EDMONTON – The Edmonton Elks picked up their first win of the 2025 CFL season, defeating the Ottawa RedBlacks 39-33 at Play Alberta Field at Commonwealth Stadium on Sunday (July 6) night in a thrilling game filled with big moments.
“Glad to get that first win, for the city, for the fans,” Javon Leake said during a post-game interview on 880 CHED, radio flagship of the Green and Gold. “We’re going to enjoy this one.”
Three of Edmonton’s four touchdowns in the game came on plays of 45 yards or more: Elks running back Justin Rankin found the endzone twice, on a 74-yard rush and a 45-yard reception, while fellow RB Javon Leake had Edmonton’s first punt return TD in nearly a decade, taking the ball 94 yards to the house.
Thunder and lightning,” a smiling Rankin said about his duo with Leake. “You ain’t never seen nothing like it, I’m telling you.”
Kurleigh Gittens Jr also caught an eight-yard touchdown pass for the Elks, and Edmonton kicker Vincent Blanchard went three-for-three on field goals and added a pair of singles.
Ottawa had a punt return TD of its own, with Kalil Pimpleton scoring on a 64-yard return, while Eugene Lewis and Andre Miller each caught a touchdown for the visitors, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Elks from finding the win column.
Elks quarterback Tre Ford completed 15 of 17 pass attempts for 212 yards with 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Rankin racked up 105 yards on the ground and added another 69 yards from four receptions. Edmonton receiver Steven Dunbar Jr. caught a team-high six passes for 55 yards.
TO THE CRIB 🤩#GoElks | @CFL pic.twitter.com/yxVL8RKvDw
— Edmonton Elks (@GoElks) July 6, 2025
Before Sunday, Edmonton’s last punt return touchdown came on Aug. 28, 2015, courtesy Kendial Lawrence against the Toronto Argonauts at Commonwealth Stadium.
“I saw the sideline open and then I just cut across the field and just turned on the jets,” Leake told 880 CHED about his return TD that electrified Commonwealth Stadium.
The victory was the first in the CFL head coaching career of Edmonton’s Mark Kilam, who received an orange Gatorade bath from his team at game’s end. “Gatorade tastes good,” the coach joked on 880 CHED.
Edmonton got off to a tremendous start. On the game’s opening possession, quarterback Tre Ford completed a short pass to Rankin, who rumbled 45 yards to the endzone. Ottawa responded with a 42-yard field goal from Lewis Ward, but the Elks marched right back down field with a six-play, 70-yard drive culminating in an eight-yard touchdown completion from Ford to Gittens Jr.
Leake’s punt return gave the Elks a 22-3 lead early in the second quarter, before Ottawa began battling back. First, quarterback Dru Brown passed to Lewis for a six-yard touchdown, then Pimpleton returned a punt 97 yards for a touchdown to cut Edmonton’s lead to 22-17 at halftime.
The teams traded field goals early in the third quarter, before Rankin scored his second major of the night, flooring the accelerator for a 74-yard rushing touchdown. Ward booted a 43-yard field goal just before the end of the quarter, making the score 32-23 in favour of Edmonton entering the final 15 minutes.
The RedBlacks crept closer early in the fourth, as Ward drilled another field goal, but Edmonton added two more field goals and a single from Blanchard to extend its lead to 39-26. Miller caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Brown with 10 seconds left.
“This is the first game we finally put all four quarters together and all three phases of football,” Leake said on 880 CHED.
Edmonton improves to 1-3, while the RedBlacks drop to 1-4. The Green and Gold are back in action next Sunday, July 12, when they host the BC Lions. Game time is 5 p.m. at Play Alberta Field at Commonwealth Stadium. Tickets are available now.
THEY SAID
Kilam on his first career win:
“I’ve got a lot of family here. My sister from the Cayman Islands is here with her family, my other sister from Calgary with her kids is here, my parents are here. On that personal level, it’s special, but our team is never going to be about one person. We talk about, ‘we want to be a three-phase football team’ all the time, we talked about any single person can lift the group up and it’s not going to be about me but I’ll take the one and we’ll keep moving towards the next one.”
Ford on getting more comfortable with the long ball:
“Honestly, what it is, you’re looking across the league and I’m watching all the quarterbacks throw the deep ball. I’m watching Bo (Levi Mitchell) and he’s just throwing touchdowns, throwing touchdowns, throwing touchdowns. Shout out to Bo, he played phenomenal the other day, but we definitely needed to take our shots down the field. I feel like we didn’t really get too many in the first half, we were kind of more underneath. We got some up in the second half, Leake caught that one then we also had the pass interference, so they worked out for us.”
Rankin on if there’s friendly competition between himself and Leake:
“It’s amazing, like I always say, it’s similar to last year. Leake is an unselfish guy, when I start to get hot, he’s like, ‘man, you’re rolling, go, go, go’ and when’s he’s hot, it’s vice versa, like, ‘come on, go, you got the spark, keep being the spark. I don’t think there’s any selfishness in the room, from all the guys in the room, I think it’s a very unselfish room, and when you have depth at a position like that, it’s hard to stop.”