18°c Partly cloudy
6°c Clear
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Eskimos charge falls short
Als guard Ryan Bomben (64) is congratulated by teammates after his touchdown. (GRAHAM HUGHES / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
MONTREAL -- Matt Nichols came oh-so close to living a backup quarterback's dream.
The Edmonton second stringer went in for starter Kerry Joseph with his team trailing 20-4 to start the fourth quarter and came within a missed two-point convert of forcing overtime as the Montreal Alouettes prevailed 27-25 over the Eskimos on Sunday afternoon.
A win would have clinched a CFL playoff berth for Edmonton (7-10), which now must hope for either Hamilton (6-11) to lose Thursday against Toronto or the Eskimos to win on home turf over the rival Calgary Stampeders in their regular-season finale on Friday night.
"It was one of those things that I came into the game when they had a big lead and they were running different defences than they were earlier, giving us a few holes, and I was just able to get a few of those balls down the middle," said Nichols.
"This team competed hard, we just turned it on a bit late. Now we've got one left that we have to win."
Nichols threw a pair of touchdown passes to Fred Stamps, including one with no time left on the clock, and another to Shamawd Chambers in 15 minutes of work that turned a comfortable Montreal lead into a cliffhanger.
But confusion on the final two-point convert attempt saw Nichols loft a ball to the back of the end zone where no receiver was close to making a catch.
"Matt did a phenomenal job," said coach Kavis Reed. "We knew that if we had some difficulty handling the pressure, a change of pace at quarterback would be the thing we wanted to do.
"We had a plan of what we needed to score and executed it pretty highly. It's unfortunate what happened at the end."
Anthony Calvillo threw touchdown passes to Bo Bowling and Ryan Bomben and back-up quarterback Adrian McPherson ran one in for Montreal (11-6), which has secured first place in the East Division. They close with a meaningless game Saturday in Winnipeg.
-- The Canadian Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 29, 2012 C2
More Football
- Back to Top
- Return to Football
More Football
(1 of 3 articles for this month)
A tough act to follow
05/16/2013 1:00 AM 0There are tough encores in sports, but just imagine what is staring the Toronto Argonauts in the mug today after ...
Poll
Most Popular Football
- Big Blue will have one helluva punter
- New Blue stadium lives up to the hype; now it's up to you
- Argos release ex-Bomber Brink
- Bombers training camp opens June 2
- New GM Ed Hervey says Edmonton Eskimos have upgraded their offence
- CFL gains when draft picks go south
- Cowboys QB Romo will miss at least 3 weeks of off-season workouts after removal of cyst on back
- Man with no plan tries again
- Blue sign draft picks Fitzgerald, Pavlopoulos
- Police: Guns and $2,000 cash stolen from Md. home of Ravens' RB Ray Rice
- New Blue stadium lives up to the hype; now it's up to you
- Argos release ex-Bomber Brink
- Bombers training camp opens June 2
- Big Blue will have one helluva punter
- Bombers pick Fitzgerald, Pavlopoulos
- Blue sign draft picks Fitzgerald, Pavlopoulos
- Bombers load camp roster with two DBs, LB, receiver
- Bombers handing off opening-day ball to fans
- CFL gains when draft picks go south
- Game ball to tour communities before grand opening of new Bomber stadium
- Bombers detail parking plan for new stadium
- Bomber boozers will change or they 'won't be here': GM Mack
- Hall turning heads at Bomber mini-camp
- Bombers are watching you
- CFL draft pick Mulumba would be proud to be a Bomber
- Bomber security to wave wands this season
- Bomber GM silent on Tebow's CFL prospects
- New Blue stadium lives up to the hype; now it's up to you
- Bombers boast record season-ticket sales
- Blue in the red: Bombers to report a loss of almost $800,000
- Bombers handing off opening-day ball to fans
- New Blue stadium lives up to the hype; now it's up to you
- CFL gains when draft picks go south
- Argos release ex-Bomber Brink
- Bombers detail parking plan for new stadium
- Bombers tackle parking issue
- Game ball to tour communities before grand opening of new Bomber stadium
- Blue in the red: Bombers to report a loss of almost $800,000
- Hall, Clement go to school
- Blue Bombers board of directors accepting nominations
- Bomber security to wave wands this season
- Bombers handing off opening-day ball to fans
- New Blue stadium lives up to the hype; now it's up to you
- If it was up to me, I would have kept Brink and Elliott
Ads by Google
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.
Have Your Say
New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.