Ottawa Renegades Official Site

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Bringing HOME the victory!

Renegades enjoy second straight win at Frank Clair Stadium as Ottawa improves to 2-2

Renegades QB Kerry Joseph threw for 318 yards and two touchdowns, while also accumulating 68 rushing yards on 11 carries in the Ottawa win.

Yardstick Statistics

Individual Statistics

Team Statistics

Play-By-Play Statistics

Scoring Penalties Statistics

Individual Defensive Statistics

OTTAWA - The Stampede may be happening in Calgary, but the Renegades showed the party can't always be taken on the road.

A thunderstorm caused a late start to the game (delay of 28 minutes), but the lightning may have been the spark Ottawa needed as the Renegades won their second straight home game 33-18, putting on a show for the 16,303 fans in attendance at Frank Clair Stadium.

With the win, the Renegades improved to 2-2 after the opening four weeks of the CFL season and find themselves tied for second in the East Division. Ottawa is tied with Toronto as the No. 2 team in the conference, behind the 2-1 Montreal Alouettes, who had a bye this week.

"Pleased. I thought it was solid football. Not perfect, but we've been up and down offensively and we seemed to move the sticks and generate opportunities for ourselves; get some drives and defensively we smothered them up. They're going to be a good team, don't fool yourselves," were the post-game assessments head coach and general manager Joe Paopao gave to the media after the contest. "It's always good to win at home. "We needed more consistency. We needed to dig it out and play field position when it was critical and we did that. We're 2-0 at home and that's what we were trying to create - the legacy of playing tough at home."

The story of the game was the Renegades offence, which went from anemic to explosive. Ottawa had 27 first downs - more than doubling the output from last Friday's loss in Vancouver. The Renegades lit up 563 offensive yards, including 318 yards passing from Kerry Joseph (23-of-32, two touchdowns and an interception) and dominated ball control, handling possession for nearly two-thirds of the game (37 min, 45 seconds).

The top individual performance of the evening belonged to Ottawa's starting tailback.

Josh Ranek rushed for 138 yards in the first half making him the first running back in Renegades history to rush over 100-yards in the first half of play. Ranek executed a 66-yard run, the longest in his career. Ranek rushed 20 times for a total of 164 yards in the game, tying a club record for total carries and surpassing Ottawa's record for most yards by a running back in a game.

Ranek wasn't the only Renegade to shine in the spotlight. Korey Banks became the Canadian Football League's leader for the most interceptions in the 2005 season thus far. A key pick in the third quarter, just as the Stamps were re-establishing momentum, gave Banks interception No. 3 of the campaign.

Ottawa's defence played a solid game and provided scoring for the team. The first Renegades touchdown of the night came after Robert Grant rocked Calgary quarterback Henry Burris, leading to him coughing up the ball. Kyries Hebert scooped up the recovery and scored a 14-yard touchdown to give Ottawa a 7-0 advantage. Banks' pick was one of two interceptions on the night. Rookie Greg Moss came up with a timely one late in regulation to help secure the victory.

The Renegades offence proved to be trouble for Calgary's defense as Joseph continued to be efficient in the air and on the ground (he ran the ball for 68 yards). Joseph's two touchdown passes were to Yo Murphy, who had an outstanding evening. Murphy led the game in receptions with 132 yards on six passes, including a pair in double-coverage that were outstanding grabs and on target.

Calgary hoped to change the momentum of the game with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Henry Burris to Jeremaine Copeland in the last seconds of the first half. They successfully executed another touchdown drive in the third quarter as Joffrey Reynolds ran in for four-yards.

"They have a lot of weapons," said Paopao of Calgary. "They're going to be fine."

However, it would not be enough for the Red and White. Calgary led the total return yards for the game with 229 yards and sacked Joseph five times. Ronney Jenkins returned seven kickoffs for a total of 167 yards.

After Matt Kellett missed his first field goal attempt in the first quarter, hitting the left goal post, he went 4 for 5 the rest of the night, including two 29-yarders.

Now perfect at home for the season, the Renegades have a very short week of preparation before getting set to host the Edmonton Eskimos on Thursday, July 21st at Frank Clair Stadium (7:30 p.m.). The two teams began the season with a decisive Eskimos win on opening day at Commonwealth Stadium and Ottawa hopes to exact revenge.

Tickets for the Week 5 affair are available either at the Renegades ticket office (1015 Bank Street), on the Internet (http://www.capitaltickets.ca), by phone (613.599.3267 or 877.788.3267), any Sports Experts location in the Ottawa and Gatineau regions as well as the Corel Centre Box Office in Kanata.