Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON – The former Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback, running back and receiver were all smiles on Saturday after they’d put the boots to their one-time employers.
For the second week in a row, the Edmonton Eskimo offence led the charge in a convincing win. This time, the now 7-8 Eskimos dumped the Riders 37-20. Kerry Joseph completed 19 of 29 passes for a game-high 280 yards, threw three touchdowns and wasn’t sacked on the night.
Receiver Cary Koch returned from a collarbone injury to make six catches for 69 yards and a touchdown, and at tailback for Edmonton, Hugh Charles had the best game of his young Canadian Football League career.
Charles turned 17 carries into 152 yards and a touchdown, in front of a split crowd of 38,678 at Commonwealth Stadium.
Joseph, who won a Grey Cup in Saskatchewan in 2007 and was traded to Toronto for the 2008 season, had downplayed the significance of starting against his former team. Charles and Koch were less reserved.
“It’s the best. They didn’t want me. They didn’t want me back,” said Koch, who signed as a free agent in the off-season after spending the previous two seasons with the Riders.
After the Eskimos fumbled the ball on Saskatchewan’s 29-yard line in the first quarter, the Riders went four plays downfield and scored a touchdown to go up 7-0 at the midpoint of the quarter. The Eskimos fought back, cashing in on a Sandro Deangelis turnover at the Riders’ 22-yard line. Joseph hit Stamps for the touchdown pass with 18 seconds left in the quarter and kicker Grant Shaw tied the game on the convert.
The Eskimos reeled off 20 unanswered points in the half, with Shaw hitting a 30-yard field goal and Joseph reconnecting with Koch for a tough touchdown pass from three yards out.
“I didn’t need any motivation for this game. A lot of guys on the team are like that too,” Koch said. “Hugh had a big game, there’s no motivation for us. It’s ingrained in you, after you get cut from any business. But in some businesses, you don’t get to go back and play them. There’s a little more gratification after winning a game like this.”
Leading 20-10 at the half, the Eskimos turned their offensive focus to Charles over the game’s final 30 minutes. The five-foot-seven tailback did a bit of everything, including throwing a pass to Joseph on a halfback option early in the third quarter. Joseph ran for a first down on the play and Charles finished the drive, bolting 27-yards for the score.
Soaking in the feeling of his career night, Charles, the Riders’ backup running back from 2008 up until last year’s trade deadline, said it was nice to have success against his former team.
“You want to show (well) for that team,” Charles said. “They’re watching and they’re thinking in their minds, ‘Ah, damn.’
“There’s always that thought in the back of a team’s head. You want to show (well) for that team that you’ve played for. Definitely it plays a role in how you play.”
Joseph’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Nate Coehoorn gave the second-year receiver his first CFL touchdown at 11:11 of the third and Shaw’s boot made it a 34-10 game. The Riders scored a touchdown and a two-point convert with no time on the clock to give them some hope at the start of the fourth, but a seven-minute drive ate up half of the final quarter and killed the Riders’ momentum.
Shaw added a 19-yard field goal in the fourth and conceded a two-point safety in the final minute to round out the scoring.
“I felt we played well,” Joseph said. “You see the guys out there having fun, making plays, getting everybody involved in the game, that’s the joy I get. I try to stay focused and execute the plan and not make the mistakes that cost us.”
“We’re not hurting ourselves,” Eskimo head coach Kavis Reed — also a man with Saskatchewan ties — said of his team’s offence over the past two weeks. “We’re playing smart football. We’re aggressive and that’s very important in this league, given the situation that we find ourselves in.”
The Eskimos head to BC Place next, where they’ll face the CFL’s top team, in the 11-4 B.C. Lions on Friday.
coleary@edmontonjournal.com
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