As the Saskatchewan Roughriders take on the Hamilton Tiger Cats in CFL action in Regina, SK, July 12, 2026. Photo Electric Umbrella/Liam Richards
The Saskatchewan Roughriders sport a 4-1 record for the third consecutive season after routing the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 38-7 on a scorching-hot Sunday at Mosaic Stadium.
In 35-degree conditions before 25,746 spectators, Saskatchewan put forth a dominant defensive performance to move into a first-place tie with the Edmonton Elks (also 4-1) in the CFL’s West Division.
The resurgent Elks are next on the schedule for the Roughriders, who have begun a bye week. Edmonton visits Mosaic Stadium on July 23. A rematch will be held at Commonwealth Stadium on Aug. 1.
Josh Woods (107-yard interception-return touchdown), James Vaughters (two sacks) and Jameer Thurman (eight tackles) paced the Roughriders’ defence.
As well, Marcus Sayles set up a Saskatchewan touchdown with a 40-yard fumble return to the one-yard line.
On top of that, Jaxon Ford stuffed the opposing quarterback on a third-and-short gamble for the second consecutive week.
“When you have an offence as good as ours, other offences know that they have to put a lot of pressure on us and sometimes take risks,” Vaughters said. “When they take risks, we have to take advantage.
“Turnovers have been something we wanted to improve on over the past four games. It feels good going into the bye to be able to put some turnovers together and even score off the turnovers.
“That’s the kind of defence we want to play. That’s the kind of defence we need to be playing to be the team that we want to be.”
Saskatchewan forced four turnovers on Sunday after producing only three over the first four games combined.
“I think the football gods said, ‘All right, we’ll start playing in your favour,’ ” Roughriders Head Coach Corey Mace said.
“This is something we’ve been waiting for as a defence, certainly, and you see how that can turn the tide for this team.”
Hamilton was limited to 250 yards of net offence, 120 of which came in the fourth quarter.
The Roughriders did not allow a touchdown for the first time since Aug. 16, when Hamilton also was the visitor. Saskatchewan won 29-9 on that occasion.
Saskatchewan opened Sunday’s scoring at 6:42 of the first quarter with a single that resulted from a missed 35-yard field-goal attempt by Alex Hale.
Hamilton answered with Mitch McCarthy’s 81-yard punt single at 9:34 of the opening frame.
Hale’s 31-yard field goal at 8:02 of the second quarter put the Roughriders ahead 4-1.
Marc Liegghio’s 42-yard field goal pulled Hamilton into a 4-4 tie at 11:05 of the second frame.
Saskatchewan went ahead 11-4 when Hale converted a 10-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Harris to Samuel Emilus 1:39 before halftime.
Liegghio’s 19-yard field goal at 14:36 of the second quarter reduced Saskatchewan’s lead to 11-7.
The Roughriders went ahead 18-7 when hit Kian Schaffer-Baker for an 18-yard TD (9:55 of the third quarter) and Hale added the convert.
Schaffer-Baker punctuated an eight-play, 75-yard drive that began when Ford stopped Hamilton quarterback Tre Ford on third-and-one.
Saskatchewan broke open the game when Antoine Brooks Jr. forced a fumble by Tiger-Cats receiver Kenny Lawler. Sayles recovered the loose football and sprinted 40 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the one-yard line. Tommy Stevens ran for a one-yard TD on the next play to put Saskatchewan ahead 24-7 at 5:38 of the fourth quarter.
Hale’s convert of Woods’ long-distance interception return gave the Roughriders a 31-7 lead with three minutes left.
Woods registered the third-longest interception return in franchise history. The record of 112 yards was set by Bruce Bennett against the Calgary Stampeders on Aug. 27, 1972 and tied by current Roughriders cornerback Tevaughn Campbell on Aug. 31, 2025 versus the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Stevens’ second touchdown of the game — a 14-yarder with 1:22 left — was followed by a Hale convert that concluded the scoring.
Stevens has scored five times over the first five games — matching his TD total for the entire 2025 regular season. Including the 2025 Grey Cup, he has seven TDs in his past six contests.
