WINNIPEG – The Edmonton Elks lost to 36-23 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in an exciting tilt as Week 4 of the 2025 CFL season kicked off at Princess Auto Stadium on Thursday. Winnipeg outscored the Green and Gold 13-0 in the fourth quarter, breaking open a tie game.
“We’ve taken some steps but we’re not there yet as a group. I’m proud of these guys. I think we’ve got a lot of fight and we have gotten better, but we need to continue to do that so we can be on the other side of this.”
For three quarters, Edmonton gave the five-time defending West Division Bombers all they could handle. Cody Fajardo and Kaion Julien-Grant scored touchdowns for the EE, and Edmonton kicker Vincent Blanchard made all three of his field goal attempts.
Elks quarterback Tre Ford completed 18 of 29 passes for 252 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Julien-Grant caught five passes for 115 yards, tying Steven Dunbar Jr. for the team lead in receptions.
“I think we’re feeling pretty good in our locker room,” Ford said. “We know that we left some stuff out there, and it was still a close game … Winnipeg is an experienced team, they were able to close out and win the game, they did a great job, so shout out to them, but we know we’ve got to better and we know we were right there and we’ve got to make those plays that we didn’t make.”
Winnipeg’s Zach Collaros put up 334 yards in the air on 25-for-30 passing, throwing for three touchdowns, including two to Nic Demski, and running for another. Bombers receiver Keric Wheatfall also caught a TD pass.
After falling behind 23-10 in the second quarter, Edmonton rallied with 13 consecutive points. The Elks pitched a shut out in the third quarter, when Edmonton defensive lineman Jake Ceresna brought down Collaros with a sack and tackled Demski for a six-yard loss.
THAT'S A SACK đź‘Š#GoElks | @CFL pic.twitter.com/z4hdKxc9Li
— Edmonton Elks (@GoElks) June 27, 2025
“We’re still coming together as a team, (there’s) a lot of new faces,” Ceresna said during a post-game interview on 880 CHED, radio flagship of the Elks. “I thought we made some strides forward from last week. We were in the fight there until the last five minutes and then it kind of fell apart for us, so we just got to play a full 60 minutes and just play together.”
Edmonton led 7-6 after a first quarter that saw the teams trade touchdowns, with Fajardo plunging into the endzone on a one-yard rush before Demski caught an eight-yard TD pass from Collaros.
After Blanchard hit a 38-yard field goal to extend Edmonton’s lead to 10-6 early in the second quarter, the Bombers scored 17 straight points, including touchdown passes from Collaros to Demski and Keric Wheatfall. Blanchard drilled a 29-yard field goal on the final play of the half to pull Edmonton within 23-13 going to the break.
The Elks came charging out of the locker room in the third quarter, with Ford finding Julien-Grant for a 68-yard touchdown on the opening possession of the half. Blanchard then hit a 41-yard field goal, and the game was tied 23-23 heading into the final 15 minutes.
Sergio Castillo restored Winnipeg’s lead, booting a 30-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. With just over five minutes remaining, Collaros scrambled for a 13-yard touchdown run, leading to a 33-23 advantage for the home team.
Edmonton drops to 0-3 this season, while Winnipeg is now 3-0 and moves into a tie with the Saskatchewan Roughriders for first place in the West Division. The Green and Gold return home to host the Ottawa Redblacks, 5 p.m. on July 6 at Play Alberta Field at Commonwealth Stadium. Tickets are available now.
THEY SAID
Tre Ford on limiting mistakes:
“We had a couple errors, and I think the thing that hurts most is those errors were going to be points on the board, so that’s unfortunate, but that’s how football works. We’re a team, though, we’re going to rally together, one person’s mistake is everybody’s mistake, so we’ve got to better and improve moving forward.”
Mark Kilam on closing out games:
“We’ve got to figure out how to win games in the final five minutes, that’s the difference between our football team and theirs,” said Elks coach Mark Kilam. “We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and look at what we can do to get better in the last five (minutes).”