Brett Lauther’s 23-yard field goal with 23 seconds left lifted the Saskatchewan Roughriders to a 28-27 victory over the Edmonton Elks on Saturday in CFL pre-season action.
McLeod Bethel-Thompson threw for 190 yards in his Edmonton Elks debut.
The two-time Grey Cup champion quarterback, who signed with Edmonton in January, completed 17-of-25 passes with one interception before being replaced by third-year QB Tre Ford to start the second half. Ford completed 12-of-14 passes for 121 yards.
Roughriders starting quarterback Mason Fine was 9 of 11 on pass attempts for 75 yards with a touchdown pass.
Woodrow Trey Lowe rushed for an Elks touchdown, while Roughriders receiver Dhonte Meyers caught a TD pass.
The Elks outgained Saskatchewan on total offence but turned the ball over a costly five times. Roughriders defensive back Kosi Onyeka returned a fumble for a touchdown, while Antoine Brooks, Jr. had a pick-six for the ‘Riders.
Kicker Boris Bede, who signed a two-year deal with the Elks in the off-season after spending the last four years with the Toronto Argonauts, was successful on both of his field goal attempts.
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Dean Faithful also booted three field goals for Edmonton, and rookie Vincent Blanchard was successful on a 47-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter.
Lauther was 2 for 3 on field goals and kicked three extra points as well as a single.
This was the first of two pre-season contests for the Elks, while Saskatchewan concluded its two-game exhibition slate with a 2-0 record. Edmonton wraps up its pre-season in Vancouver against the B.C. Lions on Friday.
The Roughriders led 7-6 after the first quarter and 21-13 at halftime. Edmonton was up 23-13 at the end of three quarters.
A pair of first-quarter field goals from Bede staked the Elks to an early 6-0 lead before Edmonton’s Javon Leake fumbled a punt that Onyeka recovered at the two-yard line and carried into the end zone.
After Faithfull hit a field goal from 20 yards to restore Edmonton’s lead, 9-7, Fine connected with Meyers on a four-yard touchdown toss.
Saskatchewan went ahead 21-9 when Brooks picked off Bethel-Thompson at the Edmonton 46-yard line and ran untouched to the end zone. Faithfull added a 40-yard field goal at the end of the first half to pull the Elks closer at the half.
Edmonton’s opening possession of the second half culminated in a 48-yard field goal by Faithfull. Lowe gave the Elks back the lead, plunging into the end zone for a touchdown that was set up by a pass interference call against Saskatchewan that gave Edmonton first and goal at the Riders’ two-yard line.
Lauther hit a field goal from 47 yards to put Saskatchewan up 24-23 early in the fourth quarter. The Saskatchewan kicker’s single with just over five minutes remaining put his team in front by two.
Blanchard, a fourth-round selection in the 2024 CFL Draft out of Laval University, was good on his first career field-goal attempt with 2:12 left in the fourth quarter.
Edmonton’s Malik Flowers fumbled a punt at the Elks 32-yard line, setting up Lauther’s winning kick. Blanchard missed a 57-yard field goal for a single on the game’s final play.
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