game – this time to his former college roommate Drew Wolitarsky – for a 27-19 advantage.

The Eskimos couldn’t put back-to-back first downs together but closed within 27-22 on Whyte’s 32-yard field goal on the last play of the third quarter after slotback Duke Williams hauled in a 46-yard bomb from Reilly at the Winnipeg 31-yard line.

Reilly said it was difficult for the players to be in a game that dragged on for so long and had such lengthy breaks.

“We prepare our bodies to play for four hours,” he explained. “We come in two or three hours before the game and go through a big routine to get warmed up. And we do a warm-up in anticipation of playing for three or four hours.

“When it carries over for multiple hours past that, and you’ve come in, cooled down, and now you go back out to play, and instead of having two hours to warm up, you have 10 minutes, that’s challenging, for sure.

“That certainly affected us the first time we came out after the break and even the second one we were a little slow to get going and Winnipeg was getting after us a little bit,” he continued. “Then we snapped out of it and got our own thing going, and it was some pretty good football after that.”

Maas also expressed concern about how long the teams played while the lightning was flashing all around the stadium.

“We all made it through, and I think we’re all thankful for that and, obviously, nothing happened with the lightning, which is awesome,” Maas said. “(The CFL) needs to really think about it, though, because I don’t know how good it is to be playing football at 1:30 in the morning with these guys who have been at the stadium since 4. It started and stopped twice. … I hope they put in place a protocol that looks at this.”

The lightning show may have been spectacular, but Behar was more impressed with the energy Reilly was dispensing on the field.

“It’s incredible to get to play next to that guy, to play next to 13,” Behar said. “He’s running the rock, and he’s taking hits, he’s bouncing right back up. You can feel the fire. You can honestly feel the energy that comes off him. Whether it’s a sneak, whether it’s a designed quarterback run, while he’s standing in there, scrambling, making something happen.

“We all feed off that energy. It just calms you because you know at the end of the day, as long as you get to the right spot and you play to the same sort of level as he does if we get half of that we’re going to be all right.”

Wide receiver Derel Walker also had a huge game for the Eskimos, catching eight passes for 176 yards, including an 101-yard pass-and-run touchdown on Edmonton’s second possession only 3:04 into the game.

Rookie cornerback Maurice McKnight – one of three newcomers starting in the secondary on Thursday – led the Eskimos with six defensive tackles. Middle linebacker J.C. Sherritt had three tackles, an interception and a knockdown while weak-side linebacker Adam Konar and defensive tackle Mike Moore had quarterback sacks. Safety Neil King also had an interception.

The Eskimos are back in action against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at 8 p.m. Friday at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.