Former Lions backup quarterback Reilly excels as Eskimos beat B.C 27-22

VANCOUVER – Mike Reilly threw for 202 yards and a touchdown as the Edmonton Eskimos beat the B.C. Lions 27-22 in CFL pre-season action Friday night.

Reilly excelled against his former team after an off-season trade and season-ending knee injury to Matt Nichols a week earlier assured him of being Edmonton’s starting quarterback once the regular season commences.

The Eskimos signal-caller and B.C. counterpart Travis Lulay, close friends during their days with the Lions, matched each other almost yard for yard while playing late into the third quarter. Reilly completed 13-of-18 passes for 202 yards while Lulay went 15 for 26 for 203 yards.

Edmonton and B.C. both finished the pre-season with 1-1 records.

Courtney Taylor put B.C. on the scoreboard first on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Lulay. Hugh O’Neill’s punt single put the Lions ahead 8-0 just under three minutes later.

But the Eskimos rallied late in the first quarter as Hugh Charles ran for a one-yard touchdown that was set up by Donovan Alexander’s 31-yard interception.

The Eskimos took the lead on Reilly’s 50-yard touchdown pass to Cary Koch in the second quarter. The Edmonton quarterback ran his way out of trouble and then threw a pass along the sidelines to Koch, who held on to the ball while being bowled over by Josh Bell and J.R. LaRose.

The two Lions defensive backs were scrambling back after Koch was left wide open in the end zone.

Bell made amends later in the second quarter as he intercepted another Reilly pass intended for Koch in the end zone. The pick came after a pass interference penalty on LaRose gave Edmonton the ball at the B.C. one-yard line.

Edmonton got within scoring range again just before halftime as running back John White zig-zagged 69 yards. A Solomon Elimimian roughing-the-passer penalty — for a head shot on Reilly during what would have been a sack — set up a 12-yard Grant Shaw field goal on the final play of the half as the Esks took a 17-8 lead into the dressing room.

Reilly completed 10-of-13 passes for 138 yards in the first half while Lulay was good on nine of 18 for 147 yards. The B.C. quarterback was not helped by receivers who dropped what should have been easy catches.

The Lions reduced the gap to 17-15 in the third quarter as Lulay threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Nick Moore.

But Koch came up big again later in the third quarter as he hauled in a 54-yard pass from Reilly to set up another Shaw field goal, this time from 10 yards out, that gave the Eskimos a 20-15 edge.

Reilly’s replacement Jonathan Crompton impressed early in the fourth quarter as he threw a 65-yard touchdown strike to Isaiah Sweeney, staking Edmonton to a 27-15 lead.

But just two minutes later, Lions rookie S.J. Haidara narrowed the deficit to 27-22 on a spectacular 59-yard touchdown pass from Thomas DeMarco. After catching the ball, Haidara, a 24-year-old rookie out of Laval University, spun away from Edmonton defensive back Mike Miller, then cut back, romped towards the end zone and dove over the goal-line.

The Lions had a chance to go ahead with just under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but DeMarco could not connect with Elvis Akpla in the end zone on a third-and-five gamble.

In the next sequence, the Lions managed to hold the Eskimos deep in their territory, but Shaw punted the ball away successfully, avoiding a safety that would have enabled B.C. to tie the game on a field goal.

The Lions then turned the ball over on downs at midfield, but got another chance to score in the closing seconds after Haidara caught a 41-yard pass from DeMarco. But the DeMarco fumbled on the final play of the game, and the Eskimos escaped with the victory.

Notes: O’Neill handled B.C.’s kicking duties after veteran Paul McCallum sat out with a sore groin, while linebacker Adam Bighill was sidelined with a rib injury. McCallum did not play in either exhibition game after being rested in the first game in Calgary. Centre Angus Reid remained out with a back injury suffered in training camp, leaving Matt Norman to do the hiking for the second consecutive game.