THREE STRAIGHT
Redblacks No. 1 in the East
It was a huge statement in a season when the Ottawa Redblacks have had many more question marks than exclamation points.
On a chilly Thursday summer night, the Redblacks gave themselves some breathing room, and didn’t sputter down the stretch, in a 32-4 victory over the Montreal Alouettes at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium.
Suddenly, a team given up for dead by some less than a month ago has three consecutive wins and now sits in first place in the Canadian Football League’s East Division at 4-6-1. The Alouettes, still in third place, fell to 3-7-0.
“It’s definitely a statement,” said Redblacks defensive back Sherrod Baltimore. “Coach Ike (Charlton), Coach Nellie (Mark Nelson), they emphasized all week, make a statement. Go out there and fight.”
“It was good to play 60 minutes of football, play it all the way through,” said coach Redblacks coach Rick Campbell. “We’ve shown we can be pretty good, we just have to keep growing.”
After winning the coin toss, rather than defer to the second half, the Redblacks chose to receive the ball. Good move. They established momentum and kept it.
While the offence, with Trevor Harris throwing the passes, flexed its muscles at times (the Ottawa quarterback completed 32 of 41 passes for 343 yards), the stifling defence came up with its most complete effort of the season.
“It was a great victory for us. All units contributed,” said Redblacks defensive back Antoine Pruneau, who had an interception. “We’re getting better. It feels good.”
Penalties kept killing the Alouettes. In the first half, they were flagged eight times for 98 yards.
Time of possession was another factor. Ottawa had the ball for 36:02, with Montreal at just 23:58.
The Redblacks moved the ball downfield on their opening drive, keyed by a 35-yard pass and run to Mossis Madu Jr., who then rushed for another 13-yard gain. After a failed Ottawa challenge for pass interference — another play was allowed to run before the onfield officials realized Campbell had thrown the flag — the ball was swatted away from Harris and the fumble was recovered by Ivan McLennan, giving Montreal the ball on its own 28-yard line.
Following a 26-yard punt return by Diontae Spencer, the Redblacks took a 1-0 lead on a 67-yard punt by Brett Maher. After another nice Spencer return for 19 yards and a face mask penalty against Montreal, the Redblacks got a 30-yard Maher field goal to lead 4-0.
Following Alouettes penalties for pass interference and objectionable conduct on the same play, Ottawa snapped the ball inside Montreal’s two-yard line, scoring on the next play with a toss to Spencer for the touchdown. Madu ran the ball into the end zone for the two-point convert and a 12-0 lead.
Boris Bede booted a 54-yard punt single for Montreal, and after a missed 37-yard field goal by Maher with 2:19 left in the first half, it was 13-1 for Ottawa. That miss ended Maher’s consecutive field-goal streak at 15.
Ottawa threatened to score again, but an under-thrown Harris pass to Joshua Stangby was intercepted. On Montreal’s next play, Darian Durant found B.J. Cunningham for a 56-yard pass connection. A Jonathan Newsome sack stopped the Als and a 42-yard Bede field-goal attempt drifted wide.
After Montreal did nothing on its first drive of the second half, the Redblacks, facing second down and less than a yard to go, got a big 28-yard run by Spencer on a terrific play call. Harris then found Stangby for a 17-yard touchdown pass and Jake Harty caught a pass for the two-point convert.
The Alouettes got great field position after a 21-yard punt return by Stefan Logan, but the drive was wiped out by a terrific read by Pruneau, who picked off a Durant pass and took the ball to Ottawa’s 36-yard line. The Redblacks got a 30-yard Maher field goal and it was 24-1.
The Alouettes benched Durant and replaced him with backup Drew Willy late in the third quarter. Willy sparked a bit of a drive and Bede cleared the uprights with a 54-yard field goal on the final play of the quarter.
When Ottawa got the ball back, though, Harris found Greg Ellingson with a 42-yard touchdown pass. That also made Ellingson the first CFL pass catcher with more than 1,000 receiving yards this season.
Maher missed on a 41-yard field goal attempt with Ottawa getting a single.
SECOND AND LONG: The Alouettes got bad news even before the game. All-star left tackle Jovan Olafioye was a game-time scratch ... According to TSN’s Derek Taylor, going into Thursday, Ellingson had zero drops and 60 catches. Not sure how they scored it, but there may have been a drop versus the Alouettes ... Before the game, there was an ice-bucket challenge (yep, they still exist) in the fight against ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Participants included CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie and Alouettes general manager Kavis Reed ... The Als collected 4,000 school items and $400 to provide to the Salvation Army. Nice work . ... Nik Lewis caught another pass for the Alouettes, extending to 55 games his streak of contests with at least one reception ... After the final play of the first half, Redblacks coach Rick Campbell dashed onto the field to pull Jonathan Rose out of a shoving match. CATCHING A DRAFT: Three players with local connections are in the CFL Scouting Bureau’s early rankings for the 2018 draft. Laval receiver Pierre Tyrone from Ottawa is No. 7. Carleton defensive lineman Kene Onyeka is No. 8 and Ottawa defensive back Jackson Bennett is ranked 19th. Ranked first is Nebraska OL David Knevel.