Eskimos, Bombers battle to tie
Kickers both miss field goals that could have won it in overtime
Coming off a 7-11 season, the Edmonton Eskimos were probably a little happier with the turn of events in Commonwealth Stadium on Thursday night.
Sean Fleming and Troy Westwood both missed field goals in overtime, leaving the Eskimos and Winnipeg Blue Bombers with a 39-39 tie to open their Canadian Football League seasons.
"It was a wild night," said Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray. "This one will go down in the memory books. It was such an up and down game, it feels like you have to score on every possession. You start to think about the little things that could have made the difference after one like this."
Fleming missed left from 50 yards on the second of two Edmonton possessions in the extra frame, matching Westwood's own flub to the right from 43 yards out a few minutes before.
Both teams had picked up touchdowns on their first overtime drives from the 35-yard line.
Ray put the Eskimos up 32-25 late in the fourth by scrambling for a first down, throwing for another and then, facing second and goal from the four, finding former Bomber Kamau Peterson heading to an open spot on the left side for the touchdown.
With the convert, the lead was seven.
Winnipeg came right back, using a controlled offence and a well-timed circus catch by Terrence Edwards to put them deep into Edmonton territory with about 30 seconds to go.
That was when Kevin Glenn found Milt Stegall in the end zone for a reaching, circus catch that gave him 137 touchdowns on his career, tying him with George Reed and Mike Pringle for the most in CFL history.
"Tying the record with a tie, it's like the cup is just half full," Stegall said. "It was still a good feeling but it would have been better with the victory. At least it was a meaningful touchdown, allowing us to go to overtime. That made it a little bit better."
4 TDs for Roberts
Overtime opened with a nice drive by the Eskimos, capped when Ray hit Jason Tucker on a crossing route for 16 yards that may, or may not, have broken the plane of the goal line. The officials signalled touchdown, however, putting Edmonton up seven with the convert.
Winnipeg came back, staying alive with a third-down pass to Charles Roberts to keep their hopes alive, and then the running back took it into the endzoneon the ground to tie it up again.
The first half featured three majors for the Bombers by land and three for the Eskimos by air.
Roberts contributed his trio with a 56-yard piece of artistry followed by two one-yard plunges.
Ray decided the overland route wasn't for him as he offered up a 17-yard pass toPeterson for one touchdown, five yards to Jason Tucker for another and 63 yards to Trevor Gaylor for a third.
That opening 30 minutes offered the best of wide-open CFL football.
In the second half, both teams decided the best way to settle this was by attempting to kick the stuffing out of each other. Both offences were forced into finding yards wherever they could.
Heading for the late stages of the fourth, the game was tied at 25-25.