{"id":73466,"date":"2025-08-16T06:15:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T06:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/73466\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T06:15:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T06:15:07","slug":"elks-ride-justin-rankin-to-victory-over-argos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/73466\/","title":{"rendered":"Elks ride Justin Rankin to victory over Argos"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDMONTON \u2014 Justin Rankin<\/a> spearheaded both the run and passing attack for 179 total yards, powering the Edmonton Elks to a 28\u201320\u00a0win over the Toronto Argonauts at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday night.<\/p>\n

The dynamic runner totalled 92 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, and added 87 yards on five receptions, bouncing back from his zero-rushing-yard outing in Week 10 to help the Elks improve to 3-6.<\/p>\n

Cody Fajardo<\/a> continued to be hyper-efficient, posting a stat line of 25-for-31 with 273 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Steven Dunbar Jr<\/a>. flashed in the receiving game with seven catches for 64 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n

Nick Arbuckle<\/a> threw for a career-high 382 yards on 30\u2013of-42 passing, adding a touchdown in the losing effort. Despite a fourth straight 300-yard passing game, it marked his first career loss to Edmonton. Dejon Brissett<\/a> and David Ungerer III each had 96 receiving yards, while Damonte Coxie<\/a> added 60 before exiting late in the fourth with an injury.<\/p>\n

RELATED
\u00bb 3 stats that defined Edmonton\u2019s Week 11 win over Toronto<\/a>
\u00bb Toronto, Edmonton by the numbers<\/a>
\u00bb Depth Charts:\u00a0TOR<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0EDM<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Injury Reports: Stay up to date<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Argos wasted no time attacking Edmonton\u2019s bottom-ranked pass defence, as Arbuckle\u2019s first pass of the contest went 56 yards to a wide-open Ungerer III. Coxie added a 19-yard catch-and-run to reach the red zone, but the drive fizzled into a 14-yard Lirim Hajrullahu<\/a> field goal.<\/p>\n

Rankin \u2014 who entered Week 11 leading all CFL running backs with 340 receiving yards \u2014 jump-started Edmonton\u2019s reply with a 24-yard grab, setting up Vincent Blanchard\u2019s 30-yard field goal to tie it.<\/p>\n

After the Argos\u2019 next series came up empty, the Elks continued to ride Rankin to the tune of three touches for 58 yards, including a 28-yard burst where he hit a top speed of 31.5 km\/h. But, in the red zone, linebacker Brandon Dozier dropped him for a five-yard loss, stalling the drive and bringing on Blanchard for a 20-yard field goal.<\/p>\n

Toronto answered with a field goal drive of their own, highlighted by Coxie\u2019s 25-yard dash through two tacklers. Hajrullahu hit from 45 yards to tie it 6-6.<\/p>\n

Into the second quarter, it was the defences \u2014 uncharacteristically for both clubs \u2014 setting the tone. Kordell Jackson ended an Argos drive with a second-down sack on Arbuckle, and Wynton McManis<\/a> answered with his first interception of the season.<\/p>\n

Taking over at Edmonton\u2019s 37 after McManis\u2019s pick, the Argos could only muster three points after Arbuckle\u2019s end-zone strike slipped through Kevin Mital<\/a>\u2018s hands. The busy Hajrullahu was good from 20 yards out to restore Toronto\u2019s three-point lead.<\/p>\n

The Elks dialled up the aggression with two minutes left in the first half. Binjimin Victor opened with the longest reception of his career, a 23-yard gain. Kaion Julien-Grant<\/a>\u2018s quick slant got them to the five, and Rankin finished it off, bouncing outside to stroll in for the game\u2019s first touchdown. Blanchard\u2019s convert made it 13-9.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Before halftime, the Argos added a single on John Haggerty<\/a>\u2019s booming punt to make it 13-10, and the dangerous Janarion Grant<\/a> nearly turned Blanchard\u2019s last-second 52-yard miss into six more, outrunning everyone but holder Cole Snyder on the 64-yard return.<\/p>\n

The Argos came out swinging in the second half, intent on dominating physically. Isaac Darkangelo<\/a> set the tone right away, levelling Arkell Smith on the kickoff. Derek Slywka<\/a> followed by blasting Kurleigh Gittens Jr.<\/a>, and McManis capped the quick two-and-out with a sack.<\/p>\n

The spark on defence carried over to Toronto\u2019s offence. Arbuckle sliced up the Elks\u2019 defence with completions to Brissett and Ungerer III for gains of 25 and 21, then finished the drive with a 50\/50 pass to Jake Herslow<\/a>, who wrestled the ball away from Jackson to secure his second major in as many games. Hajrullahu\u2019s extra point made it 17-13.<\/p>\n

Edmonton responded with a field-goal drive to cut the deficit to one. Blanchard redeemed his earlier miss by muscling a 51-yarder through \u2014 his first make from 50-plus yards out this season.<\/p>\n

Looking to keep their foot on the gas, the Argos pinned Fajardo and company deep before forcing a punt to earn favourable field position. Arbuckle \u2014 who has been the CFL\u2019s hottest passer in the red zone this season \u2014 coughed up a rare mistake inside the 20 on Brandon Barlow<\/a>\u2018s strip sack, and Robbie Smith<\/a> was quick to recover for the Elks.<\/p>\n

With the momentum boost, the Elks went back to the well with Rankin. The explosive back notched 49 yards on three touches, and nearly broke free for a house call on a 27-yard scurry. At the goal line with heavy personnel, Fajardo fooled the defence with a play-action pass to Dunbar Jr. in the back of the end zone. Blanchard added the conversion and a single on the kickoff to stretch the lead to seven points.<\/p>\n

Arbuckle went six-for-seven on the answer, but an intentional grounding call inside the 10 marked a second straight red zone trip without a major. Hajrullahu was good on the 29-yarder to cut the deficit to 24-20.<\/p>\n

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Elks looked for some insurance. Dunbar Jr. led the charge with three receptions for 34 yards, but his facemask penalty ended the advance. Blanchard hit the laces on his 43-yard bid, knocking it wide for a single.<\/p>\n

With a chance for a late go-ahead score, the Argos went backwards instead. An illegal hands-to-the-face penalty stalled the drive, and on third-and-20 with two minutes left, they opted to punt. A high snap to Haggerty under pressure led to a turnover on downs and gave the Elks the ball on Toronto\u2019s 35.<\/p>\n

After Blanchard added another field goal, the Argos had one last chance to chase an eight-point deficit. Arbuckle looked for Coxie, but the star receiver was injured on an awkward hit. On third-and-10, Herslow drew a pass interference penalty to keep the comeback hopes alive, only for Mark Kilam\u2019s challenge to overturn the call, sealing the win for Edmonton.<\/p>\n

The Elks head to Ottawa in Week 12 to take on the REDBLACKS on Friday, August 22, while the Argos will be back at BMO Field to face off with the BC Lions on August 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 Justin Rankin spearheaded both the run and passing attack for 179 total yards, powering the Edmonton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-73466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73466","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=73466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}