The nationally No. 1-ranked Colts improved to 3-0 on Sunday with a 28-18 victory over No. 4 Edmonton Wildcats at Clarke Park.
With the result there are three teams one game back of the Colts in the standings. Both the Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder won on Sunday and join the Wildcats at 2-1.
“It was a hard-fought victory,” said Colts head coach John Stevens.
“On the stat sheet we gave up a lot of yards but we made some plays when we had to and limited some of those drives to field goals, rather than touchdowns and in the end that was the difference in the game.”
The Colts now get a breather and don’t play again until Sept. 9, when they are at home.
Calgary spotted the Wildcats a 6-0 lead in the first half before their offence got untracked.
Edmonton got a pair of field goals by Ideen Samadi to open the scoring, from 25 and 30 yards.
Chucks Okafor got Calgary on the board a one-yard plunge with three-and-a-half minutes remaining before the break. Andrew Fabian kicked the extra point.
Jeremy Long also dove over from a yard out with six minutes remaining in the third quarter and Derek Cooper found receiver Rodreke Joseph with a 10-yard touchdown pass to give Calgary a 21-6 advantage heading into the final period.
Samadi kicked another field goal and Jon Waters scored from one yards and it was 21-16 Colts with eight minutes to go.
Fabian tossed a five-yard scoring TD to Long on a fake field goal with 4:27 on the clock to give the Colts more breathing room at 28-16. Calgary surrendered a late safety.
The Colts won despite being without an important piece of their offence. Receiver Jimmy Ralph was back home in Raymond with an undisclosed injury. Ralph had eight catches for 150 yards in that contest and had a two TD catches in the Aug. 12 opening-game win in Saskatoon.
“The break is a god-send. It gives us a chance to heal up some injuries. We’ll still be practicing this week though,” said Stevens.
Cooper finished with 339 yards and a TD passing on 20-of-31 attempts. Nik Petros led the receivers with five catches for 57 yards. Ben Hnatiuk had four catches for 85 and Joseph four for 74. Okafor rushed 18 times for 41 yards.
The Colts and Wildcats will meet again in Calgary on Sunday, Sept. 16. Prior to that the Colts will host winless Edmonton Huskies on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 2 p.m.
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