Our CFL season catch up has reached double figures. Just about halfway through the regular season and week 10 has given us another entertaining slate of games to look back on.
CFL SEASON WEEK 10 GAMES
This week saw another full slate of games. Thursday night Football saw BC travel to Winnipeg attempting to avenge the Blue Bombers winning 33-23 at BC Place in the regular season opener on June 15th.
That was followed by an Inter Divisional match as Edmonton marched into Toronto. Hamilton then looked to maintain their stranglehold on East Division with a match-up in Ottawa.
The weekend’s action was rounded out by another Inter-Divisional match-up as the Alouettes traveled to Calgary.
BC Lions 16 at Winnipeg Blue Bombers 32
29,414 fans were on hand in Winnipeg to see the Blue Bombers oust the Lions by 32 points to 16. Following this Winnipeg are now 7-2, and an impressive 5-0 at home.
Winnipeg have now won 8 consecutive games at home. That is their longest home win streak since the 1993 and 1994 seasons when they won 10 in a row.
On the plus side Andrew Harris became the all-time leader in yards from scrimmage among Canadians. However, the sheen was taken off it slightly by an injury to starting QB Matt Nichols.
BC fans may also be wondering how durable QB Mike Reilly can continue to be. He was taken down 7 times by the Winnipeg D. You really do feel that the Lions need to do more to protect their big off-season acquisition to achieve success.
Edmonton Eskimos 41 at Toronto Argonauts 26
Edmonton went into this one 5-3 overall, but 1-3 on the road. A record they really wanted to remedy and they were able to do just that here.
This one centered on the connection between Trevor Harris and Greg Ellingson for the Esks.
Harris went 28 of 41 for 420 yards and 3 touchdowns. Ellingson caught 10 passes for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns.
That passing attack was ably bolstered by DaVaris Daniels too who had 5 catches for 155 yards, averaging a whopping 31 yards a catch.
Argos fans will have been pleased to see signs of life from their struggling team. At one point Mcleod Bethel-Thompson led a nine play scoring drive that cut the score to 24-19 in the third quarter.
Ultimately however this was Edmonton’s game and just the sort of impressive road win they have been searching for.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 21 at Ottawa REDBLACKS 7
This all Eastern affair saw a defensively dominated first half that finished with Hamilton holding a 4-1 lead.
The second half saw Hamilton add 17 points whilst Ottawa could only struggle to 2 field goals.
Perhaps the biggest news coming out of this one is that Lewis Ward finally saw his remarkable regular season field goal streak end at 69. There was a great moment after the miss as Ottawa fans gave Lewis a standing ovation to mark the end of his incredible run of success.
Ward certainly fared better than Ottawa’s QB’s who were roundly booed after leading the team to a succession of 2 and outs.
The win came at a price for Hamilton. They lost All-Star defensive tackle Ted Laurent to injury during the game & will hope this isn’t a long-term loss.
The Ti-Cats aren’t always pretty, but they are finding ways to win. Given that we picked Bralon Addison as one of our ones to watch in preseason it was good to see him continue to shine here too.
Montreal Alouettes 40 at Calgary Stampeders 34
A return to McMahon stadium has been a daunting prospect for the Als in recent years. They hadn’t won there since 2009. Now they have ended that run, in what was undoubtedly the game of the week.
If Montreal fans were looking for signs then this win was their team’s first here since the year they won the Grey Cup over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the infamous ’13th man’ game.
Few would have seen it coming too as the Stamps led by 11 with just 50 seconds in the game.
Eugene Lewis was at the centre of it all. The WR hauled in a TD to get Montreal within a field goal, then recovered Boris Bede’s onside kick to give Montreal a chance to tie the game in regulation.
Bede hit a 27 yard field goal to carry the game into overtime where the Als outlasted the Stamps scoring 2 touchdowns to their one.
The game saw 54 first downs and a combined 1000+ yards of offence and offered a stark contrast to the Hamilton/Ottawa contest.
For Calgary, stand-in QB Nick Arbuckle put on another impressive display. He went 31 of 36 for 370 yards and 4 touchdowns.
All of those scores went to Reggie Begelton who had a career night with 8 catches for 173 yards and 4 touchdowns.
For Montreal the spark came from the return of QB Vernon Adams Jr. Whenever he has been under centre this season they have seemed like a different team.
He went 32-for-50 for 389 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in the victory. He also recorded two rushing touchdowns in overtime.
THE STANDINGS
Following week 10 of the CFL season the inter-Divisional standings are now sat at 13-9 in favour of the West Division.
Winnipeg are alone on 7-2 atop the West with the 6-3 Esks snapping at their heels.
In the East Hamilton remain clear leaders at 7-2. Their closest challengers Montreal are 3 games back at 4-4.
If the playoffs started now, Calgary would find themselves in the unfamiliar position of being the crossover team.
Looking Ahead
Week 11 of the CFL season offers a head to head match at the top of the Western Division as Winnipeg travel to Edmonton.
Saskatchewan will welcome Ottawa looking to stay in the West Division race and aiming to extend their 4 game winning streak.
Hamilton travel to BC looking to further enhance their position atop the East whilst the Lions fans are just looking for some fight from their team.
The week will finish with the Alouettes swooping into Toronto and looking to come away with the win.
Banner Image: Andrew Harris continues to impress. Image from sportsrantz.com
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