Head coach Jason Maas is standing by his decision to have the Edmonton Eskimos kick a field goal on third-and-four while trailing the Calgary Stampeders by seven points with 1:56 left in Sunday’s Western Final.

The Eskimos had the ball on Calgary’s 13-yard line and elected for the chip-shot field goal instead of keeping their offence on the field. The decision seemed to be a head scratcher at the time, since the Eskimos had already attempted, and converted, a third-and-10 earlier in the drive.

Sean Whyte converted the 20-goal field goal and the Eskimos kicked the ball back to the Stampeders. Calgary picked up one first down and then punted the ball back to Edmonton with 20 seconds to play. Jamill Smith then muffed the punt and Calgary recovered to close out the game. 

Had Smith recovered his fumble, Edmonton still would have needed to drive more than 60 yards in less than 20 seconds to get a touchdown for the win.

“Figuring I had a timeout, our defence gets a stop, we kick it deep, pin them deep, [and the] defence gets a stop,” Maas explained of his decision Sunday night. “We had a minute or so to go down and score a touchdown and beat them. That was the mindset — ultimately it didn’t work out that way.

“I just felt like at that moment, we could kick the field goal, have our defence stand on their head, and get the ball back. When it doesn’t work, there’s questions to be asked and consequences to it as far as you could lose a ballgame — that was the case.”

TSN Football Insider Dave Naylor said after Sunday’s loss he expects Eskimos fans to remember the call “for a very long time.”

Maas, however, said he will never regret playing for the win, instead of immediately attempting to play to tie the game with a touchdown in that situation.

“Will I look back on it and wonder - maybe - but I won’t ever regret it,” Maas said. “It was a faith decision, saying your defence is going to get a stop, your specials will get the ball back and your offence will go down and score. In this one game and one moment, it didn’t — we’ll all live with it, and it’ll go down as a loss.”

Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly also backed Maas’ decision on Sunday night, saying he believes the team would have scored a game-winning touchdown if the defence forced a two-and-out.

“The decision was made based on the faith we’d get a stop and get the ball back,” Reilly said. “Given what we’ve done with less than a minute on the clock — offensively, when we need to do stuff — it was just faith that we’d get the ball back with a minute left.

“Everyone is going to question it in hindsight, but it was based on winning a football game. At the end of the day, if we get the ball back with 45 seconds left, I know we’re going to go down and score. [But] that’s part of the game. It’s the way it goes.”

Maas will speak at the Eskimos year end availability on Tuesday and his last-minute decision is expected to once again be a main topic of conversation.