CALGARY – The Edmonton Elks erased an 18-point deficit to beat the Calgary Stampeders 38-28 in the CFL on Monday.
Elks running back Justin Rankin’s 50-yard rushing touchdown and Vincent Blanchard’s convert gave Edmonton its first lead of the Labour Day game with just over four minutes remaining.
Edmonton (9-3) scored 24 points in the last 10 minutes of the game for a third straight victory.
Kaion Julien-Grant and Austin Mack caught touchdown passes and ShunDerrick Powell and Cole Snyder scored rushing touchdowns for the Elks, who also overcame a 16-point deficit to beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in their previous game.
Blanchard kicked a 52-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and added five convert points.
Jalen Philpot and Clark Barnes caught touchdown passes and Quincy Vaughn scored on a short-yardage plunge for Calgary (5-7), which couldn’t get to scoring or field-goal range in the final four minutes.
Stampeders kicker Rene Paredes kicked field goals from 36 and 42 yards and three convert points in front of an announced 16,346 at McMahon Stadium.
Edmonton remained atop the West Division and ahead of the Saskatchewan Roughriders (8-4). The Stampeders stayed in the division’s cellar behind Winnipeg and the B.C. Lions, both at 6-6.
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Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo completed 17 of 31 pass attempts for 181 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. He was intercepted once.
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After sitting out a win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with a concussion, Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. was 15 for 29 in passing for 214 yards and a pair of touchdown throws.
Adams took a helmet to the head late in the first quarter. Edmonton linebacker Nick Anderson was penalized for roughing the passer when his helmet connected with Adams’ as the latter slid to the turf for a first down.
Trailing by 14 with 10 minutes remaining in the game, Edmonton’s offence went to work chewing up the deficit with a six-play, 70-yard drive capped by Powell’s three-yard charge to the end zone.
Edmonton’s Kordell Jackson stripped Barnes of the ball after the Stampeder caught a downfield pass on a subsequent drive. The Elks recovered and converted that turnover into Blanchard’s 52-yard field goal to trail by four.
The Stampeders led 25-7 after their first drive of the second half. Adams combined with Barnes on a 41-yard pass-and-run followed by a Paredes convert as rain arrived at McMahon.
The Elks countered with an 11-play, 90-yard drive ending with Fajardo’s throw to Mack deep in the end zone.
Tyreik McAllister’s 43-yard punt return to Edmonton’s 33-yard line put the Stampeders in scoring position, but the hosts settled for a 42-yard Paredes field goal.
Low cloud, winds gusting to 41 kilometres per hour and a temperature of 12 Celsius were weather conditions at kickoff, which was preceded by a flyover by two CF-18 Hornets.
Calgary’s Anthony Johnson picked off Fajardo’s pass intended for Mack on Edmonton’s 44-yard line with just over a minute left in the first half.
The Stampeders converted the turnover into Vaughn’s one-yard scoring plunge and an 18-7 halftime lead.
Trailing 11-0, the visitors scored their first points of the game just after the three-minute warning when Fajardo connected with Julien-Grant in the end zone on a six-yard throw.
Fajardo’s 26-yard throw to Mack on a second and 20, plus a subsequent 12-yard carry for a first down by the quarterback, had propelled the Elks to Calgary’s 20-yard line.
The Stampeders cashed an Elks turnover into a touchdown and an 11-point lead early in the second quarter.
Fajardo fumbled when Calgary’s Clarence Hicks recorded his fourth sack in as many games. Adams capped a 60-yard, four-play drive with a 39-yard touchdown throw to Philpot.
Calgary led 4-0 after the first quarter on a 36-yard field goal by Paredes and Mark Vassett’s 72-yard punt single into the wind.
UP NEXT
The Elks host the Stampeders on Saturday in the second game of the home and home.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 7, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
