Eskimos trim Tiger-Cats
Quarterback Ricky Ray threw two touchdowns and a late Hamilton rally fell short, allowing the Edmonton Eskimos to squeak by with a 19-17 home victory on Saturday night.
Ray found theend zone on passes toAndrew Nowacki and Kamau Peterson before the Eskimos offence sputtered late at Commonwealth Stadium. Ray leads the CFL with 14 touchdown passes.
Edmonton (3-3-1) will play inSaskatchewan next Saturday against the West division leaders (CBC, 9:30 p.m ET).
"We got a little help this week with a couple of Western teams losing, so it was a big win for us," Ray told CBC Sports after the game.
"We got a tough game next week against Saskatchewan, hopefully we can finish them off, too."
The Roughriders hammered Edmonton 54-14 on July 28.
Hamilton running back Jesse Lumsden, who ran roughshod over Winnipeg last weekfor221 yards, wasnot a big factoragainst the Eskimos untilthe game's final quarter.
The league's leading rusher finished with 38 yards on eight carries and a touchdown. He did his most damage as a receiver out of the backfield, catching a pair of Jason Maas passes for 62 total yards.
Maas attempted twice on Hamilton's final drive to hook up with receiver Chris Bauman, but both plays fizzled. First, Bauman dropped an underthrown but catchable pass, while the final try appeared to be defensive pass interference, but was not called.
Maas finished 22-of-41 passing for 263 yards and a touchdown to Jason French.
With the score 4-1 late in the second, the offences finally got on track.
Maas, whohad been sacked four times already in the game, gained 20 yards on a scramble and found Lumsden on a screen passfor 26 yards.
The plays set up the first touchdown of the game, French's eight-yard score.
Ray replied on Edmonton's next drive, finding five different receivers en route to the end zone.
Nowacki's nine-yard reception was his first touchdown of the season, with the score 11-8 Eskimos at the break.
Peterson was the beneficiary midway through the third, taking Ray's pass for a seven-yard score.Edmonton back Ron McLendon and receiver Fred Stamps each caught a pair of passes on the drive to set up the touchdown.
With theEskimos leading19-8, Lumsden flashed his breakaway speed early in the fourth for a 36-yard pass reception, with Stanford Samuels preventing a touchdown by getting enough of the big running back's shoe.
Lumsden hurt his shoulder on the play, but came back in to take the one-yard scoring plunge. Hamilton failed on a two-point convert, keeping the score 19-14.
The Ticats picked up plenty of yards on subsequent drives while Edmonton stalled, but could not reach the end zone to complete the comeback. Nick Setta's 27-yard field goal with just over two minutes leftended the scoring.
Hamilton (1-6) will get a break before returning on Aug. 25 in Montreal.
Edmontonlinebacker A.J. Gass was in the lineup due to an appeal of his one-game suspension for throwing a helmet. Gass made three tackles on the night.