Big kick lifts Eskimos to victory
Blue Bombers beaten by 53-yard field goal in game’s final seconds
WINNIPEG— Sean Whyte was thinking about leaving the game of football last month to take a job in the real world.
Instead, the kicker/punter signed with the Edmonton Eskimos and has experienced the elation of playing sports again.
The seven-year veteran booted a 53-yard field goal as time expired to give his team a 24-23 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday.
“I had a job opportunity to be a technician and it pays a lot better than football,” said Whyte, who signed as a free agent with the Eskimos on Sept. 4.
“I was going to pick up my resume (to hand in) when I got the call (from Edmonton). So if I had put in my resume that day, I was going to get hired and I would have said forget football.”
Whyte had been cut by the Montreal Alouettes on Aug. 10 after being a backup, a team he’d been with since a 2011 trade moved him from the B.C. Lions.
He also made field goals from18 and 26 yards in the battle against the Bombers, a victory that extended Edmonton’s winning streak to four games and lifted its record to 10-4.
While Whyte was feeling the euphoria of kicking the winning points, he’s now 10 of 11 for the Esks, it was just the opposite for his Bombers (4-9) counterpart.
Lirim Hajrullahu missed four fieldgoal attempts from 45, 44, 43 and 40 yards. He got a single point off one. One attempt hit the left post, while a convert attempt hit the right post. He also made a convert.
However, with 1:02 remaining in the game, Hajrullahu was good on a 45-yard attempt to give Winnipeg a 23-21 lead.
It looked like he was going to pull off the victory, but Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly got away from a Bomber defender in the final drive and moved the ball close enough for Whyte to give it a shot.
“We’re friends and I feel bad for the guy,” Whyte said of Hajrullahu. “I’ve been through that situation and it’s tough mentally to get through it ’cause he’s probably in the locker room and guys are kind of looking at him. I told him after the game, ‘It’s only going to make you mentally tougher.’”
Hajrullahu was unavailable to speak to the media after the game.
Reilly completed 30 of 42 pass attempts for 298 yards with two interceptions and one TD.
Kenny Stafford had a 55-yard touchdown reception for Edmonton and Adarius Bowman grabbed a pass for the two-point convert following a one-yard TD run from Reilly.
Troy Stoudermire scored a 78-yard touchdown on a punt return for Winnipeg and receiver Nick Moore caught a five-yard TD pass from Matt Nichols. Cameron Marshall had a two-yard TD run. Nichols was 22 of 39 for 320 yards with no picks and one TD.
Bombers head coach Mike O’ Shea was asked if the team can continue with their sophomore kicker, who has made 22 of 32 field-goal attempts this season.
“Obviously, we’ve got to look at how we’re going to win games going forward,” O’ Shea responded. “But at first glance, he had a bad day. We’ve got to find a way to pull him back up.”
Winnipeg led 7-6 after the first quarter, but Edmonton took a 13-7 lead into halftime.
“That’s pressure football,” Reilly said. “To be honest with you, those types of situations are what make football exciting. We didn’t want to leave ourselves in that situation, obviously.”