Argos extend hot streak
Earn fourth straight win over lowly Esks
TORONTO Ricky Ray threw three touchdowns and tied a club record for consecutive completions Sunday as the red-hot Toronto Argonauts continued to roll with a 3633 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos.
Ray finished the night 30of-35 for 413 yards, including TD passes to Jason Barnes, John Chiles and Chad Owens against his former team as Toronto (5-2) won its fourth straight.
Ray’s 17 straight completions in the first half tied an Argonauts’ club record set by Mike Rae in 1975 in a game against the Montreal Alouettes.
Backup quarterback Zach Collaros also threw a TD for Toronto, which is on its longest winning streak since 2007 and leads the CFL East Division by six points over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly was 35-of-46 for 511 yards and three touchdowns as the Eskimos (1-6) lost their fifth straight game.
Grant Shaw added four field goals for Edmonton, which was without injured star linebacker and reigning CFL defensive player of the year J.C. Sherritt.
Leading 17-16 at the half, Toronto stopped Edmonton on its first drive of the third quarter and stretched its advantage to eight when Ray hit a wide open Chiles with a 31-yard touchdown pass.
Edmonton then conceded a safety for a 26-16 Argonauts lead with just under five minutes to go in the quarter. Toronto followed that up with an efficient four-play, 64-yard drive that was capped off by a six-yard TD pass from Ray to Owens that made the score 33-16.
Desperate for something positive, the Eskimos then watched as Shaw missed a 28-yard field goal and had to settle for a single point with a little more than 10 minutes to go in the fourth.
Reilly connected with Shamawd Chambers on a 22-yard touchdown pass with about five minutes left on the clock to make it 33-23, but Edmonton’s attempt at a two-point conversion failed.
The Eskimos got the ball back and Shaw kicked a 30-yard field goal to cut Toronto’s lead to seven with two minutes to play.
Toronto took the ball on its own 35 and Ray found Chiles on a 49-yard pass play to set up Noel Prefontaine’s 26-yard field goal, his second of the night, that effectively killed off Edmonton’s hopes.
Reilly then hooked up with Fred Stamps with one second left on the clock.