WINNIPEG – Nick Arbuckle threw Edmonton’s only two touchdown passes on Friday in the Elks’ 30-20 display victory over the Blue Bombers, but saw it as a quarterback victory.
“I feel like everyone did well,” said Arbuckle, who was one of four Edmonton quarterbacks to come out on the field.
“We all produced points and I feel like we won this game together … I think it was a great collective effort and I don’t envy the work of the coaches to be able to take their choices.”
Arbuckle passed 9 of 10 for 145 yards in his first game with the Elks. The three-year veteran was acquired last October in an exchange with the Toronto Argonauts, but never entered a game with his new teammates.
Both teams were evaluating their quarterbacks in front of 20,518 IG Field fans.
The Firefighters, consecutive Gray Cup champions, played several of their starters on either side of the ball, but seated starting quarterback Zach Collaros.
Second-year Fire quarterback Dru Brown passed 10 of 13 for 108 yards. Former Elks quarterback Dakota Prukop was 5 of 14 for 81 yards with two interceptions for his new club.
“I like that our quarterbacks could drive the field,” said Winnipeg head coach Mike O’Shea. “I thought there were a couple of pretty big plays on defense.”
Elks head coach and general manager Chris Jones has not declared his starting quarterback and looked at four options: Arbuckle, Taylor Cornelius, Tre Ford and Kai Locksley. Most of Edmonton’s starting offensive line was adapted to help with the auditions.
“I thought they played pretty well,” Jones said of the four. “It simply came to our notice then. We lost some of our stuff, some open receivers, but at the same time we moved, we used our legs and we struggled to try to push the ball across the field. ”
Receivers Caleb Holley and Ka’Ron Ashley took touchdown passes for Edmonton, and Cornelius kept the ball in a successful quarterback.
Elks kicker Gregory Hutchins connected on field goals from 44, 15 and 24 yards and made two conversion attempts. Rafael Gaglianone has also been good in a transformation, but has come out on a 49-yard field goal attempt.
Winnipeg got touchdowns from Dalton Schoen, Prukop and Brown. Kicker Ali Mourtada made a convert and hit the vertical on another. Marc Liegghio was good at his conversion attempt.
Edmonton led 10-7 after the first quarter, 17-14 at the break and 24-20 after the three quarters.
Arbuckle started the match. He was fired in his first play, but kept the ball alive and hit Holley for a 58-yard touchdown at 3:45 of the first quarter.
After Hutchins made it 10-0 with a 44-yard field goal at 8:55 a.m., Brown designed a Winnipeg touchdown drive.
The sophomore Bomber first issued a 49-yard touchdown pass to Nic Demski, then finished with a two-yard touchdown throw to Schoen at 12:59 p.m.
Ford participated in two Edmonton series, but the Canadian debutant did not complete either of his two passing attempts and was also fired. The University of Waterloo product also played in the third quarter and finished 1 of 3 for 17 yards and ran five times for 47 yards.
A loss to Winnipeg led to Cornelius’ touchdown.
Firefighter Evan Holm palpated the ball at one point. Elks Nafees Lyon recovered the ball and Cornelius finished the ball with a one-yard touchdown run at 8:05 of the second to make it 17-7.
Prukop scored his touchdown with an eight-yard run after a false delivery to Johnny Augustine at 12:23 p.m.
Arbuckle also started the second half, but a pass to Charles Nelson did not end well. Nelson couldn’t hold on to the ball, took a swing and Winnipeg recovered.
Brown then scored in a two-yard run at 4:52 p.m. After Mourtada’s failed transformation, Winnipeg finally took a 20-17 lead.
The lead quickly faded when Arbuckle connected with Ashley for a three-yard catch in the end zone at 8:16 of the third. With the Gaglianone convert, Edmonton took a 24-20 lead.
Locksley led the attack in an 11-game, 64-yard game that ended with Hutchins’ 15-yard field goal at 9:32 of the quarter. He added a 24-yard player at 2:50 p.m. Locksley completed 9 of 11 passes for 85 yards.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 27, 2022.