The Edmonton Elks beat the B.C. Lions 28-16 in the CFL West Final at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, November 7, 2026, to reach the Grey Cup for the first time since 2015. Cody Fajardo threw for 274 yards and ran for 84 more, scoring once on the ground and once through the air in the second half, as Edmonton completed the turnaround from five straight seasons out of the playoffs to a place in the 113th Grey Cup against the Montreal Alouettes.
FINAL: Edmonton Elks 28, B.C. Lions 16
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How to watch the Grey Cup: Edmonton Elks vs Montreal Alouettes, Sunday, November 15, 6:00 p.m. ET at McMahon Stadium, Calgary
TV (Canada): TSN, RDS
Stream: CFL+
Fajardo Takes Over In The Second Half
For a half, this was the defensive game Fajardo had promised. Previewing the matchup, the Elks quarterback said, as the Canadian Press reported this week: “This is two of the best defences in the league and two high-powered offences. This is what you want in the West final.” He added: “The ball is the priority. If we can protect the football and keep their offence on the sideline, that gives us the best chance to win.” B.C. moved the ball early, with Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke throwing for 181 yards in the first half, but the Lions could not find the end zone and settled for three field goals. Edmonton trailed 9-6 at the break, despite Fajardo completing 11 of 13 passes for 102 yards in the half.
The first touchdown of the game arrived with 1:16 left in the third quarter, Fajardo scrambling in from five yards to put Edmonton up 16-9, as TSN’s match report records. Rourke answered at the start of the fourth, running in a touchdown of his own to tie the game 16-16, and the West Final sat on one possession in front of 40,182 fans, the largest crowd in the CFL this season. Edmonton edged back in front with a field goal, the defence then produced the game’s decisive play, Joel Dublanko forcing a fumble that J.J. Ross returned deep, and Fajardo found Austin Mack for a 23-yard touchdown with seven minutes left. B.C. never scored again, and Edmonton added late points to close out the 28-16 win. Fajardo finished 25 of 30 for 274 yards and a touchdown, with 10 carries for 84 yards and a rushing score, leading his own team on the ground, as 3DownNation’s match report detailed.
Edmonton Elks Grey Cup Return Ends An 11-Year Wait
The scale of the night starts with where Edmonton has been. This was the club’s first playoff game since 2019, when the Elks won an East Semi-Final in Montreal before losing the East Final in Hamilton, and its first home post-season game since the 2015 West Final, which Edmonton won on the way to its last Grey Cup title, a 26-20 win over the Ottawa Redblacks. In between came five empty seasons: the franchise went a combined 25-61 after 2019 before turning it around this year at 13-5, first in the West under head coach Mark Kilam, with the league’s stingiest defence. Saturday’s crowd was a season high for the whole league, and it answered the call Fajardo made during the week, when he told reporters: “We need our fans in this game, it’s a big game. I’ve been calling on Elks Nation to come out and show out in this game because that’s going to help push us to the edge.”
For B.C., the wait goes on. The Lions have now lost the West Final for the second straight year and the fourth time in five seasons, and their last Grey Cup appearance remains 2011, when they beat Winnipeg. Rourke’s first-half yardage showed how close the Lions were while the game was a kicking contest, but one touchdown, scored early in the fourth quarter, was all the B.C. offence could finish, and the late fumble ended the last real opening.
Fajardo And Mack Face The Team They Won With
The Grey Cup matchup carries a personal edge that no script could improve. Fajardo and Mack were both key players for Montreal in the Alouettes’ 2023 Grey Cup win, a game in which Fajardo was named Most Valuable Player and delivered the winning touchdown pass with 13 seconds left. Montreal moved on from him a year later. Now, as Sportsnet’s West Final report noted, the two of them meet their old team in the championship game, wearing green and gold, after connecting on the touchdown that broke the West Final open. Fajardo came into this week saying he still felt overlooked around the league, left off the West Division All-CFL team despite leading a 13-5 season. A 25-of-30 night in a division final, with the Grey Cup berth scored by his own arm and legs, is the loudest answer available to a quarterback.
The 113th Grey Cup Is Set For Calgary
Montreal booked its place earlier on Saturday, beating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 33-23 in the East Final behind Davis Alexander’s 373 passing yards and two touchdowns. It is the Alouettes’ second straight Grey Cup and their third in four years, and they arrive as the league’s best regular-season team at 14-4, a year after losing the final to Saskatchewan. The CFL has confirmed the 113th Grey Cup for Sunday, November 15 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, kicking off at 6:00 p.m. ET. Edmonton, the second most successful franchise in CFL history with 14 championships, has not played for the trophy in 11 years. Montreal is chasing a second title in four seasons. One of the two droughts, the long one in Edmonton or the short one in Montreal, ends next Sunday, and the quarterback standing in the middle of it lifted the Grey Cup for one of these teams three years ago.
