{"id":58590,"date":"2025-08-10T06:51:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T06:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/58590\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T06:51:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T06:51:18","slug":"edmonton-elks-defeat-montreal-alouettes-23-22-in-seasons-first-road-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/58590\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Elks defeat Montreal Alouettes 23-22 in season\u2019s first road win"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Edmonton Elks Kaion Julien-Grant (11) celebrates with teammates after he scored against the Montreal Alouettes on Friday.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Edmonton Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo still has fond memories of leading the Montreal Alouettes to the 2023 Grey Cup championship, a moment he calls \u201cnumber 1\u201d on his list of accomplishments throughout his decade playing in the CFL.<\/p>\n

Friday night\u2019s 23-22 Elks win over the Alouettes at Percival Molson Stadium, however, now comes a close second on Fajardo\u2019s list.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old, making his first start against Montreal since being traded by the Alouettes to the Elks for McLeod Bethel-Thompson last December, led Edmonton on a game-winning drive, culminating in a 15-yard touchdown throw to another former Alouette Kaion Julien-Grant with just 15 seconds remaining on the clock.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can tell on that last play he (Kaion) dragged that defender into the end zone,\u201d said Fajardo. \u201cThat\u2019s how much he wanted it. That\u2019s how much I wanted it. This one meant a little bit more. I wasn\u2019t afraid to say it all week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fajardo was 27-for-38, throwing for 289 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He was also sacked five times in the contest.<\/p>\n

Since taking over for Canadian Tre Ford on July 26, Fajardo has thrown for 892 yards, to go along with five touchdowns and just one interception. He improved his record to 5-1 in his career against the Alouettes with the win.<\/p>\n

Julien-Grant, who spent five seasons as a member of the Alouettes from 2019-2024, accounted for both of Edmonton\u2019s offensive touchdowns on the night. It was the 29-year-old\u2019s first time back in Montreal since signing as a free agent with the Elks in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re fighters, they\u2019re pros,\u201d said Elks head coach Mark Kilam in reference to both Fajardo and Julien-Grant. \u201cThey always believe. I\u2019m happy for them because you know there\u2019s questions around both. There\u2019s times our offence was struggling a little bit, but they kept fighting and they kept chipping away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmonton (2-6) won for the first time in four tries. It was also their first road win of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went out there and we finished against a really good team,\u201d said Fajardo. \u201cHopefully, this gets the momentum going for us. We understand we can make mistakes and still win football games.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Julien-Grant, who spent five seasons as a member of the Alouettes, accounted for both of Edmonton\u2019s offensive touchdowns on Friday.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Bethel-Thompson, starting his fifth game at quarterback this season in place of the injured Davis Alexander, struggled on offence for the Alouettes. The 37-year-old completed just 10 of his 15 pass attempts, good for a meagre 79 yards, and was intercepted once.<\/p>\n

As a result, Alouettes head coach Jason Maas turned to third-string quarterback Caleb Evans to start the second half. He threw for 113 yards and one touchdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it wasn\u2019t good enough in the first half and that\u2019s why we made the move with Caleb in the second half,\u201d said Maas. \u201cThere\u2019s some good notion that Caleb is going to start our next game, just based on those two performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the first half to the second half, we moved the ball better and scored more points with Caleb in there. We\u2019ll evaluate the film. I think Bethel knows and everybody knows after that performance, it just wasn\u2019t good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Maas says the loss to the basement-dwelling Elks does not rest on the shoulders of Bethel-Thompson alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat game could have been finished a number of different ways and it wasn\u2019t,\u201d added Maas. \u201cIt\u2019s a team loss, bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole Spieker scored the Alouettes\u2019 lone offensive touchdown of the game, the Alouettes first in 138:14, dating back to a second-quarter touchdown, also scored by Spieker, in a Week 8 win in Calgary on July 24.<\/p>\n

Montreal (5-4), coming off a 34-6 loss at home last week to the West Division-leading Saskatchewan Roughriders, lost to Edmonton for the first time since October 2022.<\/p>\n

With the Alouettes leading 3-1 and time winding down in the first quarter, Fajardo was the victim of a sack deep in Edmonton territory courtesy of Alouettes\u2019 left back Darnell Sankey. Fajardo\u2019s ensuing pass attempt on second down to Steven Dunbar Jr. was incomplete, forcing Grace to punt the ball.<\/p>\n

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Montreal Alouettes quarterback Caleb Evans throws the ball during a Friday home game against the Edmonton Elks.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

That punt was returned 80 yards by Travis Theis into the end zone for the game\u2019s opening touchdown with just 47.7 seconds remaining in the opening quarter. It marked Theis\u2019 first career touchdown and the Alouettes\u2019 first by way of a kick return this season.<\/p>\n

After kicker Jose Maltos Diaz added a 42-yard field goal to give the Alouettes a 13-1 lead, the Elks drove down the field, led by a 43-yard pass to running back Josh Rankin. However, Fajardo was sacked for a third time on the following play, forcing Edmonton to settle for a short 12-yard field goal from kicker Vincent Blanchard.<\/p>\n

Montreal\u2019s ensuing offensive possession late in the first half was short-lived, as Bethel-Thompson\u2019s pass intended for Charleston Rambo was intercepted by Elks\u2019 defensive back Tyrell Ford. The 27-year-old promptly ran it 87 yards into the end zone for his first career touchdown, cutting Edmonton\u2019s deficit to just two at halftime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys always believed,\u201d said Kilam. \u201cTyrell Ford\u2019s pick right before the half kind of jump-started the football team a little bit. We were kind of stalling out a little bit. That gave the team life. We went into the half feeling a lot more upbeat about what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans quickly rewarded the trust of his coach on just his second offensive drive. The pivot led the Alouettes on a nine-play, 4 1\/2-minute drive that would result in a 19-yard touchdown pass to Spieker.<\/p>\n

Maltos Diaz\u2019 attempt at the extra point failed, hitting the right post, forcing Montreal to settle for six points and a 19-11 lead.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Julien-Grant celebrates with Justin Rankin after scoring against the Alouettes. This game was Edmonton’s first road win of the season.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Elks benefited from a fumble by Alouettes wide receiver Tyler Snead to get their first offensive touchdown of the game. Fajardo connected with Julien-Grant for a short one-yard touchdown pass to once again cut the Elks\u2019 deficit to two. Edmonton\u2019s attempt to tie the game on a two-point conversion was unsuccessful, preserving the Alouettes\u2019 narrow lead.<\/p>\n

Despite another Maltos Diaz field goal, his third of the game, to push the lead to five, it would not be enough.<\/p>\n

The Alouettes, already without Alexander, receivers Austin Mack and Tyson Philpot on offence, and Marc-Antoine Dequoy and Justin Lawrence on defence, among others, also lost their top running back in Sean Thomas-Erlington. The Montreal native was forced to leave the game after a violent collision with the Elks\u2019 Kordell Jackson in the third quarter. He did not return due to an apparent upper-body injury.<\/p>\n

Maas said Thomas-Erlington appeared fine in the locker room after the game. He added the injury is not season-ending and that he will be re-evaluated before the team\u2019s next game.<\/p>\n

The Elks will host the Toronto Argonauts on Friday, Aug. 15, as the Alouettes go to Vancouver to visit the B.C. Lions on Saturday, Aug. 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Edmonton Elks Kaion Julien-Grant (11) celebrates with teammates after he scored against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,521,875,522,520,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-58590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadian-news","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}