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But the way his teammates saw it was a different story.

After coming up with his first Canadian Football League interception, the six-foot-two, 190-pound Waterloo product immediately found himself at the bottom of a dog pile of exuberant Eskimos.

“When someone like Hoover, who was drafted here in Edmonton — I think he’s played every game since he’s been in Edmonton but one, and that one we had to force him off to give him some rest and get him back in — he’s worked his way into the starting role and worked hard for it,” Eskimos head coach Jason Maas said of the 26-year-old native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., who was drafted in the fourth round (31st overall) in 2017. “To be a starter in this league is awesome and it’s well deserved by him, and I think his teammates just recognize that, how much work he’s put in and what a great teammate he is.

“I think they are all great teammates, but you get excited for a guy like that who’s done it the right way, been brought up in our organization and makes an impactful play like that. And it was a great play, to boot. It wasn’t very easy. Just making the catch is one thing, but he turned it into a 29-yard gain, as well.”

One negated interception righted is no big deal. But to have both players come up with one that counted after being robbed a week earlier is almost enough to make you believe there was intelligent design at work.

“I do, man,” said Johnson, whose first interception as a member of the Eskimos also came against Prukop in the second half, to go along with a team-high five tackles, including one for a loss, and two pass knockdowns. “Like I told Hoover and Money Hunter last week, there was just a reason for them taking away our picks last week. I told them just keep playing ball, keep being a ball hawk and the ball will come back in your hands.