Gregory Campbell / Ticats.ca
CANADIAN PRESS
EDMONTON — Jerome Messam ran for a pair of touchdowns as the Edmonton Eskimos remained perfect to start the season, defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 28-10 on Saturday night.
Messam ran for 104 yards on 17 carries as the Eskimos improved to 2-0. Last season Edmonton didn’t get its second win until Aug. 28, going 2-9 before its third victory a month later.
Edmonton’s Ricky Ray completed 21-of-31 passes for 388 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, while Kevin Glenn was 21-for-31 for 226 yards with an interception and a touchdown for Hamilton (0-2).
A downpour slowed both teams in the early stages, letting up just long enough for the Eskimos to put together a drive that culminated in a 20-yard Damon Duval field goal 6:30 into the first.
Less than a minute later, a very close lightning strike chased the teams into the locker rooms for a 13-minute delay.
After play resumed neither team could add to the score and the first quarter ended with the Eskimos up 3-0.
Duval booted a 41-yard field goal four minutes into the second and missed one from 37 yards for a single four minutes later to make it 7-0 Edmonton.
The Eskimos finally provided the game’s first real offensive spark with 2:18 left in the second as quarterback Ricky Ray hit Fred Stamps with a pass and he bounced off Ti-Cat Carlos Thomas and turned on the jets to out-race a pair of pursuers for a 68-yard touchdown.
Justin Medlock kicked a field goal with just over a minute left in the first half to get Hamilton on the board at 14-3.
Edmonton had 304 yards of offence in the first half to Hamilton’s 113.
The Eskimos came back from the dressing room with a long drive that including a huge 32-yard run by Messam, leading the team to call his name again for a one-yard touchdown plunge to make it 21-3 Edmonton five minutes into the third.
Hamilton was threatening to get back into the game with four minutes left but a sack by Edmonton’s Weldon Brown on Glenn pushed the Tiger-Cats out of scoring position.
But the Tiger-Cats bounced back on their next possession as they opened the fourth quarter with a scoring drive as Glenn found Dave Stala in the end zone with a six-yard pass to cut the lead to 21-10.
Edmonton put the game out of reach with five minutes left to go as Messam went over the 100-yards rushing mark for the game with an 11-yard TD run for his second of the game.
Both teams are back on the field next Saturday as the Ti-Cats host Saskatchewan and the Eskimos welcome the B.C. Lions to Edmonton.
