The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ defense produced a season-high eight sacks to help defeat the Edmonton Elks on Friday evening. A late comeback effort by the Edmonton came up short in Cody Fajardo‘s first start as an Elk, as the West Division leading Riders held on for a 21-18 win.
The unforgiving Saskatchewan pass rush was the story from start to finish, bringing Fajardo to the turf to kill the final drive as Edmonton searched for a game-tying field goal. Five different Riders got to Edmonton’s quarterback, with Micah Johnson, Shane Ray and Malik Carney each getting two takedowns.
On the offensive side of the football, Trevor Harris was 25-33, throwing for 268 yards and two touchdowns. Samuel Emilus was the standout receiver at Mosaic Stadium, catching all six of his targets for 113 yards, including his 15-yard jet sweep in the second quarter.
Fajardo, who was named the Edmonton starting quarterback coming out of the team’s Week 7 bye, was under duress for much of the game. The veteran pivot was 26-33, for 346 passing yards and two touchdowns. Steven Dunbar Jr. was the team’s receiving leader on the day, catching five balls for 82 yards. His fourth-quarter touchdown gave Edmonton life late in the game, but Saskatchewan was ultimately able to hang on to improve to 6-1.
RELATED
» Edmonton, Saskatchewan by the numbers
» Depth Charts: EDM | SSK
» Injury Reports: Stay up to date
After an Edmonton two-and-out kicked off proceedings, a nice toss from Harris to Emilus got Saskatchewan 16 yards and a first down, but the home team would eventually have to settle for a field goal try. Brett Lauther‘s 47-yard attempt sailed wide right, giving the Roughriders a single. The Elks punted again on their second possession, this time picking up a single of their own to tie things up at 1-1 midway through the opening quarter.
The visitors found more success on offence with their third drive of the evening. Fajardo connected with Zach Mathis on a 35-yard play downfield, with the receiver hurting himself as he came down with the catch and eventually being ruled out due to a back injury. A Johnson sack combined with a procedure call against the Elks helped Saskatchewan keep their opponent out of the end zone. Vincent Blanchard then made a 15-yard field goal to put Edmonton into a 4-1 lead after the first quarter.
In the second, Harris opened up the Elks’ defence with a 43-yard completion to Emilus, bringing the Roughriders into the red zone. With two tries inside Edmonton’s three-yard line, A.J. Ouellette and then Tommy Stevens couldn’t budge into the end zone, as the Elks made a goal-line stand.
Following the turnover on downs, Fajardo managed to get his offence out of dangerous field position, flipping the field with a 41-yard pass to Steven Dunbar Jr. down the left sideline. A.J. Allen brought an end to the Edmonton drive shortly after however, dragging Fajardo to the turf for a loss of 18 yards.
A pair of pass interference penalties against the Elks’ secondary helped the Riders get inside the red zone late in the first half. Emilus then scored on a 15-yard jet sweep, just about getting to the pylon to give Saskatchewan an 8-4 lead. Saskatchewan put three more on the board before the break courtesy of a 51-yard make from Lauther to go into the dressing room up 11-4.
The two teams traded two-and-outs coming out of halftime, with Fajardo being sacked by Carney on the second of the two drives. Saskatchewan got back to work on offence with their second possession of the half. Emilus and Dohnte Meyers both made 30-yard catches, with a roughing the passer violation against Nyles Morgan giving the Roughriders an extra 15 yards. Harris finished off the series with an eight-yard touchdown pass to KeeSean Johnson as the Riders opened up an 18-4 lead.
On the ensuing Elks drive, Carney got his second sack of the game to make it back-to-back plays for a loss of yards by the visitors as they were forced to punt once more. The relentless Saskatchewan pass rush continued later in the quarter when C.J. Reavis took Fajardo down for a loss of 10. That made it five sacks for the Roughriders and two consecutive scoreless quarters for the Elks.
A 42-yard punt return from Drae McCray helped the Riders to another score. After a couple of short pickups by Ouellette, Lauther’s 46-yard field goal gave the Riders a 21-4 advantage after three quarters of play.
The Elks produced a much-needed touchdown drive to begin the fourth quarter, doing so on just three plays. Fajardo spun away from pressure and found a wide-open Kaion Julien-Grant for a 57-yard score to cut the deficit to 21-11 with 13:25 remaining.
Another touchdown from Fajardo to Dunbar Jr. after the three-minute warning made things interesting late. Blanchard’s extra point made it a three-point game with 1:56 to go. With Edmonton searching for a field goal to bring the game to overtime, the Saskatchewan defence continued to smother Fajardo, taking him down on the game’s final two plays as it finished 21-18 at Mosaic Stadium.
In Week 9, the Elks will return to Commonwealth Stadium to go up against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday, August 2. Later that evening, the Roughriders will be on the road to face the Montreal Alouettes.