Esks let one slip through their hands

It was sackfest 06 at BC Place on Friday night as the defences of both the Eskimos and the Lions took up real estate in each others backfield and took down quarterbacks with ease.

In a fairly entertaining, if erratic at times game, the Eskimos battled back from two Lion interceptions for TDS to put themselves in position to win in the last seconds of play, only to watch the ball slip through the hands of holder Jason Johnson and negate Sean Flemings opportunity to kick the winning field goal.

With Buck Pierce filling in for the injured Dave Dickenson, the Lions utilized the running of Joe Smith and the sure hands of Geroy Simon (who moved past Mervyn Fernanadez in Leos history Friday night) to keep control of the play for good portions of the play. Pierce who seemed to take a bit too much time in the pocket made life hard on his offensive line as the Eskimos corralled and brought down the Leos QB nine times.

Likewise the Lions defensive corps found Ricky Ray as easy prey in the Eskimo backfield for a total of four sacks. Rushed passes and deflections also caused the Eskimos problems as Ray threw two interceptions that were returned for Lion touchdowns.

Still, a game that seemed to be getting out of reach by three quarter time, turned around in favour of the Eskimos as Ricky Ray found Jason Tucker once for a touch down and a second time for a drive saving reception that set up the last minute drama of the night.

The Eskimos down by two points with time running out, failed to work the clock to their advantage leaving themselves in the position of having to take their final scoring opportunity on a third down and no time left on the clock situation.

The general rule of thumb is to try your kick on second down, leaving you room for error. But for whatever reason the Eskies failed to do that and error turned into disaster on the last play, a fumbled snap by Jason Johnson, resulted in the Lions swarming the ball and taking away what would have been a winning field goal.

The 30-28 squeaker of a win gives the Lions a 7-3 record going into their bye week, while the Eskimos were left with a lot of questions and another loss after a visit to BC Place.

While the result dictates otherwise, the Eskimos actually had a good game, showing the ability to come back from trouble time and time again. Take away those two Ricky Ray interceptions anda better handled snap at the last play of the game and the Eskies would have won this one quite handily.

But a mental error at the bench and on the field put them in the position of letting the game slip through their fingers. A costly mistake that will make for a long week for coach Danny Maciocia and his squad.