Edmonton – The Edmonton Elks and Calgary Stampeders meet for the second straight week, this time shifting the scene to Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday night.
It was Edmonton who went on the road and pulled out a 35-20 victory on OK Tire Labour Day Weekend last week in Calgary to move into a tie with their provincial rival in the West Division standings.
A repeat performance may be asking a lot, but McLeod Bethel-Thompson is hoping for a similar effort out of himself after he threw for 486 yards and three touchdowns.
He’ll be on the lookout for Tevin Jones, Kurleigh Gittens Jr. and Eugene Lewis, all of whom had at least 112 receiving yards, led by Jones’ 208. The play of Jones of late has given Jarious Jackson’s offence the jump they’ve needed as he’s pulled down over 100 yards in three of his previous five games.
With the Stampeders putting much of their defensive focus on the run game a week ago, defensive backs Demerio Houston, Kobe Williams and rookie Ben Labrosse need to step up to keep big plays to a minimum. Without Tre Roberson, who’s set to miss the game with an injury, even more responsibility falls on the unit as a whole.
Dave Dickenson’s team wasn’t necessarily wrong to be concerned about the Elks runs game, as they feature three running backs capable of carrying the load in Javon Leake, Kevin Brown and Justin Rankin . It’ll be Leake and Brown again getting the bulk of the carries in the rematch after they combined for 88 yards the first time around.
Making Bethel-Thompson uncomfortable in the pocket and shutting down Leake and Brown is the goal of a defensive line led by Julian Howsare, James Vaughters and Mike Rose. Behind those three, Micah Awe, Branden Dozier and Cameron Judge await at linebacker.
Vaughters points to the importance of being strong mentally coming off a loss and facing the same team again.
When looking at the Stampeders offence, Dave Dickenson has made a significant change.
Logan Bonner takes over as the starting quarterback for Jake Maier after he threw four interceptions on Labour Day. Bonner has completed eight of 14 passes for 94 yards this season.
Defensive backs Devodric Bynum and Loucheiz Purifoy both had a pair of interceptions and should have their sights on shutting down Reggie Begelton. Begelton remains the go-to target for the Stamps with 687 yards, 118 of which he collected last week.
If Begelton is covered, Jalen Philpot and Marken Michel have shown an ability to create space downfield.
The Stamps run game gets help as Dedrick Mills returns. Mills last played back in Week 8 and has 406 yards on 76 carries.
Finding space won’t be an easy thing to accomplish against the Elks physical front seven. Defensive linemen Elliott Brown and Shawn Oakman have been playing well and found their way through the offensive line a week ago.
If Mills can get past them, he’ll run into one of the most active linebacker corps in the league in Nick Anderson, Nyles Morgan and Derrick Moncrief. Morgan and Anderson rank first and third in the league, respectively, in defensive tackles with 79 and 73 on the season.
After a disappointing loss on Labour Day, Dickenson wants his team to leave it behind and move on to the important game ahead.
Edmonton can climb out of fifth place in the West Division with a sweep of the home-and-home.
Calgary’s in search for their first road win as they try to keep the Elks in their rearview mirror.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT. Canadian viewers can find the game on TSN and RDS. American and international viewers can tune in on CFL+.
