Edmonton Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly passes against the Ottawa Redblacks during first half CFL football action in Ottawa, on Aug.10, 2017.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Quarterback Mike Reilly was 27-for-38 passing for 384 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions as the Edmonton Eskimos beat the Ottawa Redblacks 27-20 on Thursday night to stay undefeated.
Reilly and the Eskimos (7-0) proved to be too much for Ottawa to handle despite missing a number of its starters.
Ottawa QB Trevor Harris was 26-for-37 for 266 yards with two touchdowns and an interception for the Redblacks (1-6-1), who haven't won since July 19.
Reilly found Chris Getzlaf in the end zone for an eight-yard TD pass and ran in the two-point convert to take a 27-20 lead at the ten-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Ottawa was never able to regain decent field position after that.
Having trailed the entire game, the Redblacks took the lead midway through the third quarter as Harris connected with Diontae Spencer in the end zone for a nine-yard TD pass to tie the game 19-19. The convert gave Ottawa a one-point lead to the delight of the 23,851 on hand at TD Place.
Ottawa's defence then came up with a huge play as Antoine Pruneau intercepted Reilly's pass with Edmonton on the Redblacks' 14-yard line.
Hugh O'Neill kicked his fourth field goal of the game, this one for 42 yards, to give Edmonton a 19-13 lead at the five-minute mark of the third quarter.
With 31 seconds remaining in the first half Taylor Reed tipped Reilly's pass and Imoan Claiborne snagged it for an interception. Ottawa marched down field and Brett Maher kicked a 40-yard field goal to get within three as Edmonton led 16-13 at intermission.
Ottawa's Zack Evans came up with a huge sack on Reilly with Edmonton in scoring position, but was forced to settle for a 21-yard field goal to lead 16-10.
An illegal block by Ottawa's Andrew Marshall negated a 92-yard TD punt return by Quincy McDuffie. Ottawa settled for a 33-yard field goal on the ensuing possession to make it 13-10.
Trailing 13-0 the Redblacks got back in the game early in the second quarter as Harris was able to connect with a couple receivers to gain favourable field position and completed it with a five-yard TD to Greg Ellingson to cut the Eskimos lead to six.
The Eskimos had jumped out to a 13-0 lead on 38 and 20-yard field goals as well as an opening drive TD, capped by a screened 35-yard pass to LaDarius Perkins and a successful convert.