EDMONTON – J. J. Ross made a huge impact with an 85-yard interception return for a touchdown, leading the Edmonton Elks to snap their two-game losing streak with a solid 42-12 win against the Toronto Argonauts at home on Saturday.
The Elks (7-3) haven’t reached the CFL playoffs since 2019, but they kept pushing against the Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-2) in the race for first place in the West Division. The ‘Riders were scheduled to play against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats that night.
The Argonauts (4-5) faced defeat after winning their last two games.
Cole Snyder, Justin Rankin, and Joshua Cephus each found the end zone, while kicker Vincent Blanchard successfully kicked four field goals for Edmonton.
Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo completed 25 out of 31 passes for 301 yards, throwing one touchdown and not tossing any interceptions.
On the other side, Chad Kelly of the Argonauts went 21-for-31 passing for 265 yards and threw one interception.
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Backup quarterback Nick Arbuckle scored Toronto’s only touchdown, while kicker Brad Lister was successful on two out of four field-goal attempts.
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Edmonton’s first drive hit a snag when receiver Austin Mack lost possession of the ball, which was recovered by Adarius Pickett. Toronto turned this turnover into Lister’s 36-yard field goal.
The Elks quickly responded with Blanchard’s impressive 52-yard field goal followed by his punt single.
The game’s first touchdown came five minutes into the second quarter when Fajardo scrambled for 44 yards before setting up a one-yard run from his backup Snyder.
Lister missed field goals from both 35 and 53 yards in the first half; however, Toronto was trailing closely at just 11-9 with less than a minute left in that half.
A big play saw Chad Kelly connect on a 51-yard pass to Kevin Mital that set up Arbuckle’s one-yard touchdown run. Unfortunately for them, their two-point conversion attempt failed.
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The Argos could only muster four rushing yards in the first half while Rankin struggled with just one yard on six carries during that same period.
Brock Mogensen from Edmonton recovered a fumble from Toronto right after halftime began, allowing Blanchard to kick a successful 41-yard field goal shortly after.
Lister answered back with a successful kick from 31 yards before Blanchard extended Edmonton’s lead hitting another from longer range at 46 yards making it now 17-12 for them.
</PThe game shifted further away from Toronto as Rankin caught a pass for an impressive gain of 37 yards followed by an eight-yard rush into end zone later in third quarter.
The fourth quarter saw Edmonton’s defense step up again as they halted Toronto on crucial third-and-inches attempt near their own end zone leading to Fajardo connecting with Cephus on ten yard TD pass.
An important moment occurred later when Kelly’s pass ricocheted off its intended target landing directly into Ross’ hands who took it all way back scoring another TD running eighty-five yards!
No rest either since another turnover led straight back towards another chance taken advantage by Blanchard securing yet again points through yet another field-goal attempt.
A final icing moment took place when Ross intercepted Arbuckle just over one-minute remaining as game clock wound down.
UP NEXT
Elks : Host Winnipeg Blue Bombers coming Friday.
Argonauts : Welcome Hamilton Tiger-Cats next Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was originally Aug.15th ,2026. © ;2026 The Canadian Press p >
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