ESKIMOS OUTLAST STAMPEDERS IN WILD CFL MATCHUP

The Edmonton Eskimos survived a wild back and forth CFL shootout against the Calgary Stampeders before prevailing 38-35 to take over sole possession of first place in the CFL West.  Ricky Ray hit Fred Stamps with a 23 yard touchdown pass with just nine seconds to play to earn the victory, erasing the lead that Calgary had earned with their own TD pass less than a half minute earlier.  Edmonton improved to 4-3 with the win, while Calgary dropped to 3-4.

It was an even tougher loss for CFL bettors who had taken the points with Calgary, only to see their outright win as +2 underdogs turn into a tough luck three point loss in the span of 30 seconds.  Edmonton improved their record against the spread to 3-4 while Calgary dropped to 2-5 against the number.  The outcome of the total had long been decided, however, with the combined 73 points easily exceeding the 57’ for an easy OVER.  Calgary and Edmonton have both played OVER in 4 of 7 CFL games this year.

After the game, winning QB Ricky Ray said that he enjoyed playing in the ‘shootout’:

"That was a ton of fun. In the CFL you get to play in a lot of games like this, especially against a guy like (Calgary quarterback Henry) Burris, who has done this to us. It's great to come out on the winning end of a shoot-out like that. It's a great uplift for the team. It's a huge win for us."
 
With a bye week on deck, Eskimos’ head coach Richie Hall said that the outcome couldn’t have been timed any better:

"Regardless of what happens, we are coming back in first place. Now we have one up on Calgary. It's going to be a dogfight for all the teams in the West and any chance you get to win, especially a win like this, it's a real bonus. It's great for our confidence."

Calgary’s Burris remembered a very similar game last year where Edmonton won by the same margin on a last play touchdown:

"They got us last year in this situation and of course you didn't think it was going to happen again or even could happen again. It felt so great to get that late touchdown and with 38 seconds on the clock nobody was even thinking about last year. We had to stop Jackson and we didn't. And we had to stop Ray and we didn't. Kudos to Edmonton."

Both teams have a bye next week. Calgary returns to action on Aug. 28 in Toronto while the Eskimos will next play on Aug. 29 when they host Hamilton.  The two CFL provincial rivals from Alberta will face each other twice more this season.