Redblacks upset Alouettes to open season with win
Hey, Ottawa fans! Your Canadian Football League team is in first place!
OK, so it’s just one game into the season and no other team has played a game yet, but the Redblacks can still look down on the pack after defeating the Montreal Alouettes 20- 16 on Thursday night.
It took some doing, like overcoming three first- half interceptions by Henry Burris and knocking two Alouettes quarterbacks out of the game with injuries, forcing the hosts to insert rookie Brandon Bridge into the fray way before it was ever supposed to happen.
Still, a win is a win. A six- yard touchdown run by Jeremiah Johnson early in the fourth quarter lifted the Redblacks into the lead for the first time, and they managed to hold on before a crowd of 21,524.
It didn’t take long for the Alouettes to take the lead on Thursday, marching 65 yards in seven plays on their first offensive series, capped by Tyrell Sutton’s five- yard run through a mass of bodies and attempted tackles.
It almost didn’t happen, but the season’s first illegal- contact penalty against Redblacks defensive back Brandon McDonald extended the drive.
The Redblacks responded with a drive into scoring position, but Delbert Alvarado’s 36- yard attempt was blocked, and it was only in the second quarter that Alvarado made a 40- yarder to get the visitors on the scoreboard.
The Alouettes conceded a safety after getting pinned deep in their end to start the next drive, which reduced their lead to 6- 5, but Burris’s second interception set them up again on offence and eventually a blown defensive assignment by the Redblacks left fullback Jean-Christophe Beaulieu wide open to catch a four- yard touchdown pass from Jonathan Crompton.
Bede made the convert, extending the Alouettes’ lead to 13- 5. Burris finally connected with speedy Chris Williams on a long pass down the right sideline late in the second quarter, pushing the Redblacks to the 30- yard line, but his third firsthalf interception on the very next play sucked the wind out of the team’s sails.
Things were different at the start of the third quarter. Burris reconnected with a handful of receivers and led a drive that was capped by Ernest Jackson’s 13- yard touchdown reception.
After Burris scrambled for a twopoint convert, the game was tied 13- 13. Then the game took a stunning turn.
Dan LeFevour started the second half at quarterback for the Alouettes, who announced that Crompton was being held out for “precautionary” reasons after hurting a shoulder.
LeFevour lasted just two plays before he, too, was knocked out of the game by a crunching hit by the Redblacks’ Abdul Kanneh.
That forced the Alouettes to hand the reins to Canadian rookie QB Brandon Bridge. The Mississauga native looked like a rookie at times, but he also led a scoring drive that culminated in a 37- yard field goal by Bede and a 16- 13 lead for the Alouettes.
However, Bridge was intercepted by the Redblacks’ Jovon Johnson in the fourth quarter, and a second interception was erased only because of a roughing penalty against defensive end Justin Capicciotti.
The Alouettes had a chance to put some heat on the Redblacks after a holding penalty on a punt return forced the visitors back to their five- yard line with 3: 47 to go.
However, Burris connected with Chris Williams on a key seconddown reception that moved the ball out to the 20. Two more passes to Brad Sinopoli and runs by Chevon Walker and Burris drained the rest of the available time.
In an end- zone scrum before his first game as CFL commissioner, Jeffrey Orridge was asked about the possibility of a Grey Cup game in Ottawa.
“We make those decisions just one year at a time, so don’t rule out anything,” said Orridge, who took office on April 29. “They’re part of a very important group of teams and I’m sure that, at some point, Ottawa will see a Grey Cup.”
Does that mean short- or longterm, given that Redblacks ownership was contractually promised a CFL championship game in the first four years of the franchise.
“Depends on your time frame,” Orridge said with a smile. This year’s Grey Cup game is scheduled for Nov. 29 at Winnipeg.