EDMONTON \u2014 The Edmonton Elks appear to be poised for a second-half surge.<\/p>\n
Steven Dunbar Jr.\u2019s early fourth-quarter touchdown catch proved to be the difference as the Elks emerged with a 28-20 victory over the Toronto Argonauts in a game between two teams clinging to playoff hopes on Friday.<\/p>\n
The Elks (3-6) have now won two games in a row.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really proud of this unit,\u201d said Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo. \u201cOur challenge this week was to do something we haven\u2019t done this year, and that\u2019s to stack two wins on top of each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fajardo, who started the season as backup to Tre Ford, was 25-of-31 passing for 273 yards.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s doing a great job with the offence right now,\u201d said Elks head coach Mark Kilam. \u201cThey are really rallying around each other. I thought (running back Justin) Rankin did a nice job and that the receivers were really blocking on the permitter. A credit to those guys for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
After being held without a single rushing yard in his team\u2019s previous game, Rankin had 92 yards on the ground and 87 yards receiving.<\/p>\n
The Argos (2-8), meanwhile, have lost three straight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the fight was there and guys were battling and we had a chance to win that game,\u201d said Argos head coach Ryan Didwiddie, noticeably calmer than after his team\u2019s previous loss. \u201cBut where we are at it in the season, we can\u2019t afford to lose any more games. It just wasn\u2019t our day.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I feel like we are just snake-bitten, but I thought Nick gave us a chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Argos quarterback Nick Arbuckle threw for 382 yards on the night.<\/p>\n
The teams traded field goals on their first possessions, with Toronto kicker Lirim Hajrullahu converting a 14-yard attempt after the Argos were set up by a 56-yard catch by Dave Ungerer, and Edmonton\u2019s Vincent Blanchard making a 30-yard boot through the uprights.<\/p>\n
Blanchard added a 20-yard field goal late in the opening quarter.<\/p>\n
Hajrullahu responded with a 45-yard field goal to start the second.<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s defence stepped up with a big play five minutes into the second as Wynton McManis intercepted Fajardo at the Edmonton 37. However, the Argos were held to a 20-yard field goal.<\/p>\n
Edmonton finally got the game\u2019s first major with just over a minute to play in the first half as running back Justin Rankin scampered in from two yards out.<\/p>\n
Toronto added a punt single before halftime.<\/p>\n
The Argos surged ahead midway through the third quarter as Arbuckle floated a nine-yard touchdown pass to Jake Herslow.<\/p>\n
The Elks clawed back to within a point behind a 52-yard Blanchard field goal to make it 17-16 with four minutes remaining in the third.<\/p>\n
The Elks’ defence came up big late in the third, forcing an Arbuckle fumble at the Edmonton 17, that was recovered by Robbie Smith.<\/p>\n
Edmonton marched all the way down the field, culminating in a four-yard TD pass deep into the end zone from Fajardo to Dunbar. They added a single off the ensuing kickoff to lead 24-17.<\/p>\n
Toronto came back with a 29-yard field goal from Hajrullahu.<\/p>\n
Blanchard attempted a 43-yard field goal but was wide for a single.<\/p>\n
The Argos attempted a fake punt with two minutes left in the fourth but were stopped short and turned the ball over on downs at their own 35, leading to a 22-yard field goal by Blanchard.<\/p>\n
Edmonton was able to stop a late Toronto drive to put the game away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe belief was there,\u201d Fajardo said. \u201cThere was no panic on the sideline. Last week the offence had the walk-off touchdown and then this week we needed the defence to make a play and they made a play for us. It was truly an incredible night. I\u2019m not sure how much more my heart can handle these CFL games that go down to the wire. But you don\u2019t want it any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toronto had won four of the previous five meetings between the two squads. It was their first meeting of the season, with another coming in Week 15. They split the season series in 2024, with the games being decided by a total of four points. \u2026 Blanchard also handled punting duties with Cody Grace out with a knee injury suffered in the Elks\u2019 last game against Montreal.<\/p>\n
Argos: Host the B.C. Lions on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Elks: Visit the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 The Edmonton Elks appear to be poised for a second-half surge. Steven Dunbar Jr.\u2019s early fourth-quarter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-73713","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\/73713","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=73713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}