A fight to the finish
Big games from Powell and Harris help Redblacks overcome Manziel and the Alouettes
On a night when Montreal Alouettes quarterback
Johnny Manziel had some money in his game, the Ottawa Redblacks stumbled and fumbled, but came through in the final minute of the game to win 24-17 at TD Place in Ottawa.
Running back William Powell delivered the dagger with an 11-yard touchdown run with 15 seconds remaining.
Said Powell: “In the fourth quarter, maybe three or four times on second down, I didn’t get the yardage I needed, I told the coach, ‘I’m going to get it next time, just trust me, trust the ball in my hands.’ And we were able to get it into the end zone.”
The Redblacks put up huge chunks of yardage through the air — QB Trevor Harris had 487 yards passing — but some big mistakes kept them from scoring more points.
“We had to just keep plugging, keep grinding,” said Harris. “I said this after an abysmal Calgary game, ‘I believe we have an elite offence,’ and I said after the Hamilton game where we didn’t finish drives and I’ll see after we had four turnovers — we have an elite offence, we just have to make sure we finish drives.”
After Montreal was stopped on the game’s opening drive, the Redblacks put together a big drive, marching into Alouettes territory, but fullback J.C. Beaulieu fumbled after catching a Harris pass at the 25. The fumble was caused and recovered by Chip Cox.
The Alouettes got a single on their next possession with a booming 57-yard Boris
Bede punt.
Harris led the Redblacks downfield again, highlighted by completions of 19 yards to Diontae Spencer and 13 yards to Brad Sinopoli, but, after Sinopoli caught a pass on Montreal’s 37-yard line, he fumbled and the ball was picked up by Vantrel McMillan.
The Redblacks forced a turnover of their own when Jonathan Newsome pounced on the ball at his team’s 29-yard line. Richie Leone rocketed a 62-yard punt, forcing Montreal to start on its own four-yard line. Stopped on the next two plays, Montreal conceded a safety and Ottawa led 2-1 just 49 seconds into the second quarter.
The Alouettes went ahead 8-2, though, when Chris Ackie intercepted a Harris pass that had been tipped at the line of scrimmage and ran 37 yards into the end zone for a touchdown. The convert was good.
Ottawa narrowed the gap after a 45-yard field goal by Lewis Ward, then had a chance to take or cut into the lead late in the second quarter. After a 19-yard catch by Ellingson left the Redblacks with third-andinches with 12 seconds left, rather than push ahead for the first down, backup QB Dominique Davis rolled to his left and unsuccessfully tried to pass to Marco Dubois in the end zone.
Ottawa took the lead with 8:44 left in the third quarter, when Trevor Harris found
R.J. Harris open for a 14-yard touchdown.
Montreal regained the lead with 5:27 left in the quarter on a quarterback draw by Manziel. He was hit and fumbled just before reaching the goal-line, but the ball was recovered by offensive lineman Kristian Matte. The convert made it 17-11 for the Alouettes.
After pair of completions to Ellingson for seven and 15 yards, Harris tried to find the receiver long, but it was tipped away. Then, near midfield, Harris fumbled after getting hit behind the line of scrimmage. The Alouettes recovered on the Redblacks’ 52.
Then, on a bizarre play a minute into the fourth quarter, Montreal’s Adarius Bowman caught the ball near the first-down marker, but, without being touched by a Redblacks player, he held the ball up in the air. It was slapped away by Ottawa’s Jonathan Rose and recovered by Danny Mason, but the
CFL Command Centre review determined that Bowman had rolled out of bounds nearly two yards short of the first-down marker, forcing a punt.