Riders hold off Esks to stay unbeaten

Darian Durant hooked up with Andy Fantuz for a fourth-quarter touchdown as the Saskatchewan Roughriders remained the only unbeaten CFL team, with the Edmonton Eskimos still winless after more self-inflicted wounds.

Fantuz beat Chris Thompson and hauled in a 37-yard touchdown from Durant to tie the game, and Luca Congi later added a field goal in the 24-20 victory at Mosaic Stadium.

The Riders scored the final 11 points of the game.

"There's a lot of character and leadership in the locker room," said head coach Ken Miller. "I challenged the team at halftime and they took that challenge.

"Among them, they came up with the effort, not necessarily a polished expertise effort, but a raw effort that managed to get us the win."

Durant now has a CFL-best seven touchdown passes. Hugh Charles rushed for a score and Congi was perfect in three field goal attempts to produce 11 points for Saskatchewan (3-0).

Fumbles costly

Edmonton is winless after three games for the first time in 45 years. The Eskimos had a good chance to make it three straight wins at Mosaic, leading by as many as seven points.

They also drove well into Saskatchewan territory twice after the Fantuz touchdown, only to fumble each time.

Fred Stamps caught 12 passes from Ricky Ray for 213 yards for the Eskimos but committed the second fumble.

Edmonton, with just three touchdowns so far this season, also led before collapsing late in week two against Montreal.

"In the two quarters where we did have the wind, we really didn't do enough," said Ray. "You need to take advantage because you're going to get good field position just with the kicking game.

"Even in the third quarter if we could have done a little bit more and put more pressure on them it could have been a different story for us. With all that said, we put ourselves in situations where we could change the outcome of the game. We just didn't do it."

Heritage jerseys

The Riders were attired in the burgundy-and-black jerseys of the 1940s to commemorate their 100th anniversary.

With the score 3-3 early in the second, Saskatchewan running back Wes Cates scampered 83 yards down the left sideline and within three yards of the end zone.

Charles took it in for his first touchdown of the year.

Jamaica Rector set up the Eskimos later in the half with a 25-yard punt return to respond. Ray completed a pair of passes to Stamps to push the ball forward, with Arkee Whitlock plunging in from two yards out to help tie the game.

Pass dropped

Noel Prefontaine punted for a single, but the Eskimos had to settle for a field goal and a 14-10 lead just before the half after Kelly Campbell dropped a catchable pass in the end zone.

Chris Getzlaf of the Riders hadn't caught a pass into the third quarter but he hauled in two for 46 yards to set up a short Congi field goal for a 14-13 score. 

The lead got up to seven points before Durant and Fantuz connected for a major. Kicker Louie Sakoda boomed the ensuing kickoff into the Edmonton end zone for a single.

Edmonton marched down the field in response, and on a third-down play while in field goal range, Ray and Stamps connected on a short pass to keep the drive alive.

A successful field goal would have put the Eskimos back up by two points, but two plays later running back Calvin McCarty had the ball jarred loose by Sean Lucas. Brent Hawkins made the recovery for the Riders.

Rob Bagg energized the crowd even more, avoiding a tackle in his own end zone on the next Saskatchewan drive to burn 46 yards upfield on a reverse.

The play set up a Congi 23-yarder for a 24-20 lead.

'Great call'

"The reverse we ran when we were backed up in the fourth quarter, that was a great call by Doug [Berry, offensive co-ordinator] and Bobby [Dyce, passing game co-ordinator] and great execution," said Miller. "When you call a play like that in that situation, you have some concerns about the execution of that play.

"It's not a play you'd normally call in that situation, which is one of the reasons it was a great call. It was an unexpected play that we executed well and it was a game-changing play."

Stamps went galloping on the next Edmonton drive on what would have been a long gain, but Tad Kornegay smacked the ball loose for James Patrick to recover.

Edmonton had one more possession but opted to punt after Ray was sacked deep in Edmonton territory by Keith Shologan.

Ray completed 22 of 31 passes for 319 yards. Durant was 15-of-28 for 238 yards, with a first-quarter pass intercepted by Thompson.

Edmonton next plays in Winnipeg on July 24, with the Riders in Calgary later that same day.