Eskimos 33 Lions 17
EDMONTON — Daniel Porter scored a pair of touchdowns as the Edmonton Eskimos continued to look great out of the gate, defeating the B.C. Lions 33-17 on Saturday.
The Eskimos improved to 3-0 on the year, the first time Edmonton has been perfect through three games since 2002. Last season the Eskimos didn’t get their third win until Sept. 26.
The Lions are heading in the opposite direction, now 0-3 to start the season, and in a last-place tie in the West with Saskatchewan, also winless thus far.
The Eskimos came out with a workman-like long opening drive but were forced to accept a 20-yard Damon Duval field goal to kick off the scoring.
Edmonton stretched its lead to 10-0 with a minute and half to play in the opening quarter as Lion David Hyland made an ill-timed leap at intercepting a Ricky Ray pass, leaving Fred Stamps free to scamper 38 yards for a touchdown.
The Esks got a bonus point on the ensuing kickoff as it slipped into the end zone and was inadvertently booted out of bounds by returner Tim Brown, going into the books as a 95-yard single.
Edmonton’s special teams came up big to start the second quarter as a Paul McCallum punt was partially blocked by Mike Cornell and picked up at the B.C. 34, leading to a Duval field goal and a 14-0 Eskimos lead.
The Lions finally got on the board with a 45-yard McCallum field goal with just under five minutes to play.
The Eskimos quickly responded as a huge 45-yard pass and run on a broken play by Adarius Bowman led to a five-yard passing TD from Ray to Porter.
However the Lions would close the gap with a rapid scoring sequence of its own as Geroy Simon reeled in a pair of big passes from quarterback Travis Lulay, one for 38 yards and then a 25-yard TD pass, to make for a 21-10 Edmonton lead.
The Esks completed the late scoring flurry in the first half with a Duval single on a missed field goal to lead by 11 points at the midmark.
After another Duvall single on a field goal miss it looked like B.C. was going to close to within a touchdown, but T.J Hill stepped in front of a Lulay pass and took the ball back 71 yards to the Lions’ 18. The game-changing pick would lead to a five-yard touchdown push by Porter to end the third quarter with Edmonton ahead 30-10.
B.C. turned over the ball again to start the fourth as Chris Thompson popped a ball loose from Simon and Jykine Bradley recovered the fumble at midfield.
The Lions were once again stymied with five minutes to go as a pass intended for Simon was intercepted in the end zone by Edmonton’s Rod Williams.
B.C. finally got some second half points with just over a minute left as Lulay found Akeem Foster in the corner for a 29-yard TD pass to end the scoring at 33-17.