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<\/p>\nLions head coach Buck Pierce called the interception the turning point of the game.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\u201cA great read and jump,\u201d said Pierce. \u201cOnce he makes that play, nobody is going to catch him.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the fourth quarter Carter made one of the biggest hits of the game, using his shoulder pads to flatten Elks receiver Kurleigh Gittens Jr.<\/p>\n
Listed at five-foot-nine and 175 pounds Carter gave away about two inches and 15 pounds to Gittens.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s made a couple hits like that this year,\u201d said Pierce. \u201cHe\u2019s always around the football if you watch him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke showed his running ability, turning a broken play in the third quarter into a 70-yard touchdown run.<\/p>\n
Rourke faked a handoff and looked to pass. Seeing no one open he pulled the ball down and took off around the right side where he outran several Elks to the end zone and a 27-10 lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just reacted and tried to go,\u201d said Rourke, who finished the night completing 21 of 32 passes for 338 yards, a touchdown and an interception. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where you\u2019re taught if it\u2019s not there, follow the run. That ended up being where the run was.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lions won their fifth consecutive game to improve to 10-7 and moved into second place in the CFL West.<\/p>\n
The Elks saw a two-game win-streak snapped and dropped to 7-10, last in the West and out of the playoff picture. Edmonton led 10-2 midway through the second quarter.<\/p>\n
Edmonton looked to have an edge early in the game, but a swarming Lions defence forced turnovers and mistakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t make enough plays,\u201d said Edmonton head coach Mark Kilam. \u201cWe got hurt with explosions against us and we turned over the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pick-six hurt us, the big quarterback run. Those are big momentum plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lions running back James Butler ran for a touchdown and a two-point convert. He finished the night with 15 carries for 82 yards. <\/p>\n
Keon Hatcher Sr. had a 17-yard touchdown catch.<\/p>\n
Kicker Sean Whyte made field goals of 37 and 34 yards.<\/p>\n
Lions linebacker Ben Hladlik also sacked Fajardo in the end zone for a safety.<\/p>\n
Fajardo completed 19 of 34 passes for 230 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions. He scored on a 15-yard run in the game\u2019s final minute.<\/p>\n
Running back Javon Leake scored on short run while wide receiver Binjimen Victor had a 12-yard touchdown catch.<\/p>\n
Vincent Blanchard added a 45-yard field goal.<\/p>\n
Earlier Friday the Saskatchewan Roughriders lost 17-16 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The Riders, who have wrapped up first place in the West, are 12-5 while the Bombers improved to 9-8, leaving them fourth in the conference and in position for at least a crossover playoff spot.<\/p>\n
With the win, the Lions control their own destiny heading into the final week of the season. They can wrap up second place in the West and a home playoff game with a win in their final game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels really good,\u201d said Carter. \u201cBut we\u2019ve set a goal. I don\u2019t think making the playoffs is where we want to finish.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to finish our last game holding the Grey Cup in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2025.<\/p>\n
Jim Morris, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lions head coach Buck Pierce called the interception the turning point of the game. \u201cA great read and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-221957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}