In front of a crowd of over 40,000 on Saturday night, the Edmonton Elks defended the Concrete Castle of the North, defeating the B.C. Lions 28-16.
The Elks will now head to Calgary to face the Monteal Alouettes, who took the East Final 33-23 over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers earlier in the day.
The Edmonton Elks opened up the game offensively with two solid socring drives. The first of which nearly stalled before it got started, after it took quarterback Cody Fajardo two short-yard sneak attempts to break through. Once he did, he was able to find Joshua Cephus and Austin Mack down field, before Vincent Blanchard kicked a 21-yard field goal to open the scoring.
While the Lions’ first drive would result in a quick two-and-out, the Elks got the ball back on their own 31 yard line, and Fajardo got back to work. Edmonton would move 38 yards down the field setting up another Blanchard field goal, extending the Elks lead to 6-0.
On B.C.’s second drive, Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke nearly had a second-down pass get intercepted by Tyrell Ford, with the ball just deflecting off his finger tips. They, however, would get just enough yards to set up kicker Sean Whyte for a 50-yard field goal, but an uncharactarisic miss kept Edmonton in the drivers seat.
The Lions would open the second quarter with another Whyte field goal, tying the game at 6-6. After both teams traded middling drives that ended in punts, the Lions would have the ball late in the second quarter, leading to Whyte kicking another field goal, this time from 42-yards, to take a 9-6 lead into halftime.
Rourke’s Lions would get the ball to start the first half, but would go two-and-out after defensive lineman Malik Carney came up with a big sack.
Edmonton would start their following drive on their own 19-yard line, but another big scramble from Fajardo on the drive, this time for 29 yards, helped set up a 35-yard Blanchard field goal tie it up at 9.
The Elks would stall the Lions on their next drive, before a 35-yard punt return from Montrell Washington set up the Elks on B.C.’s 54 yard line. Two consecutive penalties on screen plays pushed the Elks back, however, but Fajardo would take a late hit from Lions defensive lineman Mathieu Betts would push Edmonton deeper into the B.C. side. Then, Fajardo would scramble five yards to the left pylon, punching in the games first touchdown. A Blanchard extra point would make it a 16-9 game.
The Lions would respond with a touchdown of their own, helped by a 33-yard catch and run up the middle of the field by James Butler. With the Lions needing a yard for a first down from Edmonton’s eight yard line, Rourke would dance to the left on a quarterback keeper, rolling over two Elks defenders, as a Whyte extra point tied it up at 16.
Blanchard would re-gain Edmonton’s lead on the next drive, kicking a 46-yard field goal, before the Elks defence would halt the Lions in short order.
Then, the offence got to work. Fajardo would find Mack and Robustelli along the sidelines to move the drive, before fullback Skylar Griffith would get 26 yards of his own dancing along the Lions sideline. Fajardo would drop back in the pocket getting hit as he threw, but found a wide-open Mack for a 23-yard touchdown. Despite Blanchard missing the field goal, the Elks would take a 25-16 lead.
The Lions would start their next drive on Edmonton’s 47, but two straight incompletions for Rourke would force third down. He would find Justin McInnis for a nine-yard gain, but not before Elks linebacker Joel Dublanko would force a fumble on the play, recovered by defensive back JJ Ross and ran 62-yards down to the Lions 10 yard line. Edmonton couldn’t convert on their subsequent drive, but Blanchard would kick a 27-yard field goal to extend the lead to 28-16.
