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Or, at least, the Roughriders defence didn’t allow them to do so in the first half.

Following a 61-yard gain on a reception into the red zone by a wide-open Derel Walker, the Eskimos took a 7-0 lead on a three-yard run by C.J. Gable.

It was their first opening-quarter touchdown in five games, since reaching the end zone on their initial possession in a Week 2 loss to the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

In the four games in between, the Eskimos earned a combined six points in first quarters, and came into Thursday’s game having been outscored by a total of 24 points in first quarters.

Unfortunately for Reilly, who came in as the league’s most accurate starting quarterback completing 68.7 per cent of his passes, he only had 25 more first-half yards Thursday on the way to completing four of 13 passes in the first 30 minutes.

That was, however, two more yards than his counterpart Collaros, who came back from a concussion to respond with back-to-back passes to Jordan Williams-Lambert for a rare red zone visit of their own, for the first time in a long time.

A defensive pass-interference call against Mercy Maston, playing in his first game since an Achilles injury ended his 2017 campaign, saw the first quarter end with Marcus Thigpen finding the end zone on a third-and-goal carry from the one yard-line to tie the score 7-7.

Edmonton regained the lead on a 48-yard field goal by Sean Whyte to open the second.

With two changes to an offensive line making up for the loss of centre Justin Sorensen (calf), Reilly used his legs not only to escape pressure, but pick up a couple of first downs.