Otha Foster III had a solid performance in the Edmonton Eskimo’s 23-12 road victory over Ottawa Friday in week 3 of the Candian Football League season.
The 2006 Varnado High School graduate, who was playing in his second game of the season after being on the injured list in week 1, posted five tackles in the victory.
Foster said he feels like he played fairly well.
“I dropped an interception like I did last week. I had five tackles and a pass breakup. I also missed two tackles, which is uncharacteristic of me. I’m getting back out there. I missed the last two weeks of training camp, the two preseason games and the first game of the season because of my injury, so I’m a little bit rusty,” Foster said.
Foster was fourth in tackles for Edmonton in Friday’s game. Patrick Watkins led the club with seven. Deon Lacey and Korey Jones tied for second at six.
Quarterback Matt Nichols completed 18 of his 33 passes for 242 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.
The touchdown went to Kendrial Lewis. Lewis topped the team with four receptions for 92 yards and a score.
Running back Shakir Bell ran 18 times for 144 yards.
Bell, along with defensive end Marcus Howard, was selected as one of the three top players of the week. Howard had two sacks. One was good for an 11-yard loss while the other was a 5-yard loss. On the second one, he forced a fumble.
Kicker Grant Shaw was on target with field goals. He nailed all five of his attempts to account for 15 points.
The Eskimos led 5-0 after one quarter and 8-3 by halftime. The margin stayed at five through three as the two teams tallied three points each in the third. Edmonton outscored Ottawa 12-6 in the fourth quarter to reflect the final score in front of a crowd of 21,078.
The win was Edmonton’s second straight victory, following the bye week. The first game was a 26-11 loss to Toronto.
It was the second-consecutive week Edmonton defeated Ottawa. Last week’s win was a 46-17 victory.
Edmonton is 2-1 this season.
Foster talked about the 2-1 start.
“The first game against Toronto, we had a lot of guys injured. We had a lot of guys that wouldn’t normally play playing, but they did a good job. We had a lot of guys back healthy for our second game and we came back. We rallied and have been playing well since then. One game doesn’t define a season,” Foster said.
Edmonton’s next game is set for Saturday against Winnipeg.
This begins a 2-game homestand for Edmonton.
The Eskimos play Saskatchewan July 31.
Both teams are in the same division with Edmonton.
Winnipeg is 2-2 while Saskatchewan is 0-4.
Edmonton is tied with BC for second place in the West Division. Calgary leads the division with a 3-1 record.