adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Sports

Edmonton Elks embarrassed by Lions in crowded BC Place Stadium – Edmonton Sun

Published

 on


Article content

VANCOUVER — It turns out the Butler did it. Again and again and again. And one more time for good measure.

Advertisement 2

Article content

If the Edmonton Elks’ season-opener was a game of Clue, it was James Butler in the end zone with the pigskin and on a spree as the B.C. Lions put on a spectacle in front of the largest crowd BC Place Stadium has held for a Canadian Football League game since Chris Jones’s first stint as head coach of the Green and Gold seven years ago.

Article content

Catching, running and pushing piles, Butler swept the Lions to a 59-15 victory in front of 34,082 fans who were treated to a OneRepublic concern prior to kickoff, on the way to the Lions running back racking up 108 rushing yards, 33 more on six catches and the first four touchdowns of the game to put Edmonton away before they could even get going.

“You watched the game, it wasn’t a good performance in any phase,” said Elks head coach Chris Jones, whose squad gave up 469 yards of offence to the Lions, compared to 316 by his offence, led by quarterback Nick Arbuckle, who passed 20 of 29 for 254 yards and three interceptions.

Advertisement 3

Article content

Nathan Rourke, on the other hand, put on a passing clinic completing 26 of 29 for 282 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing seven times for 78 yards and two more scores.

“Certainly tonight is not indicative of what we will be,” Jones said. “We’re going to work hard, we’ll correct the errors, we’ll coach them up better and we’ll come out and we’ll play better football.”

After the Lions got things started with a nine-play, 68-yard drive that saw running back James Butler score on a 10-yard reception to go ahead 7-0 on the game’s opening drive, Edmonton responded with a 35-yard field goal off the foot of Sergio Castillo before the defence forced a two-and-out.

But the Lions got the ball right back with an interception by defensive halfback T.J. Lee on a pass intended for Elks receiver Jalin Marshall, leading to Butler’s second trip to the end zone. This one on a handoff he cut back for 36 yards to go ahead 14-3 with 3:03 left in the first quarter.

Advertisement 4

Article content

Castillo hit from 37 yards out, but the Lions once again answered Edmonton’s field goals with Butler touchdowns, this time on a 21-yard rush to cap a 73-yard, four-play drive to go ahead 21-6.

On a night when the Elks didn’t record a single QB pressure, let alone a sack, Lions defensive end Sione Teuhema earned his first of three on the night, leaving Castillo punting in the shadow of his own goalposts.

But all that meant was B.C. had less real estate to cover to continue scoring at will. And, who else? Butler, who tied the Lions club record with his fourth touchdown. The last time that happened was against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2004, complements of current Elks assistant general manager Geroy Simon.

This one was a six-yard reception by Butler, as Rourke improved to 14-for-15 for 150 first-half yards to put the Lions ahead 28-6.

Advertisement 5

Article content

That was when the Elks pulled a switcheroo at quarterback, bringing in first-round draft pick Tre Ford, out of Waterloo.

But that did nothing to stop the Lions from taking one more trip to the end zone in the final minute, with Rourke setting up a two-yard plunge on a QB keeper with his own 33-yard scramble down to the doorstep.

Ford did, however, have a hand in Lee’s second interception of the half, which the eight-year Lions veteran returned 48 yards to the end zone, only to have it called back by contact. Of course, that just delayed the inevitable, as the Lions made it four consecutive drives with a touchdown on a six-yard catch by Keon Hatcher to take a 42-6 lead into halftime.

Arbuckle returned for the third quarter looking like new, completing six consecutive pass attempts to march the Elks 68 yards downfield before third-stringer Kai Locksley finished the drive with a one-yard plunge to cut B.C.’s lead to 30 points, following a missed two-point convert.

Advertisement 6

Article content

A 30-yard field goal cut B.C.’s lead to 42-15, before the Lions put the ball back in the end zone, with Rourke turning a third-and-one effort into a 17-yard jaunt to the end zone to make it 49-15 heading into the final frame.

“Result-wise, that’s about as bad as you can get,” Arbuckle said. “But I think a lot of the mistakes, a lot of the things that we did are very correctable. All things we can do better and improve on.

“We had spurts here and there in the first half and the second half where we rolled really well moving the football. I think we have a lot of veteran guys and good leaders and understand this is one game in an 18-game season. And we have a lot of opportunities ahead of us to correct things and get better and make sure that this game doesn’t define us. But at the same time, we’re going to have to look at ourselves in the mirror.”

Advertisement 7

Article content

With three minutes to go, B.C. added a field goal on their first scoring drive of the night that wasn’t a major, as long-time former Elks kicker Sean Whyte was good from 13 yards out.

But the Lions defence gave them another chance to get it right, as Loucheiz Purifoy intercepted an Arbuckle offering, returning it 40 yards to the red zone.

That’s where backup Michael O’Conner punched in a one-yard keeper after taking over behind centre for Rourke to close out a wild night on the scoreboard.

“It’s disappointing all around, we played absolutely terrible,” Elks defensive end Jake Ceresna said. “I mean, credit to B.C., they’re a great football team. They came out, they out-executed us all game.

“We’ve just got to all look in the mirror and figure out how to play better. We’ve got to turn this around and we’ve got to turn it around fast.”

IN AND OUT

Elks outside linebacker Wesley Appolon, a drafted rookie out of Tuskagee, left the field in a cart after injuring his knee on the opening play and did not return. LB Jordan Reaves suffered a broken finger in the first quarter.

Next up: The Elks return to Edmonton to hold their home-opener Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium against the Saskatchewan Roughriders (7:30 p.m.)

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

Advertisement 1

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

DeMar DeRozan scores 27 points to lead the Kings past the Raptors 122-107

Published

 on

 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.

Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.

Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.

The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.

DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.

RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.

Takeaways

Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.

Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.

Key moment

The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.

Key stat

Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.

Up next

Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.

Kings: Host the Clippers on Friday night.

___

AP NBA:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Whitecaps take confidence, humility into decisive playoff matchup vs. LAFC

Published

 on

 

VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.

To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.

Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.

“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.

“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”

The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.

The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.

First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.

Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.

No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.

“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.

Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.

“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.

This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.

The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.

“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”

Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.

Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.

“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”

The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.

Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.

“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”

LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.

“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

PWHL unveils game jerseys with new team names, logos

Published

 on

 

TORONTO – The Professional Women’s Hockey League has revealed the jersey designs for its six newly named teams.

Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.

The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.

Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.

“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.

“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”

Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.

Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.

Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.

Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending