REDBLACKS GET RIGHT BACK ON TRACK
Big first half sparks victory over Alouettes
REDBLACKS 28, ALOUETTES 18
It wasn’t perfect, but a win is a win no matter how you slice it.
Riding a big first half, quarterback Trevor Harris and the Ottawa Redblacks beat the Montreal Alouettes 28-18.
It was a night Redblacks fullback Jean-Christophe Beaulieu won’t soon forget — a touchdown and a two-point convert in Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, which he called home for four seasons.
“It felt great,” said Beaulieu. “Since the beginning of the season, I’d dropped two balls, today no drops, I’m happy.”
Coming off a 24-14 loss in Calgary — where they stumbled mightily on offence — the Redblacks came out firing. Harris completed 19-of-26 passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, while William Powell had the running game in full gear, with 13 rushes for 74 yards in that first half. The team’s big-play guys performed like bigplay guys.
Meanwhile, the Redblacks defence was doing what it has done in the first three games of the season — making plays.
“This is a big win,” said Redblacks coach Rick Campbell. “There’s lots to learn from and lots to get better at, but it’s a big thing to win on the road against your own division.”
Harris agreed.
“We were able to stay on the field, sustain drives,” he said. “That’s big for us when this offence is helping out our defence and giving them a breather.”
On their opening drive, the Redblacks moved downfield as Harris completed passes to Diontae Spencer, Brad Sinopoli and Noel Thomas, setting up a second-and-two situation. With the Alouettes expecting a handoff to Powell, Harris lofted a pass to a wide-open Beaulieu, who went 47 yards for the touchdown. The Redblacks couldn’t convert the two-point convert and it was 6-0.
The Redblacks got Beaulieu in an off-season trade with Montreal — with Patrick Lavoie going in the other direction.
After a roughing-the-passer penalty to Ottawa’s AC Leonard moved the ball into Redblacks territory, Als quarterback Jeff Mathews found Chris Williams open and he got the ball to the 12-yard line. Two plays later, Tyrell Sutton crashed into the end zone for a touchdown. The Boris Bede convert made it 7-6 Montreal with 9:06 left in the first quarter.
A 60-yard punt by Bede sailed into the end zone and it was 8-6.
The Redblacks responded with a long drive which included an 18-yard gain by Sinopoli after Harris slung him an underhand pass up the middle and a 28-yard completion to Greg Ellingson. Ottawa’s drive stalled on the four-yard line and Lewis Ward booted an 11-yard field goal to make it 9-8 for the visitors.
After a nice Bede punt pushed the Redblacks back to their own six-yard line. Their drive stalled when Alouettes defensive lineman Jamaal Westerman drilled Harris for an eight-yard sack.
The CFL Command Centre overturned what looked like an intercepted pass by a diving Kevin Brown three minutes into the second quarter. But the Redblacks kept churning out the yards on offence. Harris found Sinopoli open down the left side for a 37-yard touchdown. Beaulieu grabbed the two-point convert pass.
Powell had runs of seven and 26 yards to push the ball into Montreal territory. On a thirdand-less-than-a-yard gamble, Dominique Davis got the first down on second effort, getting the necessary yardage by the nose of the football.
On a nine-yard run by Powell, offensive lineman Jon Gott was injured and left the field, replaced by Jason LauzonSeguin, making his season debut.
Harris found Thomas for his first CFL touchdown, a nine-yard pass with six seconds left in the first half. Powell ran in for the two-point convert and it was 25-8.
On their opening drive of the second half, Powell dashed for 26 yards, zigzagging around several Montreal defenders. Ottawa got a 31-yard field goal from Ward.
In the first minute of the fourth quarter, Eugene Lewis snuck in behind the Redblacks defenders for a 65-yard pass from Mathews. Two plays later, Chris Harper made a diving catch in the end zone. The convert made it 28-15.
Another apparent Brown interception was wiped out when Antoine Pruneau was flagged for illegal contact. Pruneau was penalized on the next play, too, called for unnecessary roughness when he hit Ryder Stone out of bounds. The Als settled for a 44-yard Bede field goal.
SECOND AND LONG
Former Redblacks receiver Chris Williams, who put together a couple of terrific seasons in Ottawa, was injured and knocked out of the game in the second quarter ... Receiver Noel Thomas Jr. hauled in his first CFL touchdown pass, rocking cleats with a Deadpool face on them ... Nice RNation Invasion, with plenty of Redblacks fans — among them former Ottawa QB Ryan Lindley — making the trip ... I love looking at the Montreal skyline from the press box at Molson Stadium, one of my favourite views in the CFL. Also, it’s one of my favourite cities ... Pre-game scratches for the Redblacks were Austen Hartley and George Uko.
THE END AROUND
Redblacks coach Rick Campbell threw his challenge flag on the final play of the first quarter, looking for a pass interference penalty. The Redblacks got the call, but was it really worth using up the challenge for the 18 yards so early in the game? ... Nice 46-yard punt by Richie Leone to angle the ball to bounce out of bounds at the Montreal 10-yard line with five minutes left in the third quarter. With less than six minutes left in the game, Leone angled another nice punt out of bounds at the Montreal 12
... Former Redblacks DB Abdul Kanneh is listed as a starter for the Toronto Argos on Saturday against the Edmonton Eskimos.