The Edmonton Elks secured a home West Final with a win over BC on October 16, closing the game on a seven-minute drive that ended in a touchdown. Quarterback Cody Fajardo, running back Justin Rankin and head coach Mark Kilam all addressed the result afterward, pointing to the closing drive, the red zone offense and a locker room mustache tradition as the storylines of the night.
"Getting a West Final in front of our fans, they were the difference tonight," Fajardo said. "Our offense had a championship 7-minute drive and finished with a touchdown, not a field goal, to put up 7. And we said we put up 11. Just huge 3-phase football tonight. Couldn't be any prouder of this team."
The Closing Drive
Rankin carried the load on the final possession, grinding out the clock before finishing it in the end zone. He said the approach on that drive did not differ from how the team plays from the opening snap.
"Like, we're playing football, you know? I don't think for us, our mentality doesn't change from the first quarter to the last. We just knew, look, we got to run the ball and everybody knows we're going to run the ball. And that was just kind of what we did, right? It felt good to be able to assert our dominance at the line of scrimmage." — Justin Rankin
Rankin described being pushed through fatigue by teammates on the sideline during the drive. "At one point I'm looking to the sideline and I'm tired as all get out and Mac is like, you ain't quitting on me, come on, you know? It just feels good to have the guys behind you and pulling you and pushing you to just keep fighting for each other."
Kilam called the sequence the defining stretch of the game. "I saw championship-level football. That's what I saw. I saw an offense that had struggled at times find ways to make plays at a critical time in the game. That's what good teams do."
Fajardo's Legs as "The Great Equalizer"
Fajardo said BC's defensive approach forced him to rely on his legs for a second time this season. "They're dropping a back, rushing 3 and dropping 9 guys into coverage. So a lot of tight window throws. I knew this game was going to come down to protecting the football," he said. "When you're dropping 9 guys into coverage, your legs is the great equalizer."
Kilam connected that scrambling ability to the offense's turnover numbers on the season. "We're getting lots of 9-man drop early, so he didn't want to force anything. We're plus-23 or whatever it was going into this game because he doesn't throw a lot of interceptions. We had a little bit of fumble problems early in the year, but when he keeps stress on the defense with his legs, that's a good thing for us."
A Touchdown Before Half Changes the Game
Fajardo pointed to a late first-half score, a double move to the corner of the end zone, as a turning point. "We thought they were going to heat us up on the first couple drives. I gave Killam a lot of credit for having us stay out there right before half. That's a huge momentum swing," he said. "Credit to Jordan, credit to Austin Mack. He ran the best route that he's ran all week and catches an easy one in the corner of the end zone. So that gave us life, that gave us momentum."
Kilam confirmed he made the call to go for the touchdown rather than play it safe before the half. "I just said, let's score. That's what I said. So excuse my French, but that's what I wanted, to be aggressive. We hadn't been down there very much. I wanted to be aggressive. I wanted to show the football team that I believed in them, and they rewarded me."
Fajardo said the red zone offense, which had drawn criticism in recent weeks, delivered when it mattered. "For so much crap we've gotten on our red zone the last couple weeks, our red zone won us the game tonight by scoring touchdowns in the red zone and not kicking field goals."
Looking Ahead to the Bye Week
Fajardo said the week off before the West Final will be treated as a work week, not a true break. "We have a lot of guys banged up, myself included," he said. "It's not like a true bye week, it's a work week because the other team is going to come out with some more momentum because they have a game before us, but we will be the healthier team. That's a good thing. I'm going to lean on my experience to help some of our young guys understand how important that week is."
Kilam, asked whether he expected this kind of turnaround, pointed back to the previous season. "I thought I wanted to do it last year. Come on now. Week 17 last year, we got eliminated from the playoffs. All of last year we were in chase mode because we started in a massive hole. We wanted to flip that script, and we did this year."
Belief and the Mustache
Rankin credited the team's depth and locker room culture for its ability to overcome trailing at halftime in multiple games this season. "We're a resilient team, man. We wholeheartedly believe in one another, whether we're playing good, playing bad. You never see guys really arguing on the sideline. We got a team that regardless of who's in, you know would break some teams, and you got guys just coming up and there's no drop off."
Fajardo also explained the playoff mustaches showing up around the team, a tradition he said traces back to his mentor. "I learned this from Ricky. Ricky Ray was my mentor and a guy I learned so much from, and he was always a mustache guy when it came to the playoffs. I started doing that when I became a starter. You can see a lot of guys buying in, personnel people buying in. Just goes to show how close this locker room is and how much we care about each other here."
Rankin said he joined in reluctantly. "It's all right. It's growing on me, but literally, kind of got forced into it. I'm all for it. We made the playoffs, everybody's shaving it and everybody's doing it. That's awesome that we got guys that are just buying in wholeheartedly."
Watch the Full Videos
Edmonton Elks: POST GAME | QB Cody Fajardo | 10.16.26
Edmonton Elks: POST GAME | RB Justin Rankin | 10.16.26
Edmonton Elks: POST GAME | HC Mark Kilam | 10.16.26