Different running back, same result for Jarious Jackson and the Edmonton Elks.
Justin Rankin ran for 108 yards and three touchdowns to lead Edmonton to its third straight victory, a 47-22 decision over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday night. Javon Leake ran for 266 yards and four touchdowns on 33 carries (8.1 yard average) in the first two wins but was slowed by a hip ailment at Tim Hortons Field.
“I don’t know where (the rushing attack) has been, but it’s there now and it’s here to stay,” said Jackson, Edmonton’s interim head coach. “When the weather starts to get cold and it gets later in the season, you have to have a run game.
“Hopefully we can get to that point.”
It was a remarkable turnaround for Edmonton (3-7) after seven straight losses on the season. The Elks are 3-2 under Jackson, the team’s offensive coordinator who took on coaching duties when head coach/general manager Chris Jones was fired on July 15.
Edmonton hasn’t lost since dropping a 44-28 decision to Hamilton at home on July 28 and is on its first three-match winning streak since 2019.
“Guys are starting to believe,” Jackson said. “They understand that if they are the more physical team on game day, it often helps us win games.
“It’s three in a row, but we will keep our heads down and continue to take it game by game.”
Rankin’s workload has steadily increased throughout the series. He had nine carries for 60 yards in the Elks’ 42-31 win over Saskatchewan on Aug. 3 before adding 77 yards on 10 carries in last week’s 33-16 decision over B.C.
The email you need for the day’s top news stories from Canada and around the world.
Receive national news daily
Receive the day’s top news, political, economic and current affairs features, delivered to your inbox once a day.
“Javon got beat up and they just trusted me to go out there and do pretty much the same thing but in a different way than Javon,” Rankin said. “The coaches and the team in general just trust that we can put the ball in our hands and let us do what we do.”
Edmonton’s defense also contributed to the club’s third straight victory at Tim Hortons Field. It forced four turnovers (two interceptions, two fumbles) that yielded three touchdowns.
Hamilton was also flagged eleven times for 100 meters.
The Ticats (2-8) suffered a third straight loss before a home gathering of 20,092, many of whom left at halftime. They also fell to 1-4 at Tim Hortons Field.
Rankin, who had 17 carries, scored his third touchdown from three yards out at 6:52 of the fourth, giving Edmonton a 39-16 lead.
Edmonton’s McLeod Bethel-Thompson completed 15 of 23 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns. Hamilton’s Bo Levi Mitchell was 23 of 34 passing for 294 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions before connecting on fourth down to Harrison Frost.
Frost hit Shemar Bridges with a 12-yard touchdown pass at 13:34 to cut Edmonton’s lead to 39-22. But Bethel-Thompson countered with a six-yard scoring strike to Kurleigh Gittens Jr. at 13:45, before Boris Bede’s 85-yard kick-off single completed the scoring.
Mitchell replaced starter Taylor Powell, who completed two of three passes for 20 yards before going to the hospital as a precaution with a head injury after a rushing play. Hamilton receiver Luther Hakunavanhu left in an ambulance with a head injury suffered on the opening play of the game.
Ticats head coach Scott Milanovich said the injuries made the loss even more difficult.
“It’s sickening, it hurts,” he said. “You have to work with these guys every day and you care about them.
“To see them out there on the lawn is going to affect everyone. It’s an unfortunate part of this game and we all know what we’re signing up for (but) it doesn’t change the fact that we’re human, we care about these people and it hurts to see them sick.”
Leake and Dillon Mitchell had Edmonton’s other touchdowns. Bede added six converts, a field goal and two singles.
Greg Bell scored both of Hamilton’s touchdowns while rushing for 85 yards on 12 carries and adding six catches for 88 yards. Marc Liegghio kicked a field goal and converted.
Bell’s two-yard TD run at 4:53 of the third cut Hamilton’s deficit to 32-9, as the two-point conversion was unsuccessful. Bell added a seven-yard touchdown catch to end the quarter and pull the Ticats within 32-16.
Bede’s 32-yard field goal at 14:36 of the second put Edmonton to a commanding 32–3 halftime lead, as the Elks converted three Hamilton turnovers into touchdowns.
Bethel-Thompson found Mitchell on an 11-yard TD strike at 12:55. It was set up by rookie Joel Dublanko’s recovery of Jonathan Moxey’s punt return fumble on Hamilton’s 11-yard line.
Liegghio’s 32-yard field goal at 8:07 cut Hamilton’s deficit to 14-3. But Rankin’s two-yard run at 9:00, and Bede’s 90-yard kickoff single with the wind 22 seconds later, gave Edmonton a 22-3 lead.
Leake capped a 13-play, 106-yard drive with a three-yard TD run at the 1:53 mark after Derrick Moncrief’s interception.
Rankin opened the scoring with a four-yard TD run at 5:03 of the first.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
