Eskimos cruise past Blue Bombers in Western semifinal

Rudi Schuller

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Eskimos cruise past Blue Bombers in Western semifinal image

It'll be an all-Alberta affair in the Western final next week after the Edmonton Eskimos defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 39-32 at Investors Group Field on Sunday.

What began as a tight, defensive battle between evenly matched teams was blown open in the third quarter as the Eskimos seemingly scored at will against a shell-shocked home side. Winnipeg fought back valiantly in the final frame and made the score close, but the damage was already done.

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Edmonton's Mike Reilly threw for 334 yards and three touchdowns, and added 32 rushing yards, in the quarterback battle against Winnipeg's Matt Nichols. The Blue Bombers' quarterback finished with 368 passing yards and three touchdowns (along with eight rushing yards) on the night.

The Eskimos' victory means they'll head to Calgary next week for an intra-provincial battle against the Stampeders in the Western final. The winner will represent the West in the 105th Grey Cup on Nov. 26 in Ottawa.

First-half stalemate

It seemed like neither team wanted to take the lead in the opening two quarters, and that tentative play led to a 10-10 tie at the halftime break.

Perhaps even more astonishing is the fact that the teams traded 7-3 quarters, with Edmonton taking the first frame by that score before Winnipeg did the same in the second.

Reilly got proceedings going just over six minutes into the game with a 17-yard touchdown pass that probably traveled twice that distance as it met Adarius Bowman near the back of the end zone. Winnipeg answered with a field goal to round out the scoring in the first quarter.

In the second quarter it was the Blue Bombers' turn. Nichols aired the ball out for a 38-yard pass to Matt Coates before finding L'Damian Washington with a 7-yard touchdown pass with 12:50 left in the half.

Three minutes later, Sean Whyte nailed a 28-yard field goal for the Eskimos in what would be the final bit of first-half offence for either team.

Gable the catalyst

The cagey nature of the contest continued into the second half until C.J. Gable started an Edmonton run with just under 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Gable received the ball from Reilly just inside the Winnipeg 20-yard line, and, after weaving through a number of bodies, he bulldozed his way into the end zone with a number of Blue Bombers hanging off him.

Prior to Gable's touchdown it was 11-10 in favour of the Eskimos, but his powerful run started a high-scoring third quarter in which Edmonton outscored the hosts 15-6 and permanently took control of the game.

The 30-year-old running back finished Sunday's game with 107 rushing yards, 37 receiving yards, and two touchdowns.

Rudi Schuller