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EDMONTON — Kamau Peterson's second quarter touchdown catch helped Edmonton erase an early deficit and they never looked back.
The Eskimos moved into sole possession of second place in the CFL's West Division, knocking off the league-leading Saskatchewan Roughriders 27-10 on Thursday night.
With the win the Esks improved to 5-3, two points up on both B.C. and Calgary who will face off against each other in Vancouver on Friday. Edmonton is now 4-0 at home this season.
It was the second loss in a row after a perfect 6-0 start for Saskatchewan, now just one game up on Edmonton at 6-2.
Saskatchewan Roughriders' Wes Cates tries to break a tackle from Edmonton Eskimos' Shannon Garrett during the first half. (Dan Riedlhuber/Reuters)
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Saskatchewan got off to a great start in the game, leading 10-0 midway through the opening frame. After the Eskimos were forced to concede a safety, the Riders came back for more as QB Marcus Crandell hit Weston Dressler on a 35-yard TD pass and run. With a strong wind at his back, Jamie Boreham added a 91-yard single from the ensuing kickoff.
The Eskimos were able to keep the game from getting away from them early with a last minute scoring drive as A.J. Harris reversed field and scampered 36 yards into the end zone on the final play of the first quarter to cut the Rider lead to 10-7.
After a strong Roughrider drive stalled on a penalty call and a missed Luca Congi field goal into the wind, Edmonton came surging back with a 72-yard drive of its own, finished off by an eight yard pass deep into the end zone by QB Ricky Ray, reeled in by a diving Peterson with just over six minutes to go in the second to put the Esks ahead 14-10.
Edmonton added a nine-yard field goal by Noel Prefontaine for a 17-10 advantage at the half.
The Eskimos went up by 10 with six minutes to go in the third when Prefontaine nailed a 42-yard field goal into the wind.
The Edmonton kicker wasn't as on target to start the fourth with the wind at his back, missing a 35-yard attempt for a single but rebounding with a 33-yard three-pointer three minutes later to put the Esks up 24-10.
Steven Jyles came in to quarterback the Riders with 11 minutes to go but didn't fare any better than his predecessor.
Edmonton padded its lead on yet another field goal with just over three minutes remaining after a sustained drive largely thanks to the work of Harris, who won the battle of the running backs over Saskatchewan's Wes Cates. Harris had 189 rushing yards on 21 carries, tying for the fifth best rushing game in Eskimos history. Sean Millington had the best individual rushing game for Edmonton in 1999 with 225 yards on 29 carries.
The Riders will host the Blue Bombers next Sunday while Edmonton will next suit up in Calgary one day later for the annual Labour Day Classic game between the two Alberta-based teams.
Notes: The announced crowd of 48,808 at Commonwealth Stadium was by far the largest to take in a CFL game thus far this season. ... Both teams are pretty banged up, but the Riders have had it a touch worse, with 18 players on the injured list for their last game and key starters such as receivers D.J. Flick, Matt Dominguez, Andy Fantuz and defensive end John Chick still sitting out. ... It's becoming pretty evident whom you need to stop if you want to beat Saskatchewan. The Riders are 6-0 when running back Wes Cates hits the end zone. They are 0-2 when he doesn't. ... Saskatchewan had beat the Eskimos in each of their last four regular season games dating back to last season, including a 34-13 victory the only other time the two teams met this year. But Edmonton has had nothing but overall success against the Riders at Commonwealth, now sporting a 34-8-0 record at home against the Roughriders.
