It’s been a long time since September 28, 2021, but the Ottawa REDBLACKS treated their home crowd to a win at TD Place, Friday night.
In his first CFL start, quarterback Tyrie Adams went 14/20 for 185 yards and a touchdown to Marco Dubois, while running back Demontre Tuggle ran in another, and Lewis Ward knocked through a quartet of field goals, for a 26-7 win over the Edmonton Elks.
Defensively, the REDBLACKS terrorized rookie pivot Jarret Doege. Damon Webb, Douglas Coleman, and Brandin Dandridge each picked him off, while Bryce Carter, Cleyon Laing, Kene Onyeka, and Lorenzo Mauldin recorded sacks.
It was an electric start for Ottawa. After a Ward field goal opened the scoring, Adams hit Dubois with a play-action pass, and the fullback ran his first career touchdown 54 yards for the score, and a 10-0 REDBLACKS lead at the 4:05 mark.
Three more field goals from Ward had the REDBLACKS up 16-0 at the half, before the Elks got on the board with a touchdown early in the third quarter.
It would be the last gasp for Edmonton, as the Ottawa defence smothered them from there, and the offence roared back to life.
Ward made good on another try, and with time winding down, hard running by Jackson Bennett, and a beautiful catch by Jaelon Acklin put the REDBLACKS in the red zone. With the ball on the nine yard line, Tuggle ran home the first major of his career, and Ward capped it off with the PAT, making it a 26-7 win for the home side.
The REDBLACKS will look to make it two in a row, and get to 2-2 on the season, when they visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for a 7:00pm kickoff on Saturday, July 8.
