EDMONTON — Cody Fajardo showed his former apprentice that he can still get the job done.
Justin Rankin ran in a pair of touchdowns and quarterback Fajardo carried in the winner himself as the Edmonton Elks stopped previously-unbeatable quarterback Davis Alexander, holding on to win their home opener 32-29 in overtime over the Montreal Alouettes on a rainy Saturday.
Alexander served as Fajardo’s backup on Montreal’s 110th Grey Cup-winning team in 2023.
“It was pretty impressive the way that we gutted it out. We’re a gritty team, we’re going to find ways to win here,” Fajardo said. “We already knew we were a good football team, I think what this does is it puts the rest of the league on notice that this isn’t the same Edmonton Elks team from a couple of years ago. The standard has changed here.”
The Elks are 2-0 to start the CFL regular season for the first time since 2019.
“It was a good team win. It took all three phases, everybody in that locker room. Guys had to dig deep,” said Elks head coach Mark Kilam. “We stuck together and found ways to make plays late in the game.”
The Alouettes dropped to 2-1 with Alexander suffering the first loss as a starter in a regular-season game in his career, missing out on a chance to tie the CFL record for most consecutive starts with a victory at 14, a mark held by Bo Levi Mitchell, who accomplished the feat in 2016.
“It was a great football game,” Alexander said. “The record is what the record is. I was kind of tired about hearing about it since we did lose that Grey Cup game. I’m not glad to have lost, but I’m glad to get that record talk out of the way. Let’s just go play 15 more.”
Montreal started the scoring 6 1/2 minutes into the opening quarter with a 50-yard field goal by José Maltos Díaz.
The Alouettes added to their lead with five minutes left in the second quarter as Travis Theis scampered in from five yards out for the touchdown.
After Nate Beauchemin picked off Fajardo, Montreal marched downfield to chip in a 38-yard Maltos Díaz field goal with two minutes left.
Edmonton finally got on the board with 29 seconds remaining in the second as Fajardo found Austin Mack with a nine-yard TD pass to make it 13-7 at the half.
The Elks surged into the lead three minutes into the third as Rankin found a seam and blazed 36 yards for the rushing major.
Rankin came up huge again with 6:40 to play in the third as he overcame a stumble and got a great block from Fajardo before blazing 47 yards into the end zone. The convert was missed.
Edmonton started the fourth quarter with a 36-yard field goal from Vincent Blanchard.
The Alouettes rapidly responded with a 37-yard Maltos Díaz field goal.
Montreal fumbled away a punt at their own 11-yard-line with 6:22 to play, recovered by Elk Kordell Jackson, leading to a 13-yard field goal by Blanchard.
Alexander fought back and unleashed a 34-yard bomb into the end zone to Tyler Snead with three minutes remaining in the contest to cut Edmonton’s lead to three.
Montreal then sent the game to overtime as Maltos Díaz nailed a 31-yard field goal with time expiring to tie the game 26-26.
The Alouettes started the extra session with a 33-yard field goal by Maltos Díaz.
After getting lucky when Rankin fumbled and it was determined that the Elks got last touch before the ball went out of bounds, Fajardo ran it in himself from six yards out to give the Elks the dramatic victory.
“It was a great fight, all the way through into overtime, up until the last play,” said Montreal head coach Jason Maas. “That ball on the sidelines, if it gets tapped out our way, we win the ball game right there. Unfortunately, it didn’t, and they made one more play and sealed the victory.
"I’m very proud of our guys for fighting. We were down 10 points in the fourth quarter, being able to crawl back and put it into overtime, obviously I’m very proud of that.”
UP NEXT
Alouettes: Host the Ottawa Redblacks (0-2) on Sunday, June 28.
Elks: Visit the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1-1) on Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2026.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press
