Unbeaten Elks score late touchdown in 23-18 victory over Blue Bombers

Edmonton Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo (7) disputes a no touchdown call by the referees during CFL action against the Blue Bombers in Winnipeg on June 25, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG — It has become the Elks mantra this season – they just keep finding a way to win.

After blowing a 17-point lead and trailing by a point midway through the fourth quarter, Edmonton quarterback Cody Fajardo found TJ Luther with an eight-yard touchdown pass with 53 seconds left as the Elks pulled out a 23-18 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday night.

“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 completed 25 of 35 passes for 267 yards. Running back Justin Rankin rushed for 106 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries.

“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.”

Fajardo had led the Elks to victory over the Montreal Alouettes in overtime last week.

“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,” said Elks head coach Mark Kilam. “They drove down and got points.”

The Elks have opened the season at 3-0 for the first time since 2017.

“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.”

Backup quarterback Cole Snyder scored on a one-yard plunge. Vincent Blanchard kicked a 15-yard field goal and had two converts.

Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros almost pulled off a comeback after falling behind 17-0 in the first half in front of a sellout crowd of 32,343 at Princess Auto Stadium.

He completed 24 of 33 passes for 290 yards and had touchdown tosses of 26 yards to Tim White and 14 yards to Brady Oliveira.

Sergio Castillo, who missed two field goals, did connect on a 53-yarder, kicked both converts and added a single.

The Elks converted two of three Bomber fumbles into 10 points as they jumped out to a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

“We made way too many mistakes,” said Oliveira, who rushed for 77 yards and added 45 yards and a TD on six catches. “When we did turn it on a bit, it was too late."

Collaros was guilty of one of those giveaways.

“You can’t turn the ball over,” he said. “You’ve got to play a clean game, stay on the football field."

Oliveira and Dante Daniels had the other fumbles.

“When you have turnover problems, that’s the type of result you’re going to get,” said Bombers receiver Nic Demski. “We preach ball security and didn’t take care of the ball the way we wanted to.”

The Bombers also lost both receiver Ontaria Wilson and defensive lineman Jake Ceresna to injury. There was no update available during post-game interviews.

The Elks did not panic after Winnipeg erased their 17-0 lead and went up 18-17.

“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.”

The Elks are proving they are for real, Fajardo said.

“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.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.

Jim Bender, The Canadian Press