The Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Elks went toe-to-toe in a battle of the top two teams in the CFL’s West Division on Thursday night.
And in the end, it was the Elks winning 36-34 on a last-second field goal to improve to 6-1 while the Roughriders dropped to 4-2. The two teams will meet next Saturday in Edmonton in the second half of a home-and-home series.
“We knew that team would play to the very end,” said Roughriders head coach Corey Mace. “You anticipate a back-and-forth a little bit. That team has come back from being behind to win games on the road.
“It was blow-for-blow, and ultimately, they got one more than we did.”
Thursday’s game, played in front of an announced attendance of 28,513 at Mosaic Stadium to begin Week 8 in the CFL season, started off on a sombre note as the Roughriders honoured linebacker Jayden Dalke and 22-year-old Regina man Bhishma Rajyaguru, who were both killed in a highway collision on Saturday near Lumsden.
A video paying tribute to Bhishma Rajyaguru is played before CFL football action at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, on Thursday, July 23, 2026. Bhishma Rajyaguru died in a collision on Highway 11 on Sunday. (Regina Leader-Post/Heywood Yu) Heywood Yu / Regina Leader-Post
A video paying tribute to Jayden Dalke is played before CFL football action at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, on Thursday, July 23, 2026. Jayden Dalke died in a collision on Highway 11 on Sunday. (Regina Leader-Post/Heywood Yu) Heywood Yu / Regina Leader-Post
“I thought it was well done by the organization honouring both people,” Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris said of the video tribute and moment of silence. “And obviously a tumultuous, strange week to navigate as a team, but I was proud of our team in terms of coming out fighting.
“I hope both families that we honoured are proud and could take some solace in a pre-game tribute to them.”
As for how the game played out, it was a see-saw battle the entire night with Harris and Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo combining for 896 passing yards and eight touchdowns.
Harris ended the night having completed 26 of 36 passes for 386 yards, four touchdowns and one interception while Fajardo completed 25 of 32 passes for 510 yards and four touchdowns, while driving down the field from his own eight yard-line in the final two minutes to set up a 47-yard, last-second field goal by Vincent Blanchard to win the game.
“That’s what battling for first in the West should look,” said Fajardo, a former Roughrider who eclipsed his career-best of 430 passing yards in a single game, set in 2019 with Saskatchewan. “It was back and forth.
“Trevor had a hell of a game. They’ve got a great defence. We were scratching and clawing. We tried to give the game away twice at the end, but that just goes to show the resilience this team has. Our defence stood on their head twice and got us the ball back.
“We were backed up (on the final drive). I was thinking about Labour Day 2019, we were backed up in the same spot and needed a walk-off field goal, and we hit it. So, I drew back on a lot of experiences I had at Mosaic for that game-winning drive, and I felt at home with all the fans going crazy. I truly did feel at home, and it helped kind of settle me in.”
Fajardo opened the game with a seven-play, 71-yard drive capped off with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Brendan O’Leary-Orange to make it 7-0 less than five minutes into the game.
It didn’t take long for the Roughriders to tie it as Harris connected with Kian Schaffer-Baker for a 37-yard gain before going back to Schaffer-Baker four plays later as the two connected on a 56-yard touchdown pass to cap off the five-play, 108-yard drive.
Following a two-and-out by Edmonton, the Roughriders put together a second straight scoring drive as Harris marched 55 yards on seven plays, finishing the drive with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Samuel Emilius to make it 14-7 Saskatchewan early in the second quarter.
After the kickoff, the Elks answered as Fajardo connected with Kaion Julien-Grant on a 68-yard strike before Javon Leake broke a couple of tackles and scampered into the end zone on a short pass from his quarterback to tie the game once again.
Edmonton added a 38-yard field goal to go up 17-14 before Saskatchewan put together an eight-play, 70-yard drive with Harris hitting KeeSean Johnson on a two-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone to give the Roughriders a 21-17 halftime lead.
