Edmonton didn't just beat Calgary twice in a row. The Elks hung 53 points on the Stampeders, clinched a playoff spot, and turned Commonwealth Stadium back into a building nobody wants to visit. Call it what head coach Mark Kilam calls it: defending the concrete castle of the north.
"Yeah, it felt good. Felt really good. 3-phase win," Kilam said after the game. "This place was rocking tonight too. You know, Cody just said it, what we're trying to build this place into, and this place is gonna be a hard place to play in the playoffs."
Quarterback Cody Fajardo framed the win as the first box checked on a bigger mission. "Phase 1 was staring us right in front of the face," Fajardo said. "That's what I told the guys. Phase 1 to any Gray Cup run, you got to clinch first. And we did that. But that's only phase 1 of a 4-step plan that we got to take care of."
Robustelli Delivers Two Touchdowns in Just His Second Game
Joe Robustelli only recently got back into the lineup, and he's already making it count. Two touchdown grabs on the night, including a contested catch that had him second-guessing his own hops.
"Honestly, I kind of broke outside of him. I saw he was playing outside leverage and I saw an opportunity to get outside of him and I felt like he grabbed me a little bit," Robustelli said, describing the sequence on his first score. "So I kind of turned around, stumbled, and I saw the ball up in the air and, you know, just went and made a play."
He admitted he barely got off the ground on the catch. "100%," he said when asked if he was surprised the defender didn't break it up. "I kind of, if you see, I didn't really jump that high. I was getting made fun of and I knew if he didn't jump high enough that it was going to land right in my hands because it was a great ball by Cody and luckily he did and I was able to make the catch."
Fajardo made clear this connection didn't happen by accident. "I told you guys, training camp we had a really good connection and we're only going to get better," Fajardo said. "The first play of the game, I let one rip and he came to me and I said, hey, you owe me one. He's like, I owe you 2. And he got me back. He got 2 of them for me, one on a corner route and then one at the end there."
Kilam backed that up from the coaching side. "We're really high on Joe. I mean, coming out of training camp, Joe was like penciled in as a starter," Kilam said. "It was unfortunate that TJ got hurt, but then it provided Joe an opportunity to get back in the lineup. But those guys made plays for Cody. I thought Joe did a hell of a job on his touchdown."
Depth Answers the Call as Injuries Pile Up
Fajardo's group didn't have it easy. Guys went down all night, and the offense had to keep reshuffling. Shonderrick Powell stepped in after Rankin went down and delivered a moment Fajardo didn't even see happen live.
"He got comfortable. He sat in there, made a huge play on a pass route where he hurdled the guy. I was on the ground, I didn't really see it. I heard the crowd cheering. I was like, did he — and I looked back and he hurdled the guy. Just electric. Lightning in a bottle, that guy is." — Cody Fajardo
The running back room got thin too. "We had to put Skyler back there because he was a little banged up. We had no running backs left," Fajardo said. "But this team, we just care about each other. We got a lot of love for each other. We know that whoever steps up is gonna make it right for all of us."
Rookie receiver Josh Cephas also got real minutes with Austin taken away by Calgary's coverage, and he delivered. "They did a good job of taking Austin out of the game for the most part, and we couldn't really connect on anything," Fajardo said. "So you got to have other guys step up. And I thought Cephas had one of his best games in the green and white, made some really good catches. He ran an incredible double move to really get our offense going."
Kilam credited the special teams for a spark too, singling out Silas Hubert's block that led to a touchdown. "That guy's a grinder, and he made the tackle on the kickoff," Kilam said. "Really good teams are built on the backs of those guys that just go put it out there on teams. I'm really happy for Silas."
Defense Locks Down the Fort — Again
On the other side of the ball, defensive back Kordell Jackson and the Elks defense held a dangerous Calgary offense in check for the second straight game, part of the Labour Day-to-Return Classic sweep.
"It feels good for the whole team, honestly, not just the defense, but it was a pretty dominating performance," Jackson said. "It's important just because, you know, it's the back-to-back, so you don't have really much time to prep or you don't have much time to continue to watch the film. You just go out there and you got to execute, and that's what we did."
Jackson also came up with another takeaway, something he's made a habit of over the last two weeks. "I guess the opportunity presented itself more than anything, but I had a bad flag that I had to get the ball back from because I gave up 3 points," Jackson said. "So I was just trying to figure out a way to get it back."
He pointed to what beating Calgary twice means for a defense trying to build an identity. "It is a real big part of the fans too, man. They did an amazing job, got a few delayed games. So we just want to make this place what it used to be and make sure it's hard to play here and hard to get out of here with a win. So we're just defending the fort, man. That's all it is."
A Slow Start, A Clean Second Half
Both Fajardo and Kilam pointed to penalty trouble early as the reason Edmonton needed a half to find its rhythm. "I felt like the last drive that they had where they kicked a field goal, we aided them with a 15-yard penalty as well," Fajardo said. "So we felt like if we can clean it up and not gift them with penalties, we'd have a much better half. And that's what we did."
Kilam didn't dodge the officiating question either. "We knew it was going to be a tightly officiated game just based on the way the last one went, and the crew was good tonight," Kilam said. "We earned those penalties early, and then it's on us to adjust to that as it's going."
Fajardo says that clean second-half formula is the blueprint going forward. "When we put together a good first half and second half, that's where the sky's the limit."
Looking Ahead
With the playoff spot locked up and a division rival swept twice, Edmonton isn't slowing down. "We have bigger aspirations than just clinching the playoffs," Fajardo said. "What I love most is we control our own destiny. We don't look behind us and see what's going on in the Western Division. If we just keep winning games, everything we want is right in front of our face."
Kilam kept it simple looking at what's next. "Next game is next game. This is gonna feel great tonight, and then the process restarts tomorrow. That's really what it is."
Watch the Full Videos
Edmonton Elks: POST GAME | WR Joe Robustelli | 09.12.26
Edmonton Elks: POST GAME | QB Cody Fajardo | 09.12.26
Edmonton Elks: POST GAME | DB Kordell Jackson | 09.12.26
Edmonton Elks: POST GAME | HC Mark Kilam | 09.12.26