EDMONTON \u2014 Joe Robustelli caught a pair of touchdown passes as the Edmonton Elks clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2019 with a 53-16 rout over the rival Calgary Stampeders in the Labour Day rematch on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Edmonton, which won its fourth game in a row to improve to 10-3, ended its longest post-season drought in club history, snapping a five-year run of futility that was their worst since the 1960s.<\/p>\n
The Stampeders, who allowed the Elks to score 24 fourth-quarter points last week en route to a 38-28 victory in the Labour Day Classic in Calgary, have lost two straight to remain last in the West at 5-8.<\/p>\n
Calgary quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. was picked off on his team\u2019s second possession by Nick Anderson, allowing the Elks to take a 3-0 lead on a 32-yard Vincent Blanchard field goal.<\/p>\n
Aided by a long pass interference call, the Stampeders surged ahead on a 13-yard pass into the end zone from Adams to Erik Brooks.<\/p>\n
A long interception return by Tyrell Ford led to Edmonton clawing back with a 42-yard Blanchard field goal.<\/p>\n
Edmonton took a 13-7 lead with just over three minutes to play in the second quarter as a big passing play from Cody Fajardo to rookie ShunDerrick Powell set up a one-yard TD plunge by third-string QB Cole Snyder.<\/p>\n
The Elks expanded their lead to 12 points with one minute to play in the second frame as Robustelli reeled in a 22-yard touchdown pass from Fajardo. The convert kick failed.<\/p>\n
Calgary kicker Rene Paredes nailed a 38-yard field goal to end the half with Edmonton up 19-10.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for the Elks, running back Justin Rankin left the game with a first-half injury and didn\u2019t return.<\/p>\n
Edmonton came out flying in the third as they capped off a solid drive with an impressive 35-yard TD catch by Joshua Cephus.<\/p>\n
Blanchard added a 26-yarder on their next possession.<\/p>\n
Paredes responded with a 41-yard field goal.<\/p>\n
The Elks got a huge play late in the third as Silas Hubert blocked a punt in the end zone and picked it up himself for the defensive TD and a 36-13 lead.<\/p>\n
Calgary promptly fumbled the ball away on its own 46, eventually leading to an 18-yard TD pass from Fajardo to Robustelli.<\/p>\n
Edmonton continued the beating midway through the final quarter as backup QB Taylor Powell hit Zach Mathis for a 15-yard TD strike.<\/p>\n
Paredes kicked a 45-yarder with four minutes left.<\/p>\n
Blanchard responded with a field goal from the 46.<\/p>\n
NOTES<\/p>\n
Paredes, who made his CFL debut in 2011, played in his 250th career regular-season game. \u2026 Stamps receiver Reggie Begelton returned from a lengthy leg injury, suiting up for the first time since June 14, 2025. \u2026 The announced attendance was 31,531.<\/p>\n
UP NEXT<\/p>\n
Stampeders: Host the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday, Sept. 19.<\/p>\n
Elks: Visit the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday, Sept. 19.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2026.<\/p>\n
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 Joe Robustelli caught a pair of touchdown passes as the Edmonton Elks clinched a playoff berth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":893724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48,83,82],"class_list":["post-893723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-disaster","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893723","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=893723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}