EDMONTON -- Noel Prefontaine isn't with the Argos anymore, but he still is putting the boots to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Edmonton Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray broke a cardinal rule of football late in last night's contest.
A quarterback should never get sacked taking his team out of field goal position with the game on the line.
Luckily for Ray and the Eskimos, they have a pretty good kicker in Prefontaine, who kicked a 49-yard field goal with less than a minute left giving them a 31-30 victory over the Tiger-Cats in front of 35,036 fans at Commonwealth Stadium.
"I've always felt that's where a kicker is worth his money," Prefontaine said. "His ability should be based on what he does in the final seconds of the half or of a game.
"It's a different scenario, you have different things going on mentally. I was just happy I made it, but a lot of the credit goes to the fact we had a good hold and it was a good snap by Taylor (Inglis)."
The kick gave the Eskimos the lead for the first time in the contest.
Up to that point, they had been playing catch-up as the Tiger-Cats, now 4-4 and four points up on the Argos, opened the score on their first play from scrimmage as Kevin Glenn found ex-Argo Arland Bruce III over the top for a 45-yard touchdown pass.
The Ticats had taken the ball over on downs in Eskimos territory after stuffing them on a third-and-inches the previous play.
Glenn and Bruce connected again later in the opening quarter, this time on an underneath route which the Hamilton receiver took all the way into the end zone.
"It was one of those games where you hate to see a loser, but it was better them than us," Eskimos head coach Richie Hall said. "Our guys were resilient, it came down to a last play and it came down to a stop and we made the play.
DEREK.VANDIEST@SUNMEDIA.CA