Early in the third quarter, as the Roughriders were marching into Edmonton territory, Harris’ pass was off the hands of Johnson and into the hands of Elks’ defensive lineman Gavin Meyer who secured his first career interception.
On the next play, Fajardo connected with TJ Luther for a 37-yard gain, which led to an Edmonton 33-yard field goal to make it 21-20.
Following a punt by the Riders, the Elks took the 27-21 lead as Fajardo found Austin Mack for a 57-yard deep shot down the field and into the end zone.
The Roughriders offered up a response as Harris hit Schaffer-Baker, who had a game high 185 yards on eight catches, for 45 yards up the sideline before the quarterback connected with Dhel Duncan-Busby on a seven-yard touchdown strike a few plays later to put Saskatchewan up 28-27 early in the fourth quarter in the back-and-forth battle.
After the ensuing kickoff, the Elks struck right back as Fajardo hit a wide-open Mack, who ended the night with 173 yards on four catches, for an 81-yard touchdown strike. Edmonton went for a two-point convert, but Fajardo’s pass went off the upright, as the Elks took a 33-28 lead.
“I thought we made amends, but apparently we didn’t,” said Fajardo, who hit the same crossbar in the 2019 West final with Saskatchewan. “I told the ref because Tom (Vallesi) was the same ref in that West final game, and he came up to me, and I was like, ‘The crossbar hates me.’ So, I’m looking forward to the crossbars moving (next year).
“I’m surprised the fans didn’t give it to me more. I was trying to pump them up afterwards, but you can only laugh at yourself in that situation.”
With 7:34 left, Saskatchewan’s Alex Hale kicked a 48-yard field goal to cut the lead to 33-31.
On Edmonton’s next drive, the Elks elected to gamble on third-and-two near midfield and Fajardo ended up fumbling the snap, which was recovered by Roughriders linebacker Antoine Brooks Jr., who returned it 29 yards to Edmonton’s 24-yard line.
Two plays later, Harris hit Emilus on a 21-yard touchdown pass, but the play was called back due to offensive pass interference on Emilius. Harris was sacked on the next play before Hale missed a 46-yard field goal as the score remained 33-31 with 3:01 left.
Saskatchewan Roughriders receiver Samuel Emilus (19) is tackled by Edmonton Elks linebacker Dariel Djabome (45) during the first half of CFL football action at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, on Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Regina Leader-Post/Heywood Yu) Heywood Yu / Regina Leader-Post
Following a failed third-and-one gamble by Edmonton which resulted in a turnover on downs, Saskatchewan got another crack to take the lead starting at the Elks’ 29-yard line.
From there, Harris hit Johnson for a 22-yard gain before narrowly missing Johnny Johnson III in the end zone a couple plays later.
“I’m probably going to be waking up all night thinking about the last play,” said Harris. “They kind of just all condensed right down to our primaries, and I kind of noticed they left the middle of the field wide open.
“And when I flipped around, I saw his eyes, and he felt he was uncovered, and so I thought he was just going to stop right there. And it’s just miscommunication. It’s my fault. I should throw the ball through, and I shouldn’t put touch on it, but I just thought he was so wide open, I could just put some touch on it.
“I just needed to just throw it to him. It’s one’s that’s going to bother me all night.”
After Hale connected on an 11-yard field goal to give Saskatchewan a 34-33 lead with 1:46 left, Fajardo put together the game-winning drive by connecting with Luther, who had a 157-yard game, for a pair of first downs before Blanchard came in to kick a 57-yard field goal as time expired.
“We have full belief and they just won because they made one extra play than we did,” said Harris. “Ultimately, you could you know pick a bunch of plays if they went a different direction (we would have won), but they didn’t.
“They made the plays and tip your hat to them. This one’s going to sting for 24 hours but we’ll turn the page, and I can promise you one thing: we will get better from this, and we’ll reload, and we’ll be a better football team next week.”
“They’re going to want to come into our house and get revenge, and for us, we’re going to want to protect home turf,” said Fajardo. “We know how good of a football team that is, and it’s going to be another smash-mouth football game.”
tshire@postmedia.com