Esks miss playoffs; first time in 35 years
Canadian Press
10/14/2006 6:06:50 PM
EDMONTON (CP) - The longest run of consecutive playoff appearances in North American professional sports came to an end when the Toronto Argonauts defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 28-25 and knocked the reigning Grey Cup champions out of playoff contention Saturday.
Edmonton had made it to the CFL playoffs 34 years in a row.
Trailing 21-10 late in the game, the Eskimos made a furious attempt to keep their post-season streak alive as Ricky Ray found Jason Tucker in the end zone from 12 yards for a touchdown. Ray hit Tucker again for the two-point convert to make it 21-18 with less than four minutes left.
They kept fighting for more and were almost within field goal range when Ray was picked off for the second time of the day by Byron Parker, who ran the ball 75 yards with little more than a minute remaining to put the Argos up 28-18.
Ray engineered one more drive and ran the ball in from seven yards as time expired.
Toronto, 10-6, moved into first place in the East Division two points ahead of Montreal.
The Eskimos, 5-11, again let scoring chances slip through their fingers.
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Canadian Press
10/14/2006 6:06:50 PM
EDMONTON (CP) - The longest run of consecutive playoff appearances in North American professional sports came to an end when the Toronto Argonauts defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 28-25 and knocked the reigning Grey Cup champions out of playoff contention Saturday.
Edmonton had made it to the CFL playoffs 34 years in a row.
Trailing 21-10 late in the game, the Eskimos made a furious attempt to keep their post-season streak alive as Ricky Ray found Jason Tucker in the end zone from 12 yards for a touchdown. Ray hit Tucker again for the two-point convert to make it 21-18 with less than four minutes left.
They kept fighting for more and were almost within field goal range when Ray was picked off for the second time of the day by Byron Parker, who ran the ball 75 yards with little more than a minute remaining to put the Argos up 28-18.
Ray engineered one more drive and ran the ball in from seven yards as time expired.
Toronto, 10-6, moved into first place in the East Division two points ahead of Montreal.
The Eskimos, 5-11, again let scoring chances slip through their fingers.
...
For as long as I've been following sports, playoffs and Grey Cups for the Eskies have been a birthright. As a kid I started to get interested in football right around the time they last missed the playoffs. I can't recall off the top which came first, the Eskies or the Steelers as 'my team' for football.
I think I'll prefer to take a glass is half full view. It was a heck of a run, and I have a lot of great Grey Cup memories, especially the last one. Wow.
to all the greats who played over those 34 years.
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