An emotional week for the Saskatchewan Roughriders was punctuated by a heartbreaking conclusion to Thursday\u2019s CFL game at Mosaic Stadium.<\/p>\n
Vincent Blanchard\u2019s 57-yard field goal on the final play gave the Edmonton Elks a 36-34 victory over Saskatchewan in a battle of the West Division\u2019s front-runners.<\/p>\n
The classic contest was preceded by a tribute to Jayden Dalke and Bhishma Rajyaguru<\/a>, both of whom lost their lives in a motor-vehicle accident near Lumsden on Saturday night. The Roughriders\u2019 players wore decals on their helmets in memory of Dalke, a linebacker who had been with the team since 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was well done by the organization, honouring both people,\u201d quarterback Trevor Harris said<\/a>. \u201cIt was obviously a tumultuous, strange week to navigate as a team, but I was proud of our team in terms of coming out and fighting. The effort is going to continue to be there.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a Corey Mace-led football team. You know you\u2019re going to get everything we\u2019ve got every single week, regardless of circumstance.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope both families that we honoured are proud and could take some solace in the pre-game tribute to them.\u201d<\/p>\n The Roughriders also honoured Dalke midway through the first quarter, when they purposely fielded 11 players \u2014 one fewer than usual \u2014 and took a time-count violation as Oscar Chapman prepared to punt to the Mark Kilam-coached Elks.<\/p>\n The infraction was taken to acknowledge the void left by Dalke, who was a team captain and special teams standout.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was talked about a little bit through the week and then Nick Wiebe came into my office and asked if it was OK,\u201d Mace said. \u201cI said, \u2018I\u2019ve got no problem.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cShout-out to Kilam, too, for declining the penalty. He\u2019s a good guy. That meant a lot to us.\u201d<\/p>\n Wiebe, named the Roughriders\u2019 Most Outstanding Special Teams Player in 2025, was one of Dalke\u2019s closest friends on the Green and White.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a super-emotional couple of hours,\u201d Wiebe said of the tribute and the rollercoaster of a game<\/a>. \u201cI was thinking of how Dalk should be out there with us, calling the punt protections.<\/p>\n \u201cThinking about that all game was tough on the guys, for sure, but I\u2019m proud of the way these guys battled today. I love everybody in this locker room and we\u2019ll shake back next week.\u201d<\/p>\n Edmonton (6-1) and Saskatchewan (4-2) are to conclude a timely home-and-home set on Aug. 1 at Commonwealth Stadium.<\/p>\n \u201cSitting here right now, I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Let\u2019s fix the things we need to fix to be able to beat a good team,\u2019 \u201d Mace said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a long week. These back-to-backs are always interesting when you\u2019re looking at different things like how you\u2019re going to scheme up, how they\u2019re going to scheme up, and you try to anticipate. As a coach, that\u2019s the fun kind of stuff \u2014 sitting in the office, trying to play chess before the game even starts.<\/p>\n \u201cMostly for these guys, it\u2019s about continuing to do what they\u2019ve been doing, spend some time together, breathe a little bit, and have a couple of days. Then we get back to doing what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Mace spoke after a breathtaking display of Canadian professional football that included eight touchdown passes and 974 yards of net offence.<\/p>\n Saskatchewan\u2019s Trevor Harris completed 26 of 36 passes for 386 yards. Fajardo, who matched Harris by throwing four TD passes went 25-for-32 for 510 yards \u2014 the fourth-highest total surrendered by a Saskatchewan team.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were some busts back there (in the defensive backfield),\u201d Mace said. \u201cYou never want to see anybody running wide open like that. It was tough, so we\u2019ll get back to the film.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a really good team that we were playing against. Let\u2019s clean some things up.\u201d<\/p>\n The Roughriders led 21-20 at halftime on the strength of touchdown passes from Harris to Kian Schaffer-Baker (56 yards), Samuel Emilus<\/a> (12 yards) and KeeSean Johnson (two yards). Alex Hale converted all three majors before 28,513 spectators.<\/p>\n Edmonton responded with all 10 third-quarter points and led 27-21 entering the final frame.<\/p>\n The Roughriders went ahead 28-27 early in the fourth quarter when Harris threw a seven-yard TD pass to Dhel Duncan-Busby and Hale added the convert.<\/p>\n Edmonton quickly responded with an 81-yard TD pass from Fajardo to Austin Mack, whose second major of the game put the visitors ahead 33-28. Mack finished with four catches for 173 yards.<\/p>\n