Elks beat – Cody Fajardo found TJ Luther for an eight-yard touchdown with 53 seconds left as the Edmonton Elks overcame a blown 17-point lead to hold off the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23-18 on Thursday night, improving to 3-0 for the first time since 2017.
Edmonton didn’t just find a way to win on Thursday night—it found it when everything tightened.
After the Elks blew a 17-point lead and trailed by a point midway through the fourth quarter. quarterback Cody Fajardo stayed calm and went to work. With 53 seconds remaining. he connected with TJ Luther on an eight-yard touchdown pass. lifting the Edmonton Elks to a 23-18 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“We’re not playing our best ball all throughout four quarters,” Fajardo said. “But what we are doing is we’re playing our best ball at critical times. And when you do that, you’re going to win more games than you’re going lose.”
Fajardo finished 25 of 35 for 267 yards, directing an offense that kept answering even as the game slipped away earlier. Justin Rankin backed it with 106 rushing yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.
Luther’s big late connection didn’t come out of nowhere. He credited Fajardo for holding everything together through noise, pressure, and a full fourth-quarter push from Winnipeg.
“Cody was awesome on offence, man,” Luther said. “He kept us all together, even when the crowd was loud and we couldn’t hear anything. He kept us together until the end of the game.”
The Elks’ late drive followed another clutch finish from last week. Fajardo had led Edmonton to a victory over the Montreal Alouettes in overtime.
“We talk about it all the time – finding ways to win and that’s what Cody and the offence did when he needed it the most,” Elks head coach Mark Kilam said. “They drove down and got points.”
Edmonton opened the season 3-0 for the first time since 2017, a milestone that still felt hard-earned rather than effortless.
“Nobody’s messing with us,” Luther said. “I feel like we’ve got the best team in the league. I just feel very confident in our team. We all play together and are very assignment-oriented.”
Edmonton also got production beyond Fajardo’s passing. Backup quarterback Cole Snyder scored on a one-yard plunge, while Vincent Blanchard kicked a 15-yard field goal and added two converts.
Winnipeg almost stole it back after falling into a deep early hole. Zach Collaros watched the Blue Bombers trail 17-0 after the first half began, but he kept them moving forward in front of a sellout crowd of 32,343 at Princess Auto Stadium.
Collaros completed 24 of 33 passes for 290 yards and threw touchdown passes of 26 yards to Tim White and 14 yards to Brady Oliveira.
Sergio Castillo, who missed two field goals, still connected on a 53-yarder, kicked both converts, and added a single. Despite the charge late, the Blue Bombers came up short after Edmonton’s final answer.
The game flipped when Edmonton cashed in on mistakes. The Elks converted two of three Bomber fumbles into 10 points as they raced to a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter. When Winnipeg started to recover from that start, Oliveira felt the cost of the earlier errors.
“We made way too many mistakes,” Oliveira said. “When we did turn the on a bit, it was too late.”
Oliveira added 77 rushing yards, caught six passes for 45 yards, and scored a touchdown.
Collaros, who was responsible for one giveaway, pointed to what Winnipeg needed to be doing from the start.
“You can’t turn the ball over,” he said. “You’ve got to play a clean game, stay on the football field.”
Dante Daniels had the other fumbles, and receiver Nic Demski tied the result directly to those turnover problems.
“When you have turnover problems, that’s the type of result you’re going to get,” Demski said. “We preach ball security and didn’t take care of the ball the way we wanted to.”
The night also included injuries for Winnipeg. The Blue Bombers lost both receiver Ontaria Wilson and defensive lineman Jake Ceresna to injuries. There was no update available during post-game interviews.
Edmonton’s charge wasn’t derailed even when Winnipeg pulled itself back from the edge. Winnipeg erased the Elks’ 17-0 lead and went ahead 18-17, but Edmonton didn’t show panic.
“We weren’t worried,” Luther said. “We’ve been in that position before, so we already knew what we had to do to get out of it and we just knew we had to lock in and focus on what our assignment was.”
Fajardo framed the win as proof that Edmonton is ready for the season’s long haul.
“There’s been a narrative about this organization over the last six years and all I want to do and what these guys want to do is change that narrative. ” he said. “We do that by starting 3-0. The CFL is a long season. Just because you start 3-0 doesn’t mean you’re going to keep winning. You’re going to have your rough patches but when you have those rough patches. you’ve got to find a way to persevere like we did tonight and find ways to win games.”.
For the Elks, the message was simple: even when the lead slips, the finishing work arrives.
Edmonton Elks Winnipeg Blue Bombers CFL Cody Fajardo TJ Luther Justin Rankin Zach Collaros Brady Oliveira Tim White Ontaria Wilson Jake Ceresna Mark Kilam Princess Auto Stadium