Edmonton Elks give up late 15-point lead in Labour Day Classic loss

CALGARY — One Alberta team’s playoff hopes may be going up in smoke in this series.

It could even have been the same smog that hung thick and heavy over McMahon Stadium on Monday, when the Edmonton Elks surrendered a 15-point fourth-quarter lead to the Calgary Stampeders on the way to a 35-31 loss in the Labour Day Classic.

With both teams heading into the annual back-to-back rivalry with a combined five wins on the season, the Elks had a chance to gain some company in last place. But instead of drawing into a three-way tie at 3-9 with Calgary and Ottawa, the Elks dropped to 2-10, while Calgary improved to 4-8.

“It’s as tough a loss as I’ve ever been involved in,” said Elks head coach and general manager Chris Jones, who has seen his fair share of games get clawed from the jaws of victory. “It’s kind of reminiscent of both Sask. games, the Winnipeg game. We’ve had a lot of fourth-quarter opportunities to finish games and we’ve yet to figure out how to do that.

“But you’ve got to give all the credit in the world to Calgary, they did what they had to do. They were down two touchdowns and ended up coming back and winning the game.”

Edmonton ran roughshod over their rivals, chasing down 250 yard on the ground. But Calgary came out ahead in net offence, 401-389.

It was the 10th time in the last 11 Labour Day Classics that went Calgary’s way.

But this one took some doing, and a fourth-quarter comeback.

Jake Maier completed 27 of 34 passes for 315 yards and an interception in the win, while his counterpart, Tre Ford, raced up a career-high 168 yards on 11 carries and passed 14 of 23 for 137 yards and a touchdown to sit 2-2 this season as the Elks starter.

“I thought Calgary did a good job defensively, I thought they brought a lot of pressure,” said Ford. “Early on in the game, I missed a couple throws. A little bit inaccurate and it might have cost the team the game.”

Marken Michel had a 52-yard grab up the middle on Calgary’s opening drive to set up a 15-yard field goal by Rene Paredes and go ahead 3-0 four minutes in. The Stampeders settled for the red-zone chip shot after one end-zone pass to Reggie Begelton was knocked down by Darrius Bratton, and another to Marceith Ambles was knocked down by Kai Gray.

Calgary then went ahead 4-0 on a 65-yard punt single by Cody Grace.

After the Stampeders punted out of their own end zone, Ford scampered for a 40-yard gain down to the Calgary two yard-line to set up a one-yard plunge by short-yardage quarterback Taylor Cornelius to take a 7-4 lead into the second quarter.

The three-play, 42-yard scoring drive took 1:34.

Tommylee Lewis returned a 47-yard punt 54 yards the other way to set up the Stampeders in Edmonton territory, leading to a 24-yard field goal to tie the score, 7-7, with 9:17 to play in the half.

Jake Julien’s next punt, a 76-yarder, counted as a single to give Edmonton the lead back, 8-7.

Elks cornerback Marcus Lewis then put the ball right back in the hands of Ford with an interception on a pass intended for Stampeders running back Dedrick Mills, setting up a 24-yard field goal by Dean Faithfull to take an 11-7 lead with 3:19 left in the half.

With 30 seconds left on the clock, Ford pitched out to Kyran Moore, who tossed up the ball to fellow receiver Steven Dunbar Jr. for a 19-yard touchdown to lead 18-7.

The eight-play drive covered 72 yards and took 1:50.

But Paredes hit from 48 yards out to push Calgary to double digits and trail 18-10 after 30 minutes.

Edmonton answered back with a 39-yard field goal to open second-half scoring with a 21-10 lead.

Calgary marched down field only to run into penalty problems. The first, when Mills was charged with unnecessary roughness to move the ball from Edmonton’s six yard-line to the 21. The second, when a holding call against Brandon Weldon negated a touchdown, forcing the Stampeders to settle for a 32-yard field goal to trail 21-13.

Ford then took matters into his own hands, make that feet, zigzagging all over the field for a 33-yard gain into Calgary territory. The eight-play, 70-yard drive ended with a five-yard touchdown reception by Dunbar to close out the third quarter with a 28-13 lead.

Calgary then converted on third-and-four from the Edmonton 14 yard-line with a five-yard catch by Markeith Ambles to extend an eight-play, 63-yard drive that ended with Maier rushing for a five-yard touchdown to trail 28-20 with 10 minutes remaining.

But Faithfull made it a two-score game once again with a 46-yard field goal to take a 31-20 lead with 5:25 left to go.

Pass interference against Bratton put Calgary on the Edmonton 35 yard-line, before pass interference against safety Mark McLaurin set up the Stampeders at the one yard-line for a QB keeper by Tommy Stevens to cap a seven-play, 70-yard scoring drive that took 2:31.

A reception by Luther Hakunananhu for the two-point conversion had Calgary traliing 28-31 inside of three minutes.

A two-and-out by Edmonton later, Begelton came up with a 25-yard reception into Edmonton territory, before Ambles followed up with a 19-yard grab to set up a four-yard touchdown run by Mills to give Calgary the go-ahead by four with just 20 seconds left on the clock.

The Labour Day Rematch goes Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium (5 p.m., TSN, 630 CHED).

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On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge