Edmonton Elks keep skidding, falling 28-24 to Hamilton Saturday

Not even the threat of lightning could knock the Hamilton Tiger-Cats out of their zone.

Tim White reeled in a pair of touchdown passes as the Tiger-Cats continued their red-hot play, defeating the Edmonton Elks 28-24 on Saturday in a game that was delayed more than an hour due to lightning strikes around the Alberta capital.

The Ticats (6-2) have now won six games in a row.

"It was resiliency and continuing to build the belief in the locker room, no matter what happens, where we are in games, up or down, a lightning delay trying to take away the momentum, we will find a way to win," said Hamilton quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, who was 30 for 42 for 350 yards passing and three TDs.

"It's different people, it's different groups every time. When it matters, we are playing the complimentary football we need to play."

Mitchell eclipsed Doug Flutie (41,355) in career CFL passing yards on Saturday, moving into ninth all-time.

"He's doing a great job of moving in the pocket and not taking sacks and making great decisions with the football and making the big plays when they are there. He's playing the best football I've seen him play," said Ticats head coach Scott Milanovich.

"I didn't feel like we played a full four-quarter, three-phase, game again, but I thought we did in the fourth quarter, which is when we needed it the most."

The Elks (1-6) continue to struggle, now with three straight losses.

"We're getting closer," said Elks head coach Mark Kilam. "When good teams play each other, it is the team that makes the plays down the stretch that usually wins. We had an opportunity to do that. We did not."

Hamilton looked like it meant business right from the opening kickoff, which was returned 75 yards by Isaiah Wooden Sr. Two plays later, Mitchell completed a 24-yard touchdown pass to Kiondre Smith.

Edmonton shrugged off the shock and responded on its first possession with a touchdown of its own, as quarterback Cody Fajardo engineered a long drive, capped off by a 10-yard run into the end zone by Justin Rankin.

However, Hamilton punched right back with a long drive of its own, culminating in a two-yard TD run by Greg Bell.

The Elks once again bounced back as Steven Dunbar Jr. made a nice play shrugging off a defender for a 25-yard reception, setting up a one-yard rushing major by Cole Snyder.

Edmonton looked poised to take its first lead late in the second quarter, but the Cats' defence came up huge, stopping the Elks on two consecutive goal-line stands from the one-yard-line on attempts by Snyder to turn the ball over on downs and keep the game tied 14-14 at the half.

The Elks responded with another solid drive to start the third quarter, finished by a 13-yard TD pass from Fajardo to Rankin.

The see-saw battle continued as Hamilton responded with a three-yard TD catch by White.

Then at 3:17 p.m. local time, with just 18 seconds remaining in the third quarter, lightning strikes were reported in the vicinity of Commonwealth Stadium and the game was delayed until almost 4:30 p.m.

Edmonton got a huge play with 9:56 left in the fourth as punter Cody Grace was the first to get to his own sky-high kick and knocked it forward for teammate Luke Burton-Krahn to pick it up. The play led to a 33-yard field goal by Vincent Blanchard.

After Fajardo was intercepted on a long-bomb attempt by Stavros Katsantonis, the Tiger-Cats marched down the field and completed a 27-yard touchdown pass to White to take a four-point lead with two minutes left.

"It was definitely a close game, so being able to grind it out and catch the win definitely feels good," White said. "I feel as a team we keep our composure throughout the process and late in games we are just able to finish."

Edmonton had a late chance as Fajardo hit Kaion Julien-Grant in the end zone with a long pass, but he dropped it. The Elks turned over the ball on downs and Hamilton ran out the clock.