The Edmonton Elks suffered a second-half implosion in a 43-31 loss to the defending-champion Toronto Argonauts on Sunday.
All three quarterbacks took snaps for Edmonton, with Taylor Cornelius completing 14 of 18 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown in the first half, before rookie Jarrett Doege got the nod on the way to a nine-for-11 performance for 163 yards, two touchdowns to Vincent Forbes-Mombleau, and an interception.
“So, we’ll see. He’s a competitor, I know that.”
Chad Kelly passed 13 of 23 for 264 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions to Louchiez Purifoy, while A.J. Ouellette carried 18 times for 84 yards and three touchdowns as Toronto improved to 2-0.
Rookie Elks returner C.J. Sims provided the biggest spark for the team on a night where not much else had been going right, coming up with punt returns of 42, 52 and 72 yards the likes of which haven’t appeared on an Edmonton stats sheet since 2017.
On Toronto’s next series, Ouellette tied it up, 7-7, with a three-yard rush into the end zone at 13:17, to cap a 12-play, 58-yard drive.
The second quarter opened with Purifoy jumping in front of a pass intended for Cam Phillips, returning his first interception of the game 27 yards to the end zone for a 14-7 lead at 3:53.
Boris Bede hit a 42-yard field goal three minutes later to close the gap, 14-10, before John Haggerty brought Toronto one point closer on a 64-yard punt into the end zone.
The Argos took a one-point lead into halftime after Dean Faithfull hit an 18-yard field goal as time expired.
The opening drive of the third quarter saw Toronto go ahead 26-17 on a two-yard rushing touchdown by Ouellette at 3:47, before Kelly trotted in the two-point convert on a QB keeper. The seven-play scoring drive covered 66 yards.
Ungerer then blocked a punt on the Elks’ next series, giving Toronto the ball on Edmonton’s 39 yard-line. And it ended in another Ouellette rushing touchdown, this one from four yards out on the fifth play of the drive for a 33-17 lead 8:14 into the third.
The Elks responded with a change at quarterback, only to see Kai Locksley fumble away his very first snap to defensive back Robertson Daniel at Edmonton’s 24 yard-line, which Toronto turned into a 16-yard field goal at 11:04 of the third for a 36-17 lead.
That brought in Elks rookie third-stringer Doege, who completed his first two passes before failing to earn a first down on back-to-back snaps from two yards out with his legs. It looked eerily similar to when Locksley was unable to score from the one-yard-line on three straight tries on opening day.
But Toronto gave the turnover-on-downs right back in the fourth quarter, with their backup, Cameron Dukes, getting stuffed on third-and-one, where neither turnover resulted in points.
Just when things couldn’t possibly get any worse, Purifoy came up with his second interception of the game, only to turn around and see Doege’s next snap go for a pick-six, compliments of Royce Metchie, who returned it 15 yards for a 43-17 lead.
Doege hit Steven Dunbar Jr. at the dreaded one yard-line, where Brown got stuffed twice in a row, before a passing call resulted in Vincent Forbes-Mombleau making a two-yard touchdown catch. Doege ran a keeper for the two-point convert to trail 43-25 with 2:38 left on the clock.
“They called my number and I just tried to make the most of my opportunity,” Doege said. “I went in there and just kind of left it all out there just trying to do what I can to help the team try to build some momentum.”
