ESKIMOS 37 LIONS 3

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Eskimos scored on their first possession of each half and rolled to a 37-3 victory over the B.C. Lions Saturday to wrap  up second place in the CFL West Division.

The win improved Edmonton’s record to 12-5 and also secured home field for the West semifinal. The loss dropped B.C. to 9-8 and into a tie for third place with Saskatchewan going into the final week of the regular season.

Edmonton built a 20-3 first-half lead and before many of the 26,388 fans had returned to their seats the Mike Reilly led Eskimos added seven more points on the scoreboard to open the second half.

Kendial Lawrence, who returned two kicks for touchdowns last month, took the first B.C. punt of the third quarter 56 yards to the Lions 28-yard line. Four plays later Reilly plunged into the end zone for a comfortable 24-point margin.

The Lions, who were in Edmonton’s half of the field only once in the first half, put together their best drive of the afternoon on their next possession, moving smartly to the Eskimos’ 20-yard line.

But any realistic hopes the Lions had for a comeback ended when linebacker J.C. Sherritt sacked Lions quarterback Kevin Glenn, causing him to fumble. Ed Steele recovered for Edmonton. Four minutes and 70 yards later O’Neill’s 15-yard field goal had the Eskimos up 30-3.

The Lions defence had given up more than 29 points only once all season.

The Eskimos put an exclamation mark on the victory with an eight-play, 90-yard drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown pass from Pat White to Calvin McCarthy at 5:51.

The Eskimos, who had 277 total yards in the first half, scored on four of their nine first-half possessions to build a 17-point lead. They had another scoring drive snuffed out by a John White fumble on the B.C. 12-yard line with 1:23 left in the half.

B.C. penalties contributed to three of Edmonton’s scoring drives. A 10-yard roughing penalty aided in Hugh O’Neill’s 47-yard field goal that opened the scoring 3:41 into the game.

The Eskimos came up short of a first down six minutes later but a B.C. offside penalty gave them a new set of downs. Four plays later Reilly ran two yards for a touchdown to finish off an eight-play, 85-yard drive for a 10-0 lead.

A Solomon Elimimian interception on the Edmonton 36 led to the Lions only score of the half, a 21-yard Paul McCallum field goal. B.C. managed just one first down and 56 yards total offence in the half. In the third quarter Elimimian broke the CFL single season record for tackles with 131. Sherritt held the previous record of 130.

A five-yard keeper from White closed out a seven-play, 82-yard Edmonton scoring drive for a 17-3 margin with five minutes left in the half. That drive was helped by an illegal B.C. punt. Three minutes later O’Neill made it 20-3 on a 39-yard field goal.