MONTREAL — Cue the quarterback conversation in Edmonton once again.

For the second time this season, Matt Nichols started a game at quarterback for the Edmonton Eskimos that James Franklin finished, edging the Montreal Alouettes 15-12 on Thursday.

But it was third-stringer and short-yardage specialist Jordan Lynch who scored the only offensive touchdown of the game in front of 21,170 at Percival Molson Stadium.

And it was Grant Shaw’s 28-yard field goal with no time left on the clock that spelled the difference, as Edmonton improved to 2-2 on the road this season, and 5-2 overall to reclaim first place overall for at least one night.

The funny thing is, Shaw came into the game as the hottest kicker in the CFL having hit 21 in a row, only to have a new streak see him go 0-for-3 between the uprights leading up to the game-clincher.

“I can assure that everybody’s going to remember the one at the end a lot more than they’ll remember the other three,” said Eskimos head coach Chris Jones. “He’s been very consistent for us all year, unfortunately tonight he didn’t hit the field goals that he normally hits.

“He’s a great kicker, he’s a three-way guy for us and he stepped up big and won the game for us when we needed him.”

Offensively, great wasn’t quite the word Jones used to describe things Thursday, as a fumble by receiver Wallace Miles that was returned for a touchdown by linebacker Kyler Elsworth set the tone for a first half that saw Edmonton trail by 12-0 until Lynch hit Kenny Stafford on a four-yard toss.

“It couldn’t have been any uglier in the first quarter, turning the ball over and doing things that are uncharacteristic for our football team putting us in a little bit of a hole,” said Jones, whose squad blew a 13-point halftime lead of their own one week earlier. “But a tribute to our team, they kept on grinding, kept believing in what we’re doing and we just played until the very last play.”

Defensively, the Eskimos earned a season-high eight sacks on Rakeem Cato, led by a trio from defensive end Odell Willis, as they shut the opposition off the scoreboard in the second half.

“We did some stuff to make him pat the football.

“He was going to make a play and we inserted a guy back into the box who wasn’t there previously and it allowed us to get some chances to get him on the ground.”

Montreal answered back with four sacks of their own, as kicker Boris Bede hit both his field-goal attempts.

Edmonton led in first downs (22-8), yards (379-190), turnovers surrendered (4-2) and time of possession (35:14-24:46), yet the game still came down to a last-second field goal.

“The defence made some really big plays and they helped us out,” said Franklin, while Nichols was unavailable to media due to injury. “We all had our struggles and things that we messed up on but we came together as a team really good.

“We weren’t too relaxed. Being down, we had a real sense of urgency and the guys responded really well.”

gerry.moddejonge@sunmedia.ca

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