Als beat Riders to snap 13-game slide
REGINA It wasn’t a Grey Cup victory, but the celebration in the Montreal Alouettes’ locker room was a scene to behold.
After their 23-15 win over the host Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday night to snap a 13-game losing streak, Alouettes players held nothing back with high fives, chanting, dancing, singing, and a whole lot of smiles.
“It always means a lot when you win,” said backup quarterback Jeff Mathews, his team now 1-2 this season. “We have faced some adversity early this season and to come out here and get a win is an important thing for us. We can build on this and hopefully get rolling.
“I know it’s just one and we’ll need a lot more, but you always have to start with one and now we have that.”
Montreal’s last victory came in the 2017 season when it beat the Toronto Argonauts 21-9 on August 11.
Mathews completed 8-of-12 pass attempts for 98 yards in relief of starter Drew Willy, who left the game in the third quarter with what was believed to be a neck and shoulder injury.
Mathews engineered a pair of lategame scoring drives that kept the rallying Roughriders at bay. Boris Bede capped each drive with a field goal, his fourth and fifth of the game. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, still a lot of mistakes that we need to clean up,” Montreal head coach Mike Sherman said after he notched his first CFL victory. “Winning a football game here is tough, and I’m happy for our guys because they’ve worked hard. But we still have a lot of work to do.”
The Riders dropped their second consecutive game to fall to 1-2 in the West Division.