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Five days after erupting for 37 points, the Ottawa Redblacks offence tripped over itself a lot at TD Place on Friday night.
Fortunately, the defence and Lewis Ward were there to pick it up.
The end result was another positive outcome against the sinking Edmonton Elks, this time in a 20-14 final.
The victory, in front of 18,427 fans, gave the Redblacks their first two-game winning streak since last July and also matched their highest win total in the past four seasons.
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At 4-2, they are two points behind the East Division leading Montreal Alouettes, who are 5-2 and on a bye this week.
The Elks dropped to 0-6, mostly because they were unable to get any sustained attack going against the Ottawa defence.
It didn’t help that kicker Boris Bede, the goat in last week’s loss to the Redblacks, missed three field goals from outside of 40 yards.
The struggles of the Ottawa offence came from quarterback Dru Brown throwing a pair of first-half interceptions on passes intended for Kalil Pimpleton and Dominique Rhymes dropping a fourth-quarter pass in the red zone. Pimpleton, in fact, would have scored an easy touchdown on a long, strong Brown throw, but he allowed it to slip through his hands.
The Redblacks’ defensive play of the night was a diving, fourth-quarter interception by Deandre Lamont at the Ottawa 26-yard line with the home side ahead by six.
Ottawa lost the services of defensive back Tobias Harris, who was doing a fine job as the team’s returner in place of the injured DeVonte Dedmon. But Harris was carted off the field after bringing a punt back with 6:26 left in the game.
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Ward was once again a difference-maker for the Redblacks, connecting on four of five field goal attempts. His last one, a 45-yarder with 4:15 left in the fourth quarter, put Ottawa up by nine.
Holding a 14-10 lead near the midway mark of the third quarter, the Redblacks failed on a third and one gamble at their own 49 when Dustin Crum ran into an Edmonton brick wall.
The defence responded properly when Lorenzo Mauldin sacked McLeod Bethel-Thompson for a six-yard loss, forcing the visitors to settle for a 53-yard single on a Jake Julien punt.
The Redblacks came back with three of their own on a drive that included a 23-yard pass to Pimpleton and an 11-yard run by Rock Armstead, who had the help of most of the offence pushing from behind. It ended with a Ward 28-yard field goal.
Brown had a mixed bag of results in the first half, throwing two interceptions with no touchdown passes but completing 14 of 22 attempts for 157 yards while leading Ottawa on one drive into the end zone and a 14-9 lead into the intermission.
On the Redblacks’ last possession he just missed connecting with Rhymes, because of a good defensive play, and Justin Hardy, on a slight overthrow, when both were open behind the goal line.
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The Redblacks had no run game to speak of in the first half, while Pimpleton led the way in receptions with four for 33 yards and Brown tossed completions to eight different receivers.
Meanwhile, the Ottawa defence was staunch through 30 minutes, allowing the Elks just 100 yards through the air and 20 along the ground.
The Redblacks offence struck on its first possession after Adarius Pickett (not Pimpleton) took the opening drive 24 yards to the Ottawa 34.
The ensuing seven-play, 73-yard drive saw Brown throw to five different receivers before handing the ball to Rock Armstead, who scored from the three.
The Elks second possession started after the Redblacks, who have given up more penalty yardage than any team in the league, were flagged for no-yards on a punt — but only after an Elks challenge that shouldn’t have been necessary because it was so obvious. That drive ended with a 34-yard Boris Bede field goal.
On Ottawa’s last two possessions of the opening quarter, Brown overthrew Pimpleton with what would have been a scoring bomb just before a wide Ward field goal attempt resulted in a single point, and then overthrew a wide-open Pimpleton again the next time the Redblacks had the ball. This one resulted in an interception by Kai Gray at the Ottawa 39.
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The Elks had to settle for a 39-yard Bede field goal that made the score 8-6 in the Redblacks favour at the end of the opening 15-minute segment.
Ward went 3-for-4 field goal tries in the first half, including a 48-yarder after coach Bob Dyce lost a pass interference challenge on Pimpleton.
The second Brown interception came after Harris set the Redblacks up with a 51-yard return of a missed field goal attempt that grew by 15 when Julien was charged with a low block.
Brown was picked off on the Edmonton 14 yard line by Darrius Bratton while under-throwing Jaelon Acklin.
dbrennan@postmedia.com
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