![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260723_hcy016.rg_304426037.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260723_hcy017.rg_304426045.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was well done by the organization honouring both people,\u201d Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris said of the video tribute and moment of silence. \u201cAnd obviously a tumultuous, strange week to navigate as a team, but I was proud of our team in terms of coming out fighting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope both families that we honoured are proud and could take some solace in a pre-game tribute to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for how the game played out, it was a see-saw battle the entire night with Harris and Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo\u00a0combining for\u00a0896 passing yards and eight touchdowns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0510 yards\u00a0and four touchdowns, while\u00a0driving down the field from his own eight yard-line\u00a0in the final two minutes\u00a0to set up a\u00a047-yard,\u00a0last-second field goal by Vincent Blanchard to win the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what battling for first in the West should look,\u201d said Fajardo, a former Roughrider who eclipsed his career-best of 430 passing yards in a single game, set in 2019 with Saskatchewan. \u201cIt was back and forth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTrevor had a hell of a game.\u00a0They\u2019ve got\u00a0a great\u00a0defence. 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\u00a0defence\u00a0stood on their head twice and got us the ball back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were backed up (on the final\u00a0drive).\u00a0I\u00a0was 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\u00a0kind of settle\u00a0me in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fajardo opened the game with a\u00a0seven-play, 71-yard drive capped off with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Brendan O\u2019Leary-Orange to make it 7-0 less than five minutes into the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0take long for the Roughriders to tie it as\u00a0Harris\u00a0connected with Kian Schaffer-Baker for a 37-yard gain before going back to Schaffer-Baker four\u00a0plays later as the two connected on a 56-yard touchdown pass\u00a0to cap off the five-play, 108-yard drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0an eight-yard touchdown pass to Samuel Emilius to make it 14-7 Saskatchewan early in the second quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the kickoff, the Elks answered as Fajardo connected with Kaion Julien-Grant on a 68-yard strike before Javon Leake\u00a0broke a couple of tackles and\u00a0scampered into the end zone on a short pass from\u00a0his quarterback\u00a0to tie the game once again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Edmonton added a 38-yard field goal\u00a0to go up 17-14 before Saskatchewan put together\u00a0an\u00a0eight-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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Early in the third quarter, as the Roughriders\u00a0were marching\u00a0into Edmonton territory, Harris\u2019 pass was off the hands of Johnson\u00a0and into the hands of\u00a0Elks\u2019 defensive lineman Gavin\u00a0Meyer\u00a0who secured his first career interception.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0before the quarterback connected with Dhel Duncan-Busby on a seven-yard touchdown strike a few plays later to put Saskatchewan up 28-27\u00a0early in the fourth quarter\u00a0in the back-and-forth battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u2019s pass went off the upright, as the Elks took a 33-28 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we made amends, but\u00a0apparently\u00a0we\u00a0didn\u2019t,\u201d said Fajardo, who hit the same crossbar in the 2019 West final with Saskatchewan. \u201cI told the ref because Tom\u00a0(Vallesi)\u00a0was the same ref in that West final game, and he came up to me, and I was like,\u00a0\u2018The\u00a0crossbar hates me.\u2019\u00a0So,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0looking forward to\u00a0the crossbars moving\u00a0(next\u00a0year).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m\u00a0surprised the fans\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0give it to me\u00a0more. I was trying to pump\u00a0them\u00a0up afterwards, but you can only laugh at yourself in that situation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With 7:34 left, Saskatchewan\u2019s Alex Hale kicked a 48-yard field goal to cut the lead to 33-31.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Edmonton\u2019s next drive, the Elks\u00a0elected\u00a0to gamble on third-and-two near\u00a0midfield\u00a0and Fajardo ended up fumbling the snap, which was recovered by Roughriders linebacker Antoine Brooks Jr., who\u00a0returned it 29 yards to Edmonton\u2019s 24-yard line.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two plays later, Harris hit\u00a0Emilus\u00a0on a 21-yard touchdown pass,\u00a0but the play was called back due to offensive pass interference\u00a0on 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Saskatchewan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260723_hcy028.rg_304426059.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n
Following a failed third-and-one gamble by\u00a0Edmonton\u00a0which resulted in a turnover on downs, Saskatchewan got another crack to take the lead starting at the Elks\u2019 29-yard line.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From there, Harris hit Johnson for a 22-yard gain before narrowly missing Johnny Johnson III\u00a0in the end zone a couple plays later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m\u00a0probably going\u00a0to be\u00a0waking up all night thinking about the last play,\u201d said Harris. \u201cThey kind of just all condensed right down to our\u00a0primaries, and I kind of noticed they left the middle\u00a0of the\u00a0field wide open.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd 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\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0just miscommunication.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0my fault. I should throw the ball through, and I\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0put touch on it, but I just thought he was so wide open,\u00a0I could just put some touch on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI just needed\u00a0to just\u00a0throw it\u00a0to\u00a0him.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0one\u2019s\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0going to\u00a0bother me all night.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Hale connected on an 11-yard field goal to give Saskatchewan a 34-33 lead\u00a0with 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\u00a0a\u00a057-yard field goal as time expired.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have full belief and they just won because they made one extra play than we did,\u201d said Harris. \u201cUltimately, you\u00a0could you know pick a bunch of plays if they\u00a0went\u00a0a different direction (we would have won), but they\u00a0didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey made the plays and tip your hat to them. This\u00a0one\u2019s\u00a0going to sting for 24 hours but\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0turn the page, and I can promise you one thing: we will get better from this, and\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0reload, and\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0be a better football team next week.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to want to come into our house and get revenge, and for us, we\u2019re going to want to protect\u00a0home\u00a0turf,\u201d said Fajardo. \u201cWe know how good of a football team that is, and it\u2019s going to be another smash-mouth football game.\u201d<\/p>\n
tshire@postmedia.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Elks went toe-to-toe in a battle of the top two teams in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[287880,49,48,276177,276912,276178,158032,23752,276176],"class_list":["post-822844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-287880","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-category-cfl","tag-category-football","tag-category-saskatchewan-roughriders","tag-category-sports","tag-edmonton","tag-leader-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}