The Edmonton Elks had the defending Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders on the ropes at home, but a rash of penalties and a red zone that turned touchdowns into field goals left Edmonton on the wrong end of another one-possession game. Both quarterback Cody Fajardo and head coach Mark Kilam pointed to the same culprit after the final whistle — self-inflicted mistakes against a team that doesn’t need any help.
“Just too many penalties versus a very good team,” Fajardo said. “Sloppy football at the end. We made some plays offensively late, but it was almost too little too late. We got to clean up the red zone. Just too many field goals versus the defending Gray Cup champs.”
A Late Drive That Never Got Rolling
Edmonton had a shot to answer late, but a holding penalty buried them behind the chains before Saskatchewan’s defense delivered the finishing blow.
“We took a holding penalty, so then we’re first and 20, which is unfortunate. They brought a stunt that they haven’t brought all game long and was able to get clean through on one of my scrambles. So they dialed some stuff up being backed up in that situation. I was hoping to get one more crack at it. Unfortunately, we didn’t.” — Cody Fajardo
Kilam saw the same story play out — a game that came down to execution in the biggest moments. “I felt like, you know, they made more plays, full credit to them,” Kilam said. “Two good football teams going at it, gave ourselves a chance, but not clean enough at the end. I’d like to score touchdowns in the red zone. I think that was a big part of this game.”
The Lightning Delay Factor
A weather delay hit right at halftime, and both offenses came out rusty because of it. Fajardo said the stoppage cut both ways — it let Edmonton’s bodies reset, but it also gave Saskatchewan extra time to cook up new wrinkles.
“That was a long, long delay. Luckily it was at halftime, so we were able to come out. You can see both offenses just stalled their first drives — I believe they went 2 and out, we went 2 and out. When we came out in the second half, they had some new stuff for us that we didn’t see at all in the first half and just kind of caught us a little bit by surprise. But we fought, we battled to the end.” — Cody Fajardo
Growing Pains for a Young Roster
Both Fajardo and Kilam circled back to the same theme — penalties piling up because young players are pressing too hard in the moment. Neither one is ready to panic about it, framing it as part of the process for a team still building.
“Sometimes in these bigger games, some of our young guys just try to push too hard or do too much, and then you get out of your technique and then you make mistakes and then put us behind the chains. We still got some young guys in that locker room that are going to learn from games like this. This isn’t a playoff game. It’s not like we lose and we go home. These are good games for us to learn from.” — Cody Fajardo
Kilam didn’t let himself off the hook either. “I mean, I took a penalty too, so I’m as guilty as they are,” he said. “All of these experiences, positive and negative throughout the year, you hope that the way that you keep your trajectory going up is that you’re learning from those experiences. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Split Season Series With Saskatchewan
This was the second straight one-score game between these two clubs, and Kilam pointed out both results — a road win for Edmonton and now this narrow home loss — say something about where his team stands against the league’s best.
“Both games came down to one possession, right? So those are good things. To go on the road, beat them at their place was a big game. They felt the same way coming back here. We’re going to see them last week of the season — hopefully we see them at the end of the year as well.” — Mark Kilam
Fajardo echoed the same defiance about what this loss does and doesn’t mean for the Elks. “This doesn’t define who we are as a team,” he said. “We just played the defending Gray Cup champs. We beat them at their place and took them down to the wire here at our place. So we have a great football team in this locker room. We’re going to be better from this. We just got to bounce back.”
A Night for the Fans
Both Fajardo and Kilam made a point of shouting out the Commonwealth Stadium crowd, especially given they stuck around through a lengthy weather delay.
“Hats off to our crowd. I mean, freaking electric tonight, even with the delay. A lot of people stayed. I hope that’s the norm going forward because we need them.” — Cody Fajardo
Kilam agreed the atmosphere was a boost he wants to see again when Saskatchewan comes back to town August 15th. “It was awesome. Even after the delay, they came back and sat in there. So shout out to all those fans. They were loud,” Kilam said. “The only thing that I can control is how we play on the field. But I know there’s a lot of people working behind the scenes, and hopefully the fans felt like they had a little bit of excitement tonight, had a good game to watch.”
Edmonton gets another crack at Saskatchewan soon, and if Kilam’s team can clean up the penalties and finish drives with touchdowns instead of field goals, the next meeting could tip the other way. Check the schedule and standings for how the West race shapes up from here.
Watch the Full Videos
Edmonton Elks: POST GAME | QB Cody Fajardo | 08.01.26
Edmonton Elks: POST GAME | HC Mark Kilam | 08.01.26