BC Lions get second shutout win over Elks

| American Football | 07/30/2023

EDMONTON — The BC Lions showed that nothing gets past a hungry pride of Leos with a full-team effort in the 27-0 win over the Edmonton Elks on Saturday.

Defensive backs Bo Lokombo and Garry Peters tallied an interception each in yet another defensive masterpiece by the Lions. BC has kept the Elks off the scoreboard in two games this season after previously beating Edmonton 22-0 in Week 2 action.

Quarterback Dane Evans threw two touchdown passes to wide receiver Justin McInnis and running back Taquan Mizzell in the winning effort to move to 6-1. The pivot started in place of Vernon Adams Jr. who suffered an injury in Week 7 against the Saskatchewan Roughriders and was efficient all afternoon, completing 25 of 32 passes for 330 yards and two majors.

Mizzell returned to the lineup and finished with 117 yards on 22 carries to go along his first CFL touchdown and kicker Sean Whyte made all four of his field goals for the Lions.

Edmonton’s quarterback Taylor Cornelius was on the run all evening against BC’s pass rush and finished with no touchdown and two interceptions as his team could not put together a scoring drive.

The loss dropped the Elks to 0-8 and kept alive the streak of 1,386 days since the last home triumph.

The Lions started the game firing on all cylinders on offence. Evans connected with receiver Keon Hatcher a couple times and Mizzell pushed the pile for a chain-mover himself as suddenly BC was marching into Edmonton’s side of the field. Once inside enemy territory, the story changed. The Green and Gold’s defense showed up and forced BC to kick a field goal to get the first three points on the board.

Evans’ second march was more explosive but ultimately found the same fate. The pivot glimpsed Alexander Hollins running behind Edmonton’s defense for a 60-yard bomb to immediately get into scoring position. The home team then once again raised the wall and protected their domains by forcing two incompletions from Evans within the endzone. Whyte went back out on third down to make it 6-0 late in the first quarter.

The Elks struggled to move the ball in their first few drives, punting the ball again early in the second quarter after failing to cross midfield. It was the defense that kept the score close in the first two quarters. Jake Ceresna got to Evans to put an end to the visitors’ third march and give his offence some momentum.

Cornelius parlayed his defense’s efforts into … another punt. A penalty forced Edmonton into second-and-26 and Brown’s valiant efforts after the catch were not enough to get a first down, forcing the Elks to kick the ball back.

Hatcher and Evans were back at it again on the next drive until Ceresna and A.C. Leonard crashed their party once more by piercing the backfield and taking BC’s pivot to the ground in back-to-back plays. An unnecessary roughness penalty on third down gave the visitors a new set of downs and kept Evans and the offence on the field. This time the pivot finally broke Edmonton’s final line with a deep pass to McInnis to push the lead to 13-0.

There was still time in the half for the Leos to add to their lead. Evans went deep to Lucky Whitehead and drew a pass-interference penalty to move the ball, before connecting with the veteran again for another first down. Whyte continued his perfect evening by splitting the uprights and put his team 16-0 going into halftime.

The second half started with more self-inflicted mistakes by Edmonton. A couple pass-interference penalties moved the Lions into scoring position and Evans found Mizzell coming out of the backfield for another BC touchdown, 23-0.

BC added a single with a 63-yard punt by Stefan Flintoft to lead 24-0 through three quarters, making it 46-0 over seven quarters in two matches between the two teams.

Elks kicker Dean Faithfull missed a field goal in the fourth to continue the draught for the home team.

Lokombo and Peters both intercepted Cornelius in the fourth quarter as BC dominated both halves on the road.

Whyte added another field goal with 0:20 to go for the final score of the game.

The Lions now travel to Winnipeg to open Week 9 against the Blue Bombers on Thursday, while the Elks have a bye week before returning to action also against the Bombers on the road in Week 10.

Today's CFL is more than just our great game of football. It's fans sharing their excitement for what they see on the field, and what they experience off it. Stay up to date on all the non-stop action at CFL.ca.