Elks keep playoff hopes alive with 25-20 win over Blue Bombers

EDMONTON – Two stunning third-quarter touchdowns, followed by a stubborn fourth-quarter defence, carried the Elks to critical 25-20 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Saturday night, keeping Edmonton’s slim CFL playoff hopes alive.

Running back Justin Rankin’s 64-yard touchdown run on a third-down gamble, followed by Kordell Jackson’s 47-yard touchdown after recovering a teammate’s fumble, powered Edmonton to the win in front of 15,013 shivering fans on a wet 4 Celsius evening.

“Not the prettiest at times but finding a way, all three phases finding a way against a good football team,” Elks coach Mark Kalim said. “Keeping the hopes alive.”

Fighting to overcome a 1-6 start to the regular season, the Elks still need to win their final two games, including a final weekend matchup with the Calgary Stampeders, to make the playoffs for the first time since 2019 when they qualified as the crossover team.

The win was Edmonton’s third in five games — the two losses were by a combined three points — and improved their record to 7-9 overall. They remain last in the West Division but are just two points back of the 8-8 Bombers. However, Winnipeg holds a possible tiebreaker because they beat the Elks 36-23 in their previous game. If Edmonton beats Calgary in their final meeting the Elks would hold the tiebreaker there as well.

The Elks turned a one-point game into a 14-point lead with the two huge plays. Rankin, who has more big plays than anyone in the CFL this season, turned a third-down gamble into a 64-yard touchdown run two minutes in.

Eight minutes later, after Edmonton’s Javon Leake fumbled a punt, teammate Jackson picked up the loose ball and ran it 47 yards to the end zone for a 25-10 Elks lead.

“One of those oh no, oh no, oh yes,” Kalim said of the play. “Shout out to KJ. Guy’s a defensive starter who puts his body on the line and now he’s playing special teams. Sometimes you have to be doing the right things to be around the ball to get the breaks like that.”

Jackson said the play just showed his love of the game.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” he said of recovering the fumble. “It goes back to when you’re younger just being around the ball all the time. They say the closer you are to the ball it shows how much you love the team and love the game. The ball was right there and I just picked it up and scored.

“It felt amazing I haven’t scored in a long time.”

But the Bombers cut into the lead with a field goal in the final seconds of the quarter and then took advantage of a series of costly Edmonton penalties to pull into a five-point deficit with six minutes remaining.

Ontaria Wilson made a one-handed catch of a deflected ball in the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown reception.

Edmonton’s defence took over from there, three times forcing Winnipeg to turn over the ball on unsuccessful third-down gambles.

“Big time execution,” Jackson said of the defensive play. “Coach Kilam puts us in those situations in practice so it’s doing what you do in practice. We all want to get to the playoffs but we’re just following coach Kilam.”

Kalim said he has total confidence in his defence, adding “when the defence took the field late I said to JC (defensive coordinator JJ Sherritt), go win the game.”

Winnipeg running back Brady Oliveira, who went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the fourth straight season, said the Bombers “didn’t play enough team football. We made too many mistakes. Edmonton made more plays than us.”

Plus, he added, the Elks had some luck on their side, pointing to Jackson’s fumble recovery touchdown.

“Obviously they made some incredible plays throughout the game,” Oliveira said. “But sometimes you have luck on your side and they had it tonight, we didn’t. That said we didn’t play clean enough to win that game.”

Edmonton quarterback Cody Fajardo completed 13 of 14 passes for 142 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. Rankin carried 18 times for 138 yards. For Winnipeg Zach Collaros completed 22 of 34 passes for 202 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

NOTES

Winnipeg receiver Nic Demski started for the Bombers after he and his wife welcomed their second child on Wednesday. … Blanchard missed a 43-yard field-goal attempt in the first quarter, his first miss after 13 straight successful kicks. … Edmonton’s defence welcomed the return of tackle Jared Brinkman, end Robbie Smith and linebacker Eleva Mauga-Clements. … The Elks passing defence came into the game having given up a CFL-worst 300 yards a game. … Rankin came into the game the only player in the CFL with 600-plus yards in both rushing and receiving this season. Rankin also had the longest run from scrimmage, 90 yards, and the highest single-game rushing yards, 204.

UP NEXT

Blue Bombers: Host the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday, Oct. 17.

Elks: Visit the B.C. Lions on Friday, Oct. 17.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2025.