North Bay Bulldogs

Recap

The final semi-final game of the day was a good match up as the Eskimos’ ever improving offense faced off against the Argos’ tough league leading defense averaging less than TDs against per game. Mid way through the 1st quarter Argos QB Sandy Briar hit Philippe Mondoux on a 40 yard pass and run play to open the scoring. With good defensive play by both sides the Eskimos responded in the 2nd as QB Alistair Bridges connected with Austin Racine on a 3 yard pass play to tie the game at 8. On the ensuing kickoff the Eskimos kicked to Argos Riley Lavergne who has returned almost all his kickoffs for TDs did not disappoint as he returned this one 67 yards to give the Argos a 16 – 8 lead at halftime.

In the 3rd quarter Argos put together a nice drive capped with Scott Dumont exciting the crowd with a 32 yard rush to extend his team’s lead to 24 – 8. On the next drive Eskimos Desmond Plumstead found a seam in the Argos defense and sped to the endzone to bring the Eskimos to within 10 pts.

The Eskimos stopped the Argos offense on their 8 yard line in an exciting goal line stand to give their team a chance to avoid a bigger lead. But the Argos defense came up big as Riley Lavergne chased down a run in the endzone for a 2 point safety. The Argos offense started their drive from their own 25 yard line and after a couple of excellent defensive plays by the Eskimos….they Eskies took over on downs in Argos territory. The Eskimos’ offensive threat Desmond Plumstead was kept from breaking away by the Argos defense but Eskimos put the ball in Matt Mondoux’s hands and behind some outstanding blocking was able to find a seam and scored from 20 yards out and closed the Argos lead to 26 – 24 in the 4th quarter.

Again the Argos special teams came up big as the Eskimos attempted an onside kick but the returner pitched the ball to Riley Lavergne who was able to break a few tackles and outrun the Eskimos to score. Behind 34 – 22 the Eskimos did not give up as early on the next drive Eskimo QB Alistair Bridges hit a perfect strike long pass to Desmond Plumstead on a 55 yard pass and run play to round out the scoring at 34 – 30 as time ran out on the Eskimos comeback attempt. Again, for the 2nd game in a row the Argos benefited from converts and kickoff return TDs and a rare safety they got in this game.