EDMONTON – Even Bill Murray in Groundhog Day wouldn’t believe what’s going on in Edmonton.
For a third straight game, the Elks were defeated by a last second field goal, with Lewis Ward sending Ottawa home with a 37-34 win on Sunday night at Commonwealth.
“Unfortunately, it’s another week with the same story,” McLeod Bethel-Thompson said after the game. “I’ve never been a part of a team that lost by a last-minute field goal three weeks in a row. It’s a new experience. No one’s coming to save us. We have to look it straight in the eye, stare the demon down and try to get it fixed. That’s all you can do.”
QB Dru Brown and the RedBlacks offence were in total sync, with the Ottawa quarterback passing for a career high 480 yards on 26 of 38 passing. Three separate RedBlacks receivers eclipsed the 100 mark plateau (Dominque Rhymes, Justin Hardy, Kalil Pimpleton) with Pimpleton leading the way with 153 yards in his first CFL game.
Edmonton won’t have to wait long to rebound from the defeat, with the Elks getting a second shot at the RedBlacks this Friday in Ottawa.
“There’s a good and a bad playing the team back-to-back. When you win, it’s kind of weird. When you lose, you can’t wait,” Geno Lewis said. “Honestly, for us, I cannot wait. I can’t wait to get back out there. I can’t wait to go to Ottawa. I can’t wait to play again.”
“At the end of the day, I know we can win, but it’s about going out there, doing our job and putting us in the right position to be successful.”
GAMEDAY ESSENTIALS
KICKING THEMSELVES
The Elks had battled their way back into the contest, scoring a pair of touchdowns in the final six minutes to tie the game 34-34 with eight-seconds remaining.
The matchup looked set for overtime, until Boris Bede’s kickoff tumbled out of bounds setting up the RedBlacks at their own 50-yard line.
“Boris has been a kicker in this league a long time and he made an error there,” Jones said. “He tried to play too hard, tried to do too much. We’ve all been guilty of trying to play and do something outside the framework of what we’re asked to do, and unfortunately, it bit us once again.”
The intent on the play was to try to kick the ball through the endzone for a potential game winning rouge, but the mishit gave Ottawa an opportunity. Brown was able to capitalize on the mistake, finding Pimpleton for 29-yards in the middle of the field. The bust in coverage gave Lewis Ward the 38-yard chip shot with zeros on the clock to knock off the Elks with a last-second field goal for a third straight game.
BIG PLAY GENO
When the Elks needed big plays, they turned to their best playmaker in Geno Lewis.
Bethel-Thompson connected with the Elks star six times for 89 yards on the night, with many of the receptions coming in clutch during the fourth quarter. The most important play for Lewis won’t show up on the stat sheet, when the wide receiver drew a pass interference call in the final minute of the game to set up Dakota Prukop’s game-tying touchdown.
It’s a connection the 31-year-old has been building with Bethel-Thompson over the season’s first five weeks.
“Me and Mac, we’re really good. It’s just about giving opportunities,” Lewis said. “I feel as though some people have to realize when they see people getting double covered, they kind of exit it out. But, I feel as though I’m an outlier. I’ve always been an outlier in my career. I’ve been double teamed. I’ve been triple teamed. I need people to understand, just cause you see a double team, that doesn’t mean it’s over for me.”
Lewis’s most spectacular play came in double coverage, with the former East Division Most Outstanding Player hauling in a heavily contested 34-yard catch along the Elks sideline.
“He’s an unbelievable player. He can elevate and make plays,” Bethel-Thompson said. “It was an unbelievable catch in a critical situation and it’s just good to see him going.”
THEY SAID IT
McLeod Bethel-Thompson on the pressure caused by the RedBlacks defence:
“That’s part of my job. They’re a good front. They’ve got good players across the board. So we knew that was going to be part of the factor and sometimes maybe I held the ball a little too long. We had little communication errors on some of the routes, but it’s part of the game, it’s part of my job. I’m going to throw it. I’m not scared of any hit. Part of me actually enjoys it. When you get hit and you can deliver a ball, it’s kind of a statement of pride. So I don’t worry about it. We’ve just got to clean up, play more efficient ball throughout the whole game. It’s not enough yards, not enough time of possession. We put our defense in bad spots, so we can be much better.”
Head Coach Chris Jones on the Elks battling back to tie the game:
“Certainly you like the fact that they won’t quit. That’s certainly something that you can be proud of, but we create ways to not win games and we’ve got to fix that.”
Jones on a rematch with the RedBlacks on Friday:
“Well, a five-day week with a travel is never fun, but the good thing is we’re at least playing the same team, so they’ve got the same situation we do. They’ve got to fly back home and play us in five days. Certainly we’ve got some things to fix on defense and really all three phases because I felt like they outplayed us today in all three phases.”