Edmonton Eskimos’ Cliff Washburn (69) pushes Toronto Argonauts’ Ricky Foley (95) while Eskimnos Patrick Kabongo (56) confronts Toronto Mike Bradwell (88) after a late sack of Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray on Friday. (Ian Jackson/Canadian Press)

(PhatzRadio/ CBC Sports) – The Edmonton Eskimos cut it pretty close to remain perfect on the year.

Trailing by six points with three minutes to play, a botched punt by Toronto kicker Grant Shaw would give Edmonton great field position and lead to a 21-yard touchdown catch by Fred Stamps as the Eskimos came from behind to continue their torrid start to the season, defeating the visiting Argonauts 26-25 on Friday.

Toronto attempted a 57-yard field goal with 24 seconds remaining but Shaw was well short, allowing the Eskimos to run out the clock.

The Eskimos remain the only undefeated team in the Canadian Football League under rookie head coach Kavis Reed, getting off to their first 5-0 start since 1980.

“It was a win that we had to scratch and claw for,” Reed said. “We got the bounces when we needed them. We were fortunate to come out with this win.

“Our team truly fought through some adversity and showed some character tonight in a tough win.”

Stamps said there was nothing wrong with a win that was anything but pretty.

“Winning is the only thing that mattered,” he said. “It was an ugly game but we were victorious. We’re glad we pulled this one out. We needed some adversity.

“That’s the type of game we needed to let everyone know we still had work to do.”

The story is significantly different for the Argonauts, losers of four games in a row to drop to 1-4.

“That was a bizarre game,” said Toronto head coach Jim Barker. “That’s been our season. It’s the way our games have gone. Last year we found a way to win those bizarre games and this year we haven’t. It’s just the way it is.”

Barker blamed himself for making Shaw attempt the long field goal late in the game. Shaw was already under pressure with normal kicker Noel Prefontaine suffering a pre-game quad injury.

“It was third and five,” Barker said. “The kid has made up to 60 yards in practice and has a strong leg. He had butchered some punts and I had a gut feeling that he was going to make the kick.

“It’s on me. It was my call.”

Edmonton was moving the ball downfield with ease on its first possession of the game, but Toronto kept them from scoring when Ejiro Kuale forced a fumble from Eskimos running back Arkee Whitlock that was scooped up by Argo Lin-J Shell at the Toronto 28.

Just after Edmonton got the first point on the board from a David Duval punt single, the Esks looked to have taken the ball right back as Chad Kackert fumbled just past midfield with Weldon Brown able to recover for the hometown squad.

However, the call was reversed upon a Toronto challenge, leading to the Argos going ahead 7-1 as Kackert rambled 11 yards into the end zone with just under two minutes to play in the opening quarter.

Trading fumbles

Toronto opened up a 14-1 lead early in the second quarter as Kackert went in from eight yards out for his second TD of the game after a huge 48-yard passing play from Argos starter Dalton Bell to Spencer Watt put them in scoring position.

The two teams traded fumbles on successive possessions before Toronto’s Shaw booted a 35-yard field goal to put the Argos ahead 17-1 with three minutes to play in the second quarter.

Edmonton finally put some real points on the board with one minute left in the second as Marcus Henry made a nice one-handed grab on a Ricky Ray pass for a five-yard touchdown on the heels of a pass interference call to Toronto’s Dee Webb.

The Eskimos then benefited from a poor punt by Shaw and another pass interference call to Shell to go down to the one-yard line, resulting in one of the most bizarre sequences in recent football memory.

Kerry Joseph’s attempt to drive it in failed as time apparently expired. The majority of the Argos had gone to their dressing room for halftime before it was determined that there was still 1.5 seconds remaining, forcing the Toronto players back out to the field.

Joseph made the most of the second chance and plunged across the line to cut Toronto’s lead to 17-15 at half.

Barker blistered about the incident after the game.

“If you want to talk about that, talk to [CFL commissioner Mark] Cohon,” he said.

The teams traded punt singles early in the third before Edmonton fumbled the ball on a third-down gamble at their own 48. The Esks’ defence got the ball back seconds later as Jykine Bradley picked off Bell at the Edmonton 21.

The Argonauts came back with a long drive on their next possession, but Bell was picked off in the end zone by Rod Williams to keep it a two-point game heading into the fourth.

Toronto surged ahead 25-16 on a massive play two minutes in the final quarter as Matt Black turned on the jets and blazed 81 yards for a punt return touchdown.

Edmonton got a glorious opportunity four minutes into the fourth as the ball popped out of Chad Owens’ hands on a punt return and into the clutches of Eskimo Delroy Clarke deep in Toronto territory.

The Esks looked to have converted on the chance as Ricky Ray passed 20 yards into the end zone to Stamps who eventually squeezed the ball between his legs while sliding out of bounds. The play did not count as a touchdown after a successful Toronto challenge.

Instead, Edmonton had to settle for a 24-yard Duval field goal to close to 25-19.

