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.
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.