With eight carries for 54 yards, Stevens closed out a game for the second consecutive week.
Stevens and A.J. Ouellette handled all the rushing for the Roughriders. Ouellette gained 83 yards on 18 carries after missing the previous two games with an ankle injury.
Ouellette surpassed 2,000 rushing yards as a Roughrider, increasing his total to 2,116 (19th in franchise history). On Sunday, he passed Sully Glasser (2,011), Bill Gray (1,982) and Silas McKinnie (1,979).
Soon to turn 31, Ouellette is now poised to leapfrog Ferd Burket (2,081), Mike Strickland (2,016) and Robert Mimbs (2,040). D’Sean Mimbs, Robert’s son, is a second-year Roughriders receiver.
TREVOR TIES TEAM RECORD
Harris equalled a Roughriders record for most games with multiple touchdown passes (five) to begin a season. Kent Austin set the original mark in 1992.
As well, Harris has the second-most touchdown passes in team history at the five-game mark:
14 — Tom Burgess, 1989.
12 — Henry Burris, 2000.
12 — Trevor Harris, 2026.
11 — Ron Lancaster, 1966.
11 — Kent Austin, 1992.
After going 18-for-25 for 211 yards on Sunday Harris is only five passing attempts shy of tying Dieter Brock for 14th on the CFL’s All-Time list. Brock, a Canadian Football Hall of Famer, had 4,535 attempts over 11 seasons (1974 to 1984).
As well, Harris moved past Cody Fajardo into sixth on the Roughriders’ All-Time passing-yardage list. Ron Lancaster leads the way at 46,710, followed by Darian Durant (28,507), Kent Austin (26,626), Frank Tripucka (14,387), Tom Burgess (11,850), Harris (10,707) and Fajardo (10,632).
Harris and Fajardo will be the opposing quarterbacks in the Roughriders’ next two games.
TOP TEMPERATURE
Sunday’s contest was the Roughriders’ hottest home game in nearly three quarters of a century.
In fact, the last time the temperature reached such an extreme during a CFL game in Regina, Fahrenheit was the standard of measurement.
Aug. 25, 1952: 95°F (35°C) vs. Calgary.
July 12, 2026: 35°C vs. Hamilton.
July 28, 2007: 34°C vs. Edmonton.
Sept. 3, 2023: 34°C vs. Winnipeg.
Sept. 2, 1940: 92°F (33°C) vs. Winnipeg.
Sept. 14, 1946: 91°F (33°C) vs. Winnipeg.
Sept. 6, 2009: 32°C vs. Winnipeg.
EXTRA POINTS
• Saskatchewan is 4-1 for the 13th time in the team’s post-Second World War history. The previous 4-1 starts were in 1967, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1989, 2010, 2022, 2024 and 2025. The Roughriders were 5-0 in 2008 and 2013.
• Vaughters moved into a three-way tie for the league lead in sacks (four). He is tied with Hamilton’s Julian Howsare and Winnipeg’s Jake Ceresna.
• Caleb Sanders registered Saskatchewan’s third sack of the game and his first of the season. He felled Hamilton’s Tre Ford on third-and-eight to force a turnover on downs in the fourth quarter.
• Mathew Sexton was having an outstanding game before being injured on a 38-yard kickoff return to begin the second half. He had three punt returns for 77 yards in the first half. Daniel Wiebe handled the returning in Sexton’s absence.
• Saskatchewan had won its previous nine games by a single-digit margin. The last two double-digit wins have been against Hamilton. The Tiger-Cats were the visitors when Saskatchewan won 29-9 on Aug. 16.
• David Gbenda and Aubrey Miller Jr. led the Roughriders in special teams tackles (two each). Miller Jr., whose 10 special teams tackles put him in the league lead, received a game ball on Sunday.
• With 32 defensive tackles, Thurman is third in the league. Nyles Morgan (Ottawa REDBLACKS) and Marquel Lee (Calgary Stampeders) each have 38.
