REGINA – Samuel Emilus saved the best for last Saturday, hauling in his third touchdown pass of the night with 46 seconds remaining to give the Saskatchewan Roughriders a 31-27 victory over the B.C. Lions.
Quarterback Trevor Harris connected with Emilus on a six-yard scoring pass to give the Riders their sixth consecutive season-opening victory.
Emilus set up the game-winning touchdown with a 29-yard reception on the previous play. He then beat Lions defensive back Ronald Kent Jr. on a corner route to give the Riders the victory.
“I just had an out route, and I had inside leverage, so I knew I just had to keep my leverage and race to the ball. Trevor threw me a perfect ball, and that’s what happened,” said Emilus, who finished with six receptions for 91 yards.
“To be honest, it just felt like slow mo. I’ve just got to catch it because I know I beat my man. I’ve just got to catch it, secure the catch and do my job, which is catch balls, and that’s what I did.”
After holding early leads of 14-0 and 20-10, the Riders found themselves trailing 27-24 after James Butler scored on a one-yard plunge with 3:42 left in the fourth quarter. Taking over on their own 28-yard line with 3:08 remaining, the Riders didn’t get off to a good start when a holding penalty backed them up to the 18-yard line.
On the next play, Harris overthrew running back A.J. Ouellette, but the Riders challenged the play for pass interference. After review, it was ruled that B.C. linebacker Ben Hladik did interfere with Ouellette and Saskatchewan got a first down and the ball on the 30-yard line.
It was a pivotal call that kept the drive alive, a decision that Saskatchewan head coach Corey Mace admitted post-game that he received help with.
“I’ve got to give credit to the people upstairs on that one because I didn’t see it. I was looking at the box, and they were in my ear, like, ‘Give me a second, hold on.’
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“We ended up throwing the flag there, so I can’t take any credit for that one, that was a team one, but we needed that, obviously, in that situation. It was looking pretty grim for us at that moment, but able to move up a little bit and start the set of downs back over again, it was crucial for us,” said Mace.
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It was the first game of the 2026 regular season for both West Division teams as they had byes for Week 1 of the CFL season.
The Lions took their first and only lead of the contest when Butler scored on the one-yard run, which was his second touchdown of the game.
The go-ahead drive was kept alive when Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke, facing a second-and-11 from the B.C. 49-yard line, connected with Justin McInnis on a 40-yard completion to the Saskatchewan 21-yard line. Butler scored five plays later.
McInnis, who finished with eight catches for 129 yards, felt the Lions should’ve responded better after Emilus’s late touchdown.
“At the end of the day, we still had a chance to go down and score and we didn’t get the job done on offence. It’s always frustrating to lose a close game like that, but there’s a lot to build off, looking into next week. We’ve got to flush it, put it behind us, and move on,” said McInnis.
“We had many chances that we didn’t capitalize on offence. I’m always going to put it on us. I feel like we’re the best in the league, so whenever we don’t finish the drive or there’s little mishaps in the game, I always feel like it’s on us.”
The Riders dominated the game early, scoring touchdowns on their first two possessions. After receiving the opening kickoff, Saskatchewan went 64 yards on nine plays to score its first touchdown of the season, an 11-yard pass from Harris to Emilus.
On their next possession, the Riders went 109 yards on 12 plays and increased their lead to 14-0 early in the second quarter on Emilus’s second touchdown catch, a four-yard reception from Harris.
The Riders early control was evident in the statistics as they ran 18 offensive plays to six for the Lions, during the quarter garnering 146 yards of net offence. The Lions had 36 yards of net offence.
But after the blazing start, the Saskatchewan offence sputtered at times in the second and third quarters. Harris was philosophical about the struggles but was proud of how his teammates responded under pressure late in the game.
“You’ve got to make sure that you take the good with the bad and make sure you respond in big moments. That’s what we talked about yesterday, the ‘R’ factor was respond, and I thought we did a good job of that,” said Harris.
“I thought we executed well but there were just little things, shooting ourselves in the foot, and we all took our turns. It’ll be good film to watch and obviously, the team we are right now versus the team that will be toward the end of the year will be much improved. But today’s a good start. It’s tough to win in this league, especially against everybody’s pick to win the Grey Cup.”
Saskatchewan’s receiving corps had a strong game. In addition to Emilus, Kian Schaffer-Baker, with 165 yards on 11 receptions, and KeeSean Johnson, with 131 yards on nine catches, also had big games.
Following Saskatchewan’s 25-17 victory over the Montreal Alouettes in last year’s Grey Cup game, the Riders lost receivers Dohnte Meyers, Joe Robustelli and Tommy Nield in the off-season. Yet the 2026 group delivered in Saturday’s game.
“Every single one of those guys had a key play for us at some point. You look at the big three of Keyshawn, Schaf and Sammy, they went crazy,” said Mace.
“Dhel (Duncan-Busby) had some clutch catches for us to move the chains. Jalen (Johnson) had that nice catch on that last drive to help us as well, while taking a big shot on a contested catch. It’s a deep room … As long as those guys are healthy and they’re able to roll out there, let’s go.”
Harris, the Grey Cup game MVP, recorded impressive numbers Saturday, completing 30 of 36 passes for 417 yards and three touchdowns.
Rourke, the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian in 2025, had 330 yards on 24 of 37 passing. He also rushed five times for 59 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown dash.
Saskatchewan lost veteran defensive back Rolan Milligan to a shoulder injury late in the second quarter. Milligan, the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 2024, injured his right shoulder tackling McInnis on a 28-yard reception. Milligan spent the second half on the sideline with an ice wrap on his shoulder.
UP NEXT
Lions: Visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1-1) on Friday.
Roughriders: Visit the Calgary Stampeders (0-1) on Saturday, June 20.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 13, 2026.
