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Eskimos heat up in win over Hamilton

Jul 10, 2011 - 3:23 AM Edmonton, AB (Sports Network) - Ricky Ray threw for 388 yards and a touchdown as he led the Edmonton Eskimos to a 28-10 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Commonwealth Stadium.

Ray converted 21-of-31 passes for the Eskimos (2-0) a week after producing an efficiency rating of 149.0 in a win over Saskatchewan on the road. Fred Stamps finished with seven receptions for 178 yards and a major for an Edmonton squad which posted its 600th all-time victory.

Hamilton (0-2) signal-caller Kevin Glenn connected on 21-of-33 passes for 219 yards, one TD and one interception while fighting through rough weather and an attacking Edmonton defense. Running back Avon Cobourne, who arrived in Hamilton after playing on back-to-back Grey Cup champions with Montreal, recorded just 35 yards rushing on nine attempts.

"Play wise I don't think we had a lot of missed assignments," Glenn said of his team's efforts. "It was just one of those games where they made more plays than we did. They didn't do anything differently than we expected, they just came out and beat us."

Kicker Damon Duval put the first points on the board in the opening quarter when he knocked through a 20-yard field goal for the Eskimos to give the hosts a 3-0 edge.

Play was interrupted midway through the first frame as lightning forced the teams to retreat to their respective locker rooms for a period of about 12 minutes before action resumed.

In the second frame it was again Duval who responded for Edmonton with a 41- yard field goal, followed afterwards by a single when the kicker just missed a 37-yard field goal attempt to the left.

Following the three-minute warning, Ray quickly read the blitz and dropped a short pass over the top to Stamps who then headed up the field and raced 68 yards into the end zone to make the score 14-0 for the Esks.

Receiver Chris Williams gave Hamilton a spark late in the first half, catching a pair of passes and adding yardage on an end-around, but he also failed to secure a pass on second down and that brought on kicker Justin Medlock who converted a 42-yard field goal for the first points of the day for the visitors.

The second half opened under a steady stream of rain but that didn't stop Ray, who threw for 244 yards and ran for another 18 in the first half, from moving the ball down the field and into the end zone when he handed off to Jerome Messam from one yard out. With the PAT the Eskimos saw their advantage balloon to 21-3. Messam finished the meeting with 17 carries for a game-high 104 yards and earned plenty of respect from his quarterback.

"He's a big, fast guy," Ray remarked of his tough running back. "When you get a crease like that he's able to hit it and turn it into some big yards, and when we get around the goal line he's a big. physical guy who's able to break some arm tackles and get into the end zone."

Despite being ineffective for much of the game, Glenn was still in the huddle for the Ti-Cats early in the fourth quarter and used the opportunity to toss a six-yard TD pass to Dave Stala, cutting the deficit to 11 points with much of the final period remaining.

Edmonton began to feel the pressure from the Ti-Cats on the next possession when Ray was separated from the ball and it was recovered by Hamilton's Markeith Knowlton, but the visitors failed to capitalize on the first turnover of the season by the Esks.

With the ball back in the hands of Edmonton, the home team again leaned on Ray who completed passes to Stamps, Jason Barnes and Marcus Henry before Messam burst up the middle on an 11-yard TD run to make the score 28-10.

With less than three minutes remaining and the ball deep in their own zone, the Tiger-Cats opted to run the ball and throw underneath coverage rather than aggressively make plays further down the field. Glenn did make some connections with teammates, but on third down on Edmonton's side of the field his final throw of the series fell far short of its intended target.

Game Notes

Edmonton is now 45-16-2 in home openers...Ray recorded the 54th 300-yard passing game of his career...The Tiger-Cats have lost four straight regular season games dating back to last year and now trail the Eskimos in the all- time series by a count of 51-28-1 dating back to 1950...Hamilton is set to face off against Saskatchewan at home next week, a matchup between two winless clubs.