MONTREAL — The Montreal Alouettes continued their strong run of form, winning their third consecutive CFL game by sacking the Saskatchewan Roughriders 41-12 at Percival Molson Stadium on Friday evening.
Montreal’s (5-3) impressive offensive showing came without starting quarterback Cody Fajardo and starting running back William Stanback, while Saskatchewan (4-5) struggled to figure out a physical Alouettes defence.
“They got after us pretty good, they’re a very physical bunch. We had a hard time keeping up with them. All credit to them, they beat us thoroughly in all three phases,” said Roughriders head coach Craig Dickenson.
“It’s a short week and we didn’t play our best football, so we’re going to try to wash it and get ready for our next game.”
Montreal announced themselves immediately with a 35-yard return giving them good field position to start their first drive. The eight-play, 4:20 drive was capped off with a touchdown via a quarterback sneak by Caleb Evans who got the nod in place of Fajardo.
After the Roughriders got on the board with a field goal, the Alouettes opened the second quarter with another large gain. A 68-yard catch-and-run from Walter Fletcher put Montreal in a perfect position to punch the ball in from close range once again four plays later.
“You want to score on every drive, or at least come away with some kind of points, but to have it on the first drive I think that just settled everybody down and made everybody more comfortable,” said Evans. “Backup quarterback, people are a little hesitant, worried but I think the first touchdown got everybody pumped up.”
After the teams traded punts, Montreal cornerback Kabion Ento intercepted Jake Dolegala deep in the Roughriders half. On the ensuing play, they would get the ball back when Evans would throw his first interception of the game to Amari Henderson.
David Côté would covert a 33-yard field goal to end the half with the score 17-3.
After forcing a two-and-out, the Alouettes picked up where they left off, wasting no time in finding the end zone when Evans and Austin Mack linked up for a 56-yard touchdown.
The teams traded punts again, but with five minutes left in the third quarter, a hard tackle from Marc-Antoine Dequoy knocked the ball loose, giving Montreal possession.
With just over two minutes left in the quarter and the Alouettes in the red zone, Jeshrun Antwi ran the ball 19 yards for the Alouettes’ third rushing touchdown of the game. After Saskatchewan had to settle for another field goal, it was the turn of Montreal’s defence to do the scoring.
In the process of sacking Dolegala, Tyrice Beverette managed to force a fumble and ran the ball in for a fifth touchdown.
The Roughriders got their first touchdown of the game with just under six minutes left. After failing to convert on third-and-goal, two Montreal penalties gave them another chance and they would not squander it through a quarterback sneak from Dolegala.
“(Evans) absolutely managed the game. We can do things differently at any point and that’s one of the strong points of our offence,” said Alouettes head coach Jason Maas. “If we need to throw it we can throw it, if we need to run it we can run it and our guys executed.”
Montreal scored a final field goal, with Côté converting from 37 yards out.
UP NEXT
The Alouettes will be in Ottawa next Saturday to play the Redblacks, while the Roughriders host the B.C. Lions on Aug. 20.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2023.
Elias Grigoriadis, The Canadian Press