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| Cody Fajardo raises the Grey Cup. |
About a year ago at this time, Fajardo was taking flack as the scapegoat of a Saskatchewan Roughriders season that went off the rails. Entering the 2022 CFL campaign as the Roughriders star starting quarterback, Saskatchewan got out to a 4-1 start, and the season fell off the rails at that point.
The Roughriders would proceed to win just two of their last 13 games and finished the campaign with a 6-12 record closing the season out on a seven game losing streak. Fajardo was a reserve quarterback for the club’s final two regular season games as the Roughriders missed the playoffs.
Due to become a free agent on February of 2023, it was safe to say the Roughriders brain trust gave up on Fajardo, and veteran signal caller made it known he felt that way.
While Fajardo had lots of supporters among Rider Nation, there was a sizable loud minority that viewed the quarterback was finished. They said Fajardo would never win a Grey Cup as a starting quarterback.
The Roughriders needed to get rid of Fajardo. He was a flash in the pan and not a good quarterback.
Those might have been the nicest things the detractors said. There were a lot of comments that were downright cruel.
It seemed the detractors were intent on not just driving Fajardo out of town. They wanted him to leave town strapped to the front of a locomotive, and if the locomotive hit a wall or ran into a cliff it was all the better.
Forgotten was Fajardo’s 27-17 career record as the Roughriders starting quarterback or that he signal called them to two West Division final appearances in 2019 and 2021. The Roughriders fell both times to the eventual Grey Cup champion and their traditional rivals the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
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| Cody Fajardo throws a pass for the Roughriders in 2019. |
He was and still is a practicing Catholic who is strong in his Christian faith, and he made “a sprinkle of Jesus” his catch phrase.
With his coming out of nowhere to be a star quarterback story, Fajardo looked like he was going to be the CFL’s version of Kurt Warner. Warner was quarterback who came out of nowhere to light the NFL on fire quarterbacking the St. Louis Rams to a magical 1999 campaign that resulted in a Super Bowl win. He had a career that saw him be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.
Warner was the picture of what it looked like to be the star quarterback who was strong in his Christian faith.
As for Fajardi, it looked like there would be no more glory for him following the 2022 CFL season.
The signal caller wasn’t the only Roughriders scapegoat. Roughriders offensive coordinator Jason Maas’ contract wasn’t renewed following the 2022 campaign. He had been Fajardo’s offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022.
On December 17, 2022, Maas was hired to be the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes. On the first day of CFL free agency this past February, Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia and Maas elected to sign Fajardo to a two-year contract and install him as the club’s starting quarterback.
At the start of the CFL season, the Alouettes were ridiculed for their moves. Most pundits were predicting the Alouettes to finish last and be the laughing stock of the nine-team circuit.
The Alouettes were viewed as a team of castoffs and misfits. The castoffs included defensive end Shaun Lemon, who led the CFL with 14 sacks in 2022 playing for the Calgary Stampeders.
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| Cody Fajardo (#7) was a CFL MOP nominee in 2019. |
Lemon signed with the Alouettes on July 23rd and showed he was pretty motivated getting nine sacks in 13 regular season games.
Still, Fajardo was the overall symbol of how the Alouettes were going to be the CFL’s sacrificial lamb in 2023. The sacrificial lamb turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
As it turned out, Maciocia actually built a really good roster that came together to become a great football team as the 2023 campaign marched on.
On top of that, the Alouettes were a driven football team as everyone with the club came together due to having a chip on their collective shoulders on being left for dead. That ultimately made the Alouettes a very dangerous football team.
On Sunday at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont., Fajardo, who is 31-years-old, had his finest hour in the CFL. He completed 21-of-26 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns, while throwing one interception, in a 28-24 upset victory over the Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup.
Fajardo, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 223 pounds, wrote a storybook finish in front of a sellout crowd of 28,808 spectators. On Montreal’s final offensive possession with the Bombers holding a 24-21 advantage, Fajardo drove the Alouettes 83 yards in seven plays for the winning touchdown.
He concluded the drive throwing the winning touchdown pass from 19 yards out to Canadian receiver Tyson Philpot with 13 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Bombers were unable to come out with a miracle play in the final 13 seconds causing the 28-24 score in favour of the Alouettes to hold up as the final outcome of the game.
Fajardo had a championship moment worthy of all the all-time great quarterbacks who played the game in either the CFL or NFL. He was named the MVP of the Grey Cup, and Philpot took honours as the Most Valuable Canadian.
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| The Alouettes celebrate a Grey Cup championship. |
On Sunday, Fajardo showed the good guy can finish first. As a true good guy, he didn’t have to get the girl, because the girl was already there. Laura, his wife who is a doctor of physical therapy, convinced the signal caller in the off-season his playing days were not finished and he still had it.
Cody, Laura and their one-year-old son, Luca, were all together celebrating the Grey Cup win on Sunday. The redemption story ultimately finished as a fairy tale that came true.
Grads haul in Hilltops major team awards
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| Boston Davidsen, right, is named the Hilltops top grad. |
On Saturday, the Hilltops held their team awards ceremony in a new format for the club. Having held an annual awards banquet in past years, the Hilltops hosted the Saskatoon Hilltops Football Club Honors awards ceremony in a live theatre style show at the Roxy Theatre. The event was similar in nature to awards shows hosted by the NFL and NHL.
Graduating star power running back Boston Davidsen was named the winner of the Drs. Landa-Doig Award as the club’s most outstanding graduating player. Davidsen was a first team CJFL all-Canadian all-star had a monster campaign leading the PFC in carries (170), rushing yards (1,184) and rushing touchdowns (nine) during the regular season.
In the Hilltops 17-10 victory over the Westshore Rebels on Nov. 11 in the CJFL championship game – the Canadian Bowl, Davidsen carried the ball 25 times for 157 yards and one touchdown. His major score ultimately held up as the winning score of the contest played at Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C., which is a suburb of Victoria.
Graduating middle linebacker Matt Wist captured the Courtice Inspiration Award. Wist was named a second team CJFL all-Canadian at linebacker and a first team CJFL all-Canadian at punter.
During the Hilltops eight regular season games, Wist recorded 22 solo defensive tackles, 17 defensive tackle assists, two pass knockdowns, two forced fumbles and three interceptions. He punted the ball 47 times for a gross average of 37.7 yards per kick, a net average of 32.2 yards per kick and three singles.
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| Matt Wist, right, wins the Courtice Inspiration Award. |
Defensive back Carter Wingert, who has exhausted his CJFL eligibility, was given the Ron Atchison “True Grit” Award.
Outside linebacker Wade Keating, who has completed his CJFL career, took the Don and Jim Seaman Memorial Award as the team’s top linebacker.
Defensive end Riece Kack was the only other veteran player outside of the grads to capture a major award. Kack, who has one season of CJFL eligibility remaining, took the Ray Syrnyk Trophy as the team’s top lineman.
Receiver Datiel Fountaine claimed the Past President’s Trophy as the team’s rookie of the year.
The Hilltops won all eight of their regular season games en route to posting a perfect 12-0 record in 2023. Their CJFL championship victory over the Rebels marked the 23rd time in team history the Hilltops have captured the CJFL title.
If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.
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