Edmonton Eskimos 22 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 27 (September 16, 2006)
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0 votes 
0 commentsThe bad news is that after scoring all 27 points in the first half, they fell right back into the slump for the second half, going scoreless while the Esks attempted a late comeback. But with little to celebrate this season, they'll take the win.
"To play that well, I mean we didn't play probably as well as we should have in the second half, but we played a really good first half," said an upbeat Hamilton quarterback Jason Maas who threw one touchdown, zero interceptions and had one fumble. "Our special teams scored a touchdown. Our defence had four or five turnovers. That's huge. When you can do that you're going to win ballgames."
Hamilton head coach Ron Lancaster reckons his team played some of their best ball this season in the first half, despite the offence stalling in the second half.
"The big thing was Jason (Maas) knew how to kill the clock with 47 seconds (left in the game). That's a big thing. You can talk about it and you can practise it, but you don't know what's going to happen until you get in the game."
The Tiger-Cats scored three touchdowns in the first half to break its four-game home field scoring drought in front of 25,107 long-suffering fans at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Hamilton, still with the worst record in the league, improved to 3-11, while the Eskimos fell to 4-8 for last place in the West Division. The Eskimos were hoping to take advantage of a home-and-home series against the woeful Ticats to get back into the playoff race in the West Division. The teams meet again next week in Edmonton.
The Hamilton defence barely held on as Edmonton scored 11 unanswered points in the second half and threatened to score more late in the game.
A safety and Edmonton kicker Sean Fleming's 34-yard field goal made it 27-16. Hamilton fullback Julian Radlein fumbled on the Ticat 22-yard line, setting up Edmonton QB Ricky Ray's second one-yard touchdown run of the night with three minutes left in the game and the score 27-22. Ray was intercepted by Tay Cody on Edmonton's two-point conversion attempt. But Hamilton couldn't sustain the ensuing drive and the Esks took over on their own 12-yard line. They got to the Hamilton 40 with one minute left in the game when Ray fumbled trying to scramble and the ball was recovered by Cody.
The Ticats were able to run the clock out.
Edmonton head coach Danny Maciocia said he felt midway through the fourth that his team was on the verge of a comeback.
"Good things are happening and, unfortunately, we turned over the ball again," he said. "And that's pretty much been the story of our season."
Maciocia said the team had breakdowns on offence, defence and special teams and that they'll just have to review the tapes to see what went wrong.
"We just have to go back and see why it keeps happening to us," he said. "That's what's so frustrating right now."
Maas was playing his first game against his former team since being traded in the off-season. He said some adjustments to the offensive line (after guard George Hudson went out in the second quarter with an injury) led to some "inconsistencies".
"We weren't able to run the ball as well in the second," said Maas. "We couldn't sustain anything. I was trying to get quick strikes out there and trying to get some points on the board, but we'll have to look at the film and see what adjustments there were. I know they did a good job of taking away the middle of the field and forcing us to go outside. I took those things, but just couldn't get anything going."
DaVon Fowlkes, D.J. Flick and Anthony Davis each scored touchdowns for Hamilton. Ray scored both of Edmonton's TD, each from one yard out. He also recorded three interceptions and a fumble. Hamilton kicker Jamie Boreham hit both his field-goal attempts, from 41 and 15 yards out. Edmonton kicker Sean Fleming was two-for-three, missing his first attempt from 40 yards before hitting from 46 and 34.
Fowlkes, a CFL rookie playing in just his second CFL game after moving up from the practice roster, catapulted the Ticats out of their touchdown drought midway through the first quarter with an 86-yard punt return. The 24-year-old from Appalachian State University nabbed the towering 53-yard punt from Sean Fleming and spurted up the middle before cutting down the left sideline, urged on by an exultant crowd. The Ticats had not scored a touchdown at home in four games. Running back Corey Holmes, out with a sprained knee, was the last Ticat to score a major at Ivor Wynne Stadium back in the fourth quarter of a July 14 win against the Calgary Stampeders.
Hamilton was up 27-11 at halftime and those 27 points in two quarters were more than the team had scored in its past three games combined.
Fowlkes' touchdown gave Hamilton a brief 7-1 lead before Ray led a 72-yard scoring drive, highlighted by a 52-yard pass to Ed Hervey at the one-yard line. Ray took the ball into the end zone on the next play for an 8-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
But with the monkey off its back, Hamilton responded with 20 points in the second quarter. A 40-yard field goal by Boreham made it 10-8 for the Ticats and on their next possession, the struggling Maas directed a 67-yard drive on seven plays, hitting Flick for a 20-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter and a 17-8 lead.
Edmonton's following possession ended when Hamilton cornerback Sam Young intercepted Ray and returned the ball 57 yards to the Edmonton 13-yard line. Three plays later, Davis scored from the three-yard line and the Ticats were up 24-8. Fleming hit a 46-yard field goal for Edmonton and Boreham added a 15-yarder for Hamilton.
courtesy of cfl.ca
Date
September 16, 2006
