Ray leads Eskimos past Winnipeg in CFL semifinal

Edmonton's defence turned Thunder and Lightning into a distant rumble and a 25-watt light bulb for most of Saturday afternoon in Winnipeg.

Controlling the Blue Bombers' one-two running attack of Joe (Thunder) Smith and Fred (Lightning) Reid, the visitors beat the hosts 29-21 to become the first Western Conference CFL team to win a crossover semifinal game in five tries.

"Our defence did an awesome job," Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray said. "They kept them from running the football, kept them from really getting any momentum.

"They gave us opportunities offensively that when we did have the wind, we had some."

The Eskimos earned that chance by having a better record, as the fourth-best team in the West, than Toronto had as third in the East.

Two short running touchdowns by A.J. Harris and a key Fred Perry interception return for another major gave Edmonton everything it needed on a cold, windy day in southern Manitoba.

The Eskimos will move on to face the Montreal Alouettes next weekend in the East final, with the winner hanging around in the same city for the Grey Cup game.

Trailing by two TDs in the fourth and getting the wind for the first time since the opening 15 minutes, Winnipeg was only able to come up with two Alexis Serna field goals and that wasn't enough.

Reid ran the ball 14 times for 80 yards, but 36 of those came on one play, while Smith ran just five times from scrimmage for 39 yards, 21 on one play.

Ray in control

It was Ray's calm and careful third quarter that decided things.

That 15 minutes was pretty much a nightmare for the Bombers, and much was self-inflicted as the offence couldn't run and the defence was unable to cut off the short pass.

Up 22-15 after a single, the Eskimos took off on a long drive, keyed by little dump passes to Calvin McCarty and Harris, and capped by Harris again on a short run, to make it 29-15 for the visitors.

The Bombers, meanwhile, could not get a thing going either through the air or on the ground as the Eskimos' defence controlled the affair nicely.

"I thought we had difficulty moving the ball into the wind," said Blue Bombers head coach Doug Berry. "We really struggled in that part.

"Whether it be with our run game early or our passing game, we just didn't match up today to what [the Eskimos] were able to accomplish offensively."

One good run by Smith turned into nothing when he fumbled the ball — the first time either he or Reid had done so this season as Bombers.

Glenn starts in the air

Two long pass completions highlighted the first quarter.

Just past the midway mark, Bombers quarterback Kevin Glenn reared back and found Romby Bryant for a 78-yard pass-and-run play that put the Bombers up 8-0 with the convert.

What made this one interesting is that Glenn had run pretty much the same play a couple of minutes before when he spotted Bryant in the end zone and just overthrew the receiver.

Tossing against the wind, Ray came back with an eight-play drive highlighted by a 49-yard completion to Kelly Campbell, putting the Eskimos into field-goal position.

That was about as far as the drive went, however, and Noel Prefontaine booted a 23-yarder for an 8-3 Winnipeg lead.

Big plays kill

Ray took advantage of the wind in the second quarter to build a halftime lead for the Eskimos.

After Tristan Jackson ran a punt back 24 yards, Ray found Fred Stamps down by the five-yard line for first and goal.

Two plays later, Harris took a flip from his quarterback and hustled in for a two point Edmonton lead.

Following an exchange of possessions, the Eskimos punted to Jason Armstead on his own 17 and the Bombers returner hauled it all the way in for a 93-yard touchdown — the longest punt-return score in team history.

Prefontaine contributed a field goal to bring Edmonton closer and that was when Glenn made the game's first real mistake.

Fading back and looking right, the Winnipeg pivot tried to throw one into the deep flat, only to put it off the hands of linebacker Perry, who then corralled it and rumbled in from 35 yards out.

"All of us are happy for him," Eskimos defensive back Jason Goss said of Perry. "He has heart.

"He'll do whatever it takes to play this game. For him to come back after a broken leg [earlier in the season], you don't expect a person to play that well."

Ray finished the game 27-for-37 and 303 yards, finding eight receivers along the way. Glenn was 15-for-34, 233 yards.

Winnipeg had 341 yards total offence to Edmonton's 340, but the Eskimos were consistent down the field and much of the Bomber gains were outside the red zone [20-yard line].