Mitchell Picton’s fourth quarter quarter touchdown proved the difference as the Roughriders remained perfect in the Canadian Football League youth season with a 26-16 victory over the Elks, their sixth straight win over Edmonton. “It was a miserable game, we knew it would be difficult,” said Saskatchewan General Cody Fajardo, who spent 247 yards. “We knew they would be ready to play in their first home game, but we will never apologize for how we found the way to win. “We found a way to score in the fourth quarter to win the football game and I feel we have done that for the last two years.” The Roughriders are 2-0, after beating Hamilton in their first game. The Elks fell to 0-2 after losing 59-15 in their first game to the BC Lions and now have nine games without a win at home. Edmonton went 0-7 last season at the Commonwealth Stadium. “We did not play well enough defensively to win the football game and we made a lot of mistakes both in the game and in the attack that did not allow us to win the football game,” said Elks head coach and defensive coordinator Chris Jones. When you play like we did, you do not deserve to win. “We have to play more intense football. We are taking some steps, we have good locker rooms.” Saskatchewan scored a 50-yard goal from Brett Lauter in the opening leg. Edmonton was minus one yard in attack in the first quarter. No further goals were scored until the middle of the second half when Lauther tied for an 18-yard touchdown. After Edmondon’s Matt Thomas scored a missed goal in Saskatchewan 23, General Nick Arbuckle found Kenny Lawler for a five-yard touchdown pass to put the Elks at 7-6 with three minutes left in the second half. Saskatchewan responded quickly with their own touchdown without conversion with less than a minute to play in the first half, as Jamal Morrow scored in a two-yard rush. The Elks opened the third quarter with a 12-yard goal from Sergio Castillo, who then added a 30 to close the gap. Lauther put his team ahead again with a goal from 41 yards five minutes after the fourth. Castillo made it 16-15 for Edmonton with 37 meters in the middle of the last ten minutes. The Roughriders responded quickly with a 28-yard TD pass from Fajardo to Picton, who also won the two-point conversion. “He had a great game,” Dickenson said of Picton, who made four passes for 56 yards. “It was good to see him succeed. He has been unraveling it for three or four years in a row “. Saskatchewan tried to stop the game a little later after a forced recovery by AC Leonard, but Lauther lost a 44-yard goal. He quickly took another chance, however, and nailed it from 21 meters. However, there was some bad news for the Riders at the end of the game, as veteran striker Dan Clark had to leave the pitch after a lower body injury. Both teams are on the road next week, as the Riders go to Montreal on Thursday and the Elks are in Calgary on Saturday. NOTES: Following last week’s disastrous opening week defeat by the Lions in Vancouver, the Elks had 11 new players in their squad on Saturday. Τελευταία The last time Edmonton hosted the Roughriders for the start of their season was in 2016, when Chris Jones was coaching against his former team for the first time with Saskatchewan. Jones is now back with the Elk. Μον The top attacking player in the league, Mark Korte of Edmonton, lost the match to attend his own wedding. Also out for the Elks was receiver Derel Walker. The Riders played without slotback Duke Williams. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 18, 2022
