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News June 7, 2025

GAME RECAP: Lions 31, Elks 14

VANCOUVER – The Edmonton Elks opened their 2025 regular season schedule at BC Place on Saturday night, losing by a score of 31-14 to the host BC Lions.

Edmonton led 7-3 after 30 minutes, before an explosive second half from the Lions that saw BC find the endzone four times.

“They had some answers, definitely, for what we were doing,” Elks head coach Mark Kilam said during a post-game interview with CHED 880. “I thought we gassed out a little bit on defence. We need to maintain a few more drives on offence to help those guys out.”

Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo scored a pair of rushing touchdowns. Stanley Berryhill III caught two touchdown passes for the Lions, who also got one touchdown each from James Butler and Justin McInnis.

The game was the first since 1968 to feature two Canadians starting at quarterback, Tre Ford of the Elks and BC’s Nathan Rourke. Ford completed 18 of 27 passes for 178 yards and racked up a team-high 54 rushing yards on six carries. Rourke was 27-of-36 passing for 324 yards, and also rushed for 54 yards, on five carries.

Justin Rankin was Edmonton’s top pass-catcher with five receptions for 67 yards, while Berryhill III led all players with 105 receiving yards from six catches. BC outgained Edmonton 446-248 in net offence.

“I don’t think we did fantastic offensively,” Ford said on 880 CHED. “I think we were stuck in a lot of second-and-longs, which isn’t a great situation for offense, so we have to better on first downs.”

The Green and Gold defence had a strong start to the game, forcing a turnover on downs on both of BC’s first two offensive possessions.

On their opening possession, the Lions drove to the Edmonton one-yard line, before getting stopped on third-and-goal when Edmonton’s Jared Brinkman brought down BC quarterback Chase Brice just short of the endzone. The first quarter ended with Edmonton leading 1-0 after Cody Grace punted a 66-yard single.

Sean Whyte kicked a 22-yard field goal to put BC in front by a score of 3-1 early in the second quarter. Edmonton responded with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that culminated in a one-yard touchdown plunge by Fajardo.

The game shifted in the third quarter, when BC jumped ahead 17-7 with a pair of deep touchdown passes from Rourke to Berryhill.

Ford might have locked up CFL Play of the Year honours in Week 1. On the final play of the third quarter, third-and-three from the BC 40, Ford eluded tacklers for more than 10 seconds, scrambling all the way back to the EE 40-yard line before turning back up field and completing a pass to Rankin, who rumbled up field and was pushed out of bounds just short of the goalline. Two plays later, Fajardo punched in the ball from the one-yard line, bringing the Elks back within three points of BC, at 17-14, but Edmonton could get no closer.

BC restored its 10-point advantage on a 15-yard touchdown reception by McInnis. On BC’s next possession, Butler put the game out of reach found the end zone with a four-yard touchdown run.

The Green and Gold will have a bye in Week 2, before returning to action on June 19 for their home-opener against the Montreal Alouettes. Kickoff from Play Alberta Field at Commonwealth Stadium is 7 p.m. Tickets are available now.

THEY SAID

Kilam on Ford’s performance:

“He’s still learning. He gets better every time he plays, and he has to play to get better. It’s the only way. But you see some of the dynamic things he can do, he will always have that, and defences have to account for that, but we’ve got to iron out the functionalities of our offence on a day-to-day.”

Ford on his scramble at the end of the third quarter:

“It was third down, I couldn’t get the edge to get the three yards, so I reversed field and figured I’d try to make something happen.”