REGINA – The Edmonton Elks met the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium on Thursday (July 23) as Week 8 of the 2026 CFL season kicked off with a thrilling contest between the West Division’s top two teams.

Vincent Blanchard kicked a 57-yard field goal as time expired to lift the visitors to a 36-34 victory, putting Edmonton atop the division standings with a record of 6-1, while the defending Grey Cup champion Roughriders drop into a tie for second place with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at 4-2.

“There’s no quit in this football team,” Elks coach Mark Kilam said. “They play with heart, they play for each other. They play hard, they play tough … Full credit to Saskatchewan, that’s a good football team. That was two heavyweights going at it and we were fortunate to make the plays at the end.”

Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo completed 25 of 32 passes for a career-high 510 yards, the fifth most in a game in club history. The veteran pivot threw two touchdown passes to Austin Mack, and one apiece to Javon Leake and Brendan O’Leary-Orange.

TJ Luther had a massive game for the Elks, hauling in 10 passes for 157 yards. Mack led all players with 173 receiving yards from four catches, averaging a remarkable 43.3 yards per reception.

Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris completed 26 of 36 passes for 386 yards with one interception. Dhel Duncan-Busby, Samuel Emilus, KeeSean Johnson and Kian Schaffer-Baker all caught touchdown passes for Saskatchewan.

The battle for first place was a wild back-and-forth affair that saw neither team trail by more than seven points, Edmonton led four times, Saskatchewan led three times, and the score was tied four times.

O’Leary-Orange’s First of the season 💪#GoElks pic.twitter.com/zoGtMCAr6c

— Edmonton Elks (@GoElks) July 24, 2026

On the opening drive of the game, Edmonton marched 65 yards in seven plays, culminating with a 16-yard pass from Fajardo to O’Leary-Orange for the receiver’s first touchdown this season.

Later in the first quarter, Saskatchewan tied the score at 7-7 after Schaffer-Baker scored a 56-yard touchdown on a pass from Trevor Harris.

The Roughriders took the lead early in the second quarter, as Harris completed an eight-yard pass to Emilus for a touchdown.

Edmonton drew even on the ensuring possession, as Leake found the end zone on a 12-yard reception, then went ahead 17-14 with just over two minutes remaining in the first half thanks to a 38-yard field goal from Vincent Blanchard.

Saskatchewan, however, would reclaim its lead just seconds before halftime, when Johnson caught a two-yard touchdown toss from Harris.

In the third quarter, Edmonton cut Saskatchewan’s lead to 22-21 on Blanchard’s second field goal of the game, from 33 yards. Austin Mack then dashed to the end zone for a 57-yard touchdown catch, as Edmonton went in front 27-21.

The fourth quarter began with Duncan-Busby making a seven-yard touchdown catch for Saskatchewan, but the Elks answered quickly, as Fajardo and Mack hooked up for an 81-yard touchdown. After failing on the ensuing two-point conversion, Edmonton led by a score of 33-28.

Saskatchewan’s Alex Hale made a pair of field goals to put his team ahead by one, 34-33. Edmonton got the ball back with 1:46 remaining in the fourth quarter, and drove just past midfield, setting up Blanchard for the longest field goal of his CFL career.

Edmonton is now off to its best start since 2017, when the Green and Gold won their first seven games.

The Elks will be back in action when they host the Roughriders at Play Alberta Field at Commonwealth Stadium on Aug. 1  at 5:00 p.m. MDT. Tickets are available now.

“They’re going to want to come into our house and get revenge, and we’re going to want to protect home turf,” Fajardo said. “We know how good of a football team that is and it’s going to be another smash-mouth football game.”