Tiger-Cats’ Avon Cobourne figured prominently in the Tiger-Cats’ opening TD with a 38-yard reception that set up backup quarterback Quinton Porter’s run for a major. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

Ticats’ duo gets last laugh against old team

(PhatzRadio/ CBC Sports) – Dave Stala made sure Avon Cobourne’s first game against the Montreal Alouettes was a victory.

Stala caught two Kevin Glenn touchdown passes to lead the hometown Hamilton Tiger-Cats to a tense 34-26 win over Montreal, the team Cobourne helped win consecutive Grey Cup titles before leaving for Steeltown as a free agent.

After the two hooked up in the first half, Glenn hit a wide-open Stala on a 58-yard scoring strike at 11:31 of the fourth giving Hamilton a 33-19 lead, thrilling the Ivor Wynne Stadium gathering of 24,068.

But it was an anxious finish as Montreal countered with Dahrran Diedrick’s one-yard TD run with 1:04 remaining. It came after Anthony Calvillo’s apparent six-yard touchdown pass to Brian Bratton was overturned by replay but a Hamilton interference penalty put the ball at the one-yard line.

However, the comeback bid essentially ended when Hamilton (3-2) recovered the onside kick attempt with 1:01 remaining and handed Montreal (3-2) its second consecutive defeat.

“I thought it was a big step for our team,” said Stala, also a former Alouette. “They (Als) have been the better team in this league the last couple of years and for us to beat them early in the season and make a statement means a lot.”

Cobourne didn’t score against Montreal but certainly played a big role in the win. He ran for a game-high 67 yards on 15 carries (4.5-yard average) and added four catches for 59 yards, his 38-yard reception in the first quarter putting Hamilton on the Als’ four-yard line. A play later, Quinton Porter ran it in for the game’s opening touchdown.

And late in the fourth after Montreal scored to make it a seven-point game, Cobourne took an unnecessary penalty.

‘We expected to win’

“It feels good but we expected to win and as a team that’s our mentality,” said Cobourne. “I give them respect, but we expected this … it wasn’t about them, it was about us.

“The penalty was selfish on my part, they did get the best of me and I apologized to the guys for that.”

Cobourne spent five seasons with Montreal and was the MVP of its 2009 Grey Cup victory. But he opted to leave the Als in the off-season as a free agent after they wouldn’t make him the CFL’s top paid running back.

All week Cobourne said he wasn’t looking for redemption against his former team.

“I guess it has to be personal for it to have extra emotions to it but it was a business decision [to leave Montreal],” he said. “I think I made the right choice.”

Glenn finished 20-of-36 passing for 295 yards with two TDs and no interceptions. Stala was his favourite target with five catches for 107 yards.

Montreal starter Anthony Calvillo was 23-of-45 passing for 358 yards and a TD, finding S.J. Green eight times for 150 yards, both game highs. Calvillo also moved to within nine completions of breaking Damon Allen’s all-time record of 5,158 after earlier this season surpassing Allen’s career TD passes mark of 394.

But the Alouettes lacked the crispness usually associated with a Marc Trestman-coached team, especially on offence. And Montreal at times played undisciplined football with 14 penalties for 121 yards.

Twice Montreal mounted drives exceeding 80 yards but had to settle for field goals. Another possession saw the Als hold the ball for 11 plays but again only register three points.

Costly penalty

And in the third, John Bowman returned a Hamilton fumble 27 yards but it was called back due to an illegal block call that led to a Ticats’ field goal for a 20-13 lead.

“Effort is not the issue,” Trestman said. “We’ve got the players to do it but I’m disappointed.

“There were a lot of issues. I’d say we took undisciplined penalties at the wrong times two weeks in a row. We’ve got to isolate where the issues are. it’s a state of mind but we have a high-character team.”

Hamilton might’ve had its own problems with 14 penalties but certainly had a hand in Montreal not playing a sharp game.

“We had some missed plays and that evened itself out,” said Hamilton head coach Marcel Bellefeuille. “I don’t want to take anything away from our victory, it was a good victory.

“It was a hard-fought game. With a team of that quality you expect the game to go 60 minutes and it did.”

Hamilton’s Justin Medlock kicked three converts, three field goals and two singles. The other points came on a safety.

Jamel Richardson scored Montreal’s other touchdown. Sean Whyte added four field goals and two converts.

Richardson’s eight-yard TD catch at 14:00 of the second cut Hamilton’s half-time advantage to 17-13 in an arduous opening 30 minutes that featured six fumbles (two lost), 21 combined incompletions and 16 combined penalties.

And while Richardson’s reception capped a five-play, 75-yard drive, it was one kept alive when a Hamilton fumble recovery was nullified by penalty.

Hamilton converted a Montreal turnover into Stala’s 11-yard TD catch at 12:58. It was set up by Jason Shivers’ recovery of Green’s fumble at the Alouettes’ 33-yard line following a 15-yard catch.