Week 12 CFL Wrap

STAMPEDERS 32 ROUGHRIDERS 15

CALGARY — The Calgary Stampeders stayed in the race for first place in the CFL’s West Division with a 32-15 win over the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday.

Jaylen Philpot, Daylen Baldwin and Erik Brooks each caught touchdown passes for Calgary (7-3-0) and Dedrick Mills contributed a rushing touchdown in front of an announced 28,295 at McMahon Stadium. 

Rene Paredes kicked a 53-yard field goal late in the third quarter to give Calgary a 24-15 lead. Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. threw for 222 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for a two-point conversion. Adams was intercepted twice.

Dohnte Meyers and Dhel Duncan-Busby had touchdown catches for the Roughriders (8-2-0) whose two losses so far this season have been to the Stampeders. Saskatchewan’s kicker Brett Lauther missed his lone field-goal attempt from 28 yards on the opening drive of the game.

Calgary swept the two-game season series against Saskatchewan after a 24-10 victory July 12 in Regina. The Roughriders lost for the first time this season when leading at the half.

Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns and was intercepted twice. Calgary’s Clarence Harris recorded two of his team’s four sacks on Harris, who was also steamrolled by Shaun Peterson in the third quarter.

UP NEXT

Roughriders: Host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-4-0) on Sunday, Aug. 31.

Stampeders: Host the Edmonton Elks (4-6-0) on Labour Day Monday.

ARGONAUTS 52 LIONS 34

TORONTO — For Nick Arbuckle, the score overshadowed the individual accomplishments.

Arbuckle threw for a career-high 430 yards with three touchdowns while rushing for another to lead the Toronto Argonauts to a 52-34 victory over the B.C. Lions on Saturday afternoon. That pushed Arbuckle atop the CFL passing ranks with 3,463 yards, another career milestone.

“It says a lot about our offence,” Arbuckle said. “The 52 points on the board was, I think, the biggest thing, however we get those yards.”

Toronto (3-8) won for the first time in three games and improved to 2-4 at BMO Field. And the Argos did that after falling behind 14-3 after the first quarter.

B.C. (5-6) heads into a bye week with its first loss in three games. The Lions visit the Ottawa Redblacks on Sept. 5.

Sean Whyte’s 14-yard field goal at 3:17 of the fourth quarter cut B.C.’s deficit to 42-33. But Arbuckle countered with a 70-yard touchdown pass to Jake Herslow at 3:34 to put Toronto ahead 49-33, delighting the season-high BMO Field gathering of 18,354.

And then Branden Dozier gave the home crowd more to cheer about by recovering B.C. quarterback Nathan Rourke’s fumble at the Toronto 43-yard line with just over four minutes remaining. Toronto linebacker Wynton McManis sacked Rourke to force the turnover.

Arbuckle completed 26-of-33 passes, while Herslow had five catches for 149 yards and two touchdowns. Toronto, which came in with the CFL’s worst ground game (48.2 yards per game), rushed for 113 yards as Spencer Brown had 85 yards and a TD on 19 carries.

ELKS 30 REDBLACKS 20

OTTAWA — Cody Fajardo and the Edmonton Elks continue to gain momentum, picking up their third straight win with a 30-20 decision over the Ottawa Redblacks Friday night.

With Fajardo under centre, the Elks (4-6) seem to be catching fire at the right time.

The 33-year-old Fajardo finished 22-for-28 for 270 yards and one interception and was able to lead his team to victory despite the Redblacks’ (3-8) attempt at a comeback.

“He’s (Cody) phenomenal,” said Elks running back Justin Rankin. “You ain’t never seen anyone like that. I’m just happy to have him, he’s a true pro.”

For the fifth straight week the Redblacks failed to start the game with urgency, despite talking about it all week, fell behind early and were forced to chase the game.

“First off, we can’t allow ourselves to get down the number of points we have, you know,” said Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce. “It’s three weeks in a row, every time you do that it gets tougher and tougher to come back.”

Ottawa has just one point in the first quarter in its last five games and has no explanation for its early inefficiencies.

With seven games remaining, the Redblacks are well aware of the lost opportunity and admit it will be tough not to dwell on it during the upcoming bye week.

UP NEXT

Elks: Visit the Calgary Stampeders on Monday, Sept. 1.

Redblacks: Host the B.C. Lions on Friday, Sept. 5.

BLUE BOMBERS 26 ALOUETTES 13

MONTREAL — Almost everyone in the stadium knew the ball would land in Brady Oliveira’s hands, yet the Montreal Alouettes couldn’t stop him.

The Canadian running back tore through Montreal’s defence for 210 total yards from scrimmage, leading the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to a 26-13 win over the Alouettes despite the loss of receivers Nic Demski and Jerreth Sterns on Thursday night.

Oliveira, the CFL’s reigning Most Outstanding Player, also scored a pivotal touchdown with 8:28 left in the fourth quarter to give Winnipeg (6-4) a 23-13 lead. He finished with 137 rushing yards and added 73 through the air on nine receptions — and nine targets — on a dominant night.

“Special with the football in his hands,” Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros said. “Being able to almost run that out was huge for us.”

Collaros was an efficient 27-of-31 passing for 263 yards and one touchdown for the Bombers, who won their second in a row after a walk-off victory over the Ottawa Redblacks last week.

Demski caught a touchdown pass before exiting with an injury in the second quarter, then Sterns left the game after a hard hit just before halftime. The Bombers didn’t have an update for either player after the game.

The double-whammy forced Winnipeg to field short-yardage QB Chris Streveler as a receiver in the second half — and Montreal still didn’t have an answer as Oliveira repeatedly carried the Bombers to first downs.

“He had a great game tonight, and obviously we didn’t do enough to stop him,” Alouettes head coach Jason Maas said. “He made a lot of plays, even running the ball and catching the ball. We’ll have to look at that and address that.”

The injury-plagued Alouettes, meanwhile, lost their fourth game in a row and fell to 1-6 without franchise quarterback Davis Alexander.

In his first CFL start, fourth-string QB James Morgan finished with 198 passing yards on 18-for-33 completions, one TD and two interceptions for Montreal (5-6), which started a different player behind centre for the third consecutive game.

Morgan, a 28-year-old from Green Bay, Wisc., often sprayed passes wide and behind receivers in his second CFL appearance.

“It’s a challenge for us, but that’s part of football,” Morgan said of Montreal’s record without Alexander. “I don’t think that anybody here is looking at it as demoralizing. It’s tough, this has been a tough stretch for us, but tough times make hard people.”

“There’s obviously gonna be a lot of stuff that I’m gonna have to improve at. That’s for sure,” he added.

UP NEXT

Alouettes: Host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sept. 6 after a bye week.

Bombers: Visit the league-leading Saskatchewan Roughriders on Aug. 31.