Esks roar into playoffs

Mario Annicchiarico, edmontonjournal.com

Published: Saturday, November 07, 2009

VANCOUVER - The Edmonton Eskimos will remain in the Canadian Football League West Division after all as they secured their first post-season berth within their own division since 2005, their last Grey Cup championship year.

Rookie head coach Richie Hall's Eskimos managed to run roughshod over the B.C. Lions 45-13 at B.C. Place late Friday night to earn the third playoff spot out west and now await the loser of Saturday's

Calgary Stampeders at Saskatchewan Roughriders game in next week's Western semifinal.

Eskimos vs. Lions

Lyle Stafford/Reuters

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With the victory, the Eskimos finish the regular season at 9-9, while the Lions fall to 8-10 and have to rely on a Hamilton Tiger-Cats victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday to earn the Eastern crossover berth.

Arkee Whitlock led the Eskimos to just their second win in the last nine attempts in Vancouver with a masterful 165-yard performance along the ground. Edmonton was also 2-9 in its last 11 starts overall against the Leos prior to Friday's key win, that relied heavily on the run game.

"We came out and we refused to let them throw us off balance today," said Whitlock, of the run game that opened up plenty of play-action passing later on for quarterback Ricky Ray. "We were going to run the ball regardless, we were going to throw the ball regardless.

"We did a heck of a job up front and came out and dominated the line of scrimmage," Whitlock added. "They made it easy for me. I had big holes. I just had to run the ball and protect the ball."

And it made life a lot simpler for Ray, who added two one-yard touchdown runs of his own and threw for another major score.

"That's what coach (Kevin) Strasser was saying coming into the game, they were giving up quite a bit on the ground and our offensive line dominated tonight. Them and Arkee are the one constant we've had here in the second half of the season," said Ray. "When you're controlling the line of scrimmage like that with the run game and giving the quarterback time you're going to do some good things offensively."

Whether that continues next weekend in the post-season remains to be seen, but the Esks will begin the playoffs in earnest next Sunday as they await their opponent. Edmonton is 1-3 against Calgary this season (including an 0-2 log at McMahon Stadium) and 2-1 against Saskatchewan, with both victories recorded at Mosaic Stadium.

The victory over B.C. was the first in three attempts in 2009.

A pair of Edmonton touchdowns 1:17 apart late in the second quarter opened up a tight game. The first was a Ray one-yard keeper and the second a four-yard pass from Ray to Efrem Hill for his first career major with just 16 seconds left in the opening half. The latter was set up by the Eskimos' defence that stuffed B.C. backup quarterback Buck Pierce on a third-down gamble with the length of the football to go.

Pierce left the game shortly after, forcing third-stringer Zac Champion into the game on a bizarre night that began with starter Casey Printers suffering a thumb injury early on a handoff, of all plays. B.C. still managed to score first as Pierce marched them to a 21-yard field goal by Paul McCallum 9:30 in.

Printers suffered a break at the base of his thumb, then Pierce reinjured his shoulder, came back to start the third quarter, but lasted just one drive as Champion returned.

Meanwhile, Ray recovered from an early interception to march the Esks to an 11-play, 79-yard drive capped by a 13-yard touchdown by Whitlock on a draw play on the final play of the opening 15 minutes.

McCallum cut it to 7-6 on a 43-yard field goal at 4:39 of the second quarter, but Esks kicker Noel Prefontaine got the three back three minutes later on a 35-yarder. Martell Mallett ran five yards for the Lions' first major at 10:21 of the second before the two late Edmonton strikes.

Ray added a second one-yard TD run midway through the third quarter and Whitlock had a 15-yard TD scamper for his second at 13:32 of the third. Calvin McCarty capped it with a five-yard TD run midway through the fourth. The five rushing touchdowns was the team's high this season.

Whitlock also finished with seven yards in receiving and 44 yards on a kickoff return, while Ray ended the night 19 of 26 for 248 yards passing and the touchdown. McCarty added 81 yards rushing on 10 carries, and backup fullback Graeme Bell even ran once for six yards.

GAME NOTES: Skyler Green, making his first CFL start in place of Tristan Jackson, finished with 143 total yards in ... If Whitlock becomes the rookie of the year, he will be the first for Edmonton since 1995 when Shalon Baker won the award.

manniccihiarico@thejournal.canwest.com

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