Kenny Ladler gives Eskimos spark before falling to Stampeders 45-24

CALGARY — Rookie linebacker Kenny Ladler gave the Edmonton Eskimos a spark late in the first half against the Calgary Stampeders on Monday at McMahon Stadium.

Ladler picked off an errant pass by Stamps quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and ran it back 65 yards into the Calgary end zone. After Grant Shaw booted a single on the ensuing kickoff, Edmonton cut Calgary’s early lead to 24-17 and was right back in it. But that’s as close as the Eskimos would get in the Labour Day matchup.

“We had all the momentum in the world going into halftime,” said Edmonton coach Jason Maas, whose team fell to 5-5 after dropping a 45-24 decision to the 8-1-1 Stampeders.

“Our defence made that play and turned the momentum of the game around.”

Despite the setback, Maas was pleased with Ladler’s performance, which included five tackles to go with his interception and TD.

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“That’s what you want,” said Maas. “You want to have your players make plays in big games like this and that was as big a play as any in the game. It’s too bad that the half had to end at that point.”

Ladler said that it was an amazing feeling to pick off his first CFL pass and to return it across the goal line.

“Just putting our team in a position to come back and just getting that first interception out of my system, it was a blessing,” said Ladler. “It was something very special to me, especially in the Labour Day Classic game.”

Ladler will have the chance to help the Esks earn a measure of redemption against the Stamps on Saturday when the two teams meet for a rematch in Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium.

“I’d like to take the momentum into the next game and possibly make bigger plays like this and the rest of the season,” he said.

Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly went 23 of 36 for 219 yards, including a 36-yard TD pass to Derel Walker in the second quarterback to go with two interceptions.

“Obviously we’re capable of playing better than we did today,” said Reilly, who also ran for a 19-yard score late in the fourth quarter. “It’s one thing to talk about it, but you’ve got to go out and do it. They’re a good football team and they’re in first place for a reason.

“I didn’t feel like we were anywhere near our best performance, so we’ve got to figure out what changes we can make in the next couple of days and figure out how to play a better football game on Saturday.”

Maas agreed with his starting quarterback’s assessment.

“Bottom line is we didn’t play well enough as a team to win this game and they did,” he said. “We’ve got to learn from our mistakes, learn from the film and repay the favour come Saturday.”

Linebacker JC Sherritt added that the Eskimos can build off of some positives from Monday’s game, while learning from their mistakes.

“That’s the name of the game is taking what worked and using it and then improving on what didn’t,” said Sherritt.

Laurence Heinen, The Canadian Press