{"id":936812,"date":"2026-10-17T20:24:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T20:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/936812\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T20:24:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T20:24:41","slug":"elks-clinch-home-field-for-cfl-west-playoffs-after-35-27-win-over-blue-bombers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/936812\/","title":{"rendered":"Elks clinch home field for CFL West playoffs after 35-27 win over Blue Bombers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Edmonton Elks’ quarterback Cody Fajardo is tackled by Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Michael Griffin II during the first half.Codie McLachlan\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Edmonton Elks will officially host this year\u2019s CFL West final.<\/p>\n

Cody Fajardo ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more as Edmonton rallied to a 35-27 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday.<\/p>\n

Fajardo completed 12 of 17 pass attempts for 120 yards for the Elks (13-4), who have not hosted a West final or even a home playoff game at all since 2015.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros completed 28 of 33 passes for 331 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers (8-9) failed in their attempt to secure a playoff spot, but could still earn a post-season berth this weekend if Calgary loses to B.C. on Saturday.<\/p>\n

After missing a field goal on their first drive, the Blue Bombers put together another strong drive with five minutes left in the opening quarter and capped it off with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Collaros to Nic Demski.<\/p>\n

The Elks responded with an 18-yard field goal from Vincent Blanchard to close out the quarter.<\/p>\n

Collaros was picked off at the Winnipeg nine by Kenny Logan Jr., leading immediately to a pass from Fajardo to Shunderrick Powell, who fought his way into the end zone. Fajardo had gone three straight games without a TD pass.<\/p>\n

The Bombers\u2019 QB made up for it on the next series as he hit Ontaria Wilson deep in the end zone for a 32-yard TD strike.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg kept it coming with a one-yard TD run by backup QB Bryce Perkins.<\/p>\n

However, after a 65-yard kickoff return by Montrell Washington, the Elks converted a third-down gamble with two seconds remaining in the first half on a four-yard TD pass from Fajardo to Austin Mack to cut Winnipeg\u2019s lead to 21-17 at the mid-mark.<\/p>\n

Edmonton carried that momentum forward to start the third as Fajardo finished off a long drive with a one-yard TD plunge. They added a single on the subsequent kick.<\/p>\n

The Bombers pulled back within one on a 23-yard field goal by Sergio Castillo, but he would hit the uprights from 55 yards out on his next attempt.<\/p>\n

Blanchard kicked a 52-yarder for the Elks.<\/p>\n

Edmonton went up 35-24 with 1:39 remaining as Fajardo took another one in from two yards out.<\/p>\n

Castillo kicked a late 53-yard field goal.<\/p>\n

Notes<\/p>\n

The Elks captured their third straight win over Winnipeg, having previously defeated the Bombers 23-18 and 22-18 this season. The last time Edmonton swept a three-game series against Winnipeg was in 1979 \u2026 Demski caught his 47th career TD pass, tying him for first among active players with Kenny Lawler.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Winnipeg: Travels to B.C. to face the Lions to close out regular season play next Friday.<\/p>\n

Edmonton: Finishes the regular season in Saskatchewan against the Roughriders next Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Edmonton Elks’ quarterback Cody Fajardo is tackled by Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Michael Griffin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":936813,"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-936812","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\/936812","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=936812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}