The Saskatchewan Roughriders delivered a gift to their fans — sole possession of first place in the CFL’s West Division — to commemorate Christmas in July.
On a night when the team had a yuletide game theme, the Roughriders improved their record to 6-1 by defeating the Edmonton Elks 21-18 at Mosaic Stadium.
The Green and White has a 6-1 record for the fourth time in franchise history, following the scorching starts of 1970, 2008 and 2013.
“It’s beautiful, for sure, but we can’t really get comfortable or complacent,” linebacker A.J. Allen said. “First place is great, but we want to win a Grey Cup.”
Saskatchewan sacked former Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo eight times. Malik Carney, Shane Ray and Micah Johnson each had two sacks.
“The defensive line … those boys got paid today,” said Allen, who also got in on the sack parade. “Football is a lot easier when they do things like that.
“I’m giving all the credit to them. That was an incredible performance by them.”
Trevor Harris, who was 25 for 33 for 268 yards, threw touchdown passes to Samuel Emilus and KeeSean Johnson as the Roughriders outlasted a stubborn Edmonton squad, whch trailed 21-4 before scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns.
“You get to late in the season when you’ve got to have some gritty wins and that’s what that was. Our defence stood on our head for us. We (on offence) could have made it a lot easier for them.”
Emilus (six catches for 113 yards) and Johnson (nine for 78) were the Roughriders’ busiest receivers on Friday.
The Roughriders’ A.J. Ouellette was the game’s leading rusher, with 62 yards on 15 carries. The big run was a 17-yarder late in the fourth quarter that moved the chains and extinguished valuable time.
Brett Lauther hit field goals of 51 and 46 yards as Saskatchewan moved ahead of the Calgary Stampeders (5-2).
Fajardo threw for 346 yards and two scores in his first start for the Elks (1-5).
The Roughriders return to action on Aug. 2 against the host Montreal Alouettes.
Montreal (5-2) won 23-21 in Calgary on Thursday to create an opportunity for Saskatchewan to sit alone in first place.
TREVOR TIME
Harris moved past Tom Burgess (190) and into sole possession of 16th place on the CFL’s all-time touchdown-passes list. With 191, Harris is seven behind 15th-ranked Kent Austin. Austin and Burgess were Roughriders teammates for three seasons (1987 to 1989).
As well, Harris also moved up two spots, to 14th, on the career passing-yardage list. In Friday’s first half, he leapfrogged Michael Reilly (34,805) and Dieter Brock (34,840). Harris finished Friday’s game with 35,042 yards. Austin (36,030) is 13th on the career list.
Along the way, Harris extended to 10 his CFL record for consecutive games with a completion percentage of at least 70.
EXTRA POINTS
• Lauther’s 51-yard field goal was his 22nd of 50-plus yards, but his first from that distance. The breakdown by yardage: 57 (2), 56 (2), 55 (1), 54 (2), 53 (4), 52 (4), 51 (1) and 50 (6). Worth noting: Lauther did have a 51-yarder in the 2023 pre-season.
• The Roughriders held Edmonton to 25 rushing yards. Twenty of those yards were produced by Fajardo. Edmonton gained five yards on five handoffs. The rushing yards allowed was the fewest by Saskatchewan since July 21, 2013, when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats gained 16 yards on eight carries in a 37-0 home-field victory by the Roughriders.
• The Roughriders had the eighth documented eight-sack game in franchise history. The team record is 10 (accomplished three times). There has also been a nine-sack game. The eight sacks were the most since Hamilton surrendered the same total on June 11, 2022 at Mosaic Stadium.
• Saskatchewan has allowed only one sack over its past two games.
• Following the game, Head Coach Corey Mace did not have an immediate update on a lower-body injury Emilus sustained in the second half.
SUMMARY
FIRST QUARTER
Sask — Single Lauther 59 4:17
Lauther was wide on a 47-yard field-goal attempt.
Edm — Single Grace 56 7:11
Grace’s punt landed on the five and bounced into the end zone for a rouge.
Edm — FG Blanchard 15 14:53
Fajardo hit Mathis for gains of 35 and 16.
SECOND QUARTER
Sask — TD Emilus 15 pass from Harris (Lauther convert) 13:12
Saskatchewan scored one play after Edmonton was penalized 25 yards for pass interference.
Sask — FG Lauther 51 14:38
Completions of 12 and six yards to Johnson put Saskatchewan in field-goal range.
THIRD QUARTER
Sask — TD Johnson 8 pass from Harris (Lauther convert) 6:48
Harris was 5-for-5 for 80 yards on TD drive.
Sask — FG Lauther 46 15:00
42-yard punt return by McCray put Roughriders in field-goal range.
FOURTH QUARTER
Edm — TD Julien-Grant 57 pass from Fajardo (Blanchard convert) 1:19
Fajardo spun away from pressure and found Julien-Grant down the left sideline.
Edm — TD Dunbar Jr. 13 pass from Fajardo (Blanchard convert) 13:04
Fajardo found Dunbar Jr. deep in the end zone for six points.