MONTREAL – In front of a crowd of 20,098, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeated the Montreal Alouettes 31 to 7.
Friday’s game began slowly, with both teams leading off the ball game with two and out possessions.
The hometown Als scored the first punch of the night on the scoreboard nine plays later, on the same drive, courtesy of a 43-yard Boris Bede field goal.
Jovon Johnson, one of Montreal’s top performers on the defensive side of the ball, then brought down Hamilton quarterback Jeremiah Masoli late in the first quarter.
After 15 minutes of football, the Als led by three and had given up just five yards of offence to the Tabbies.
The second quarter produced more of the same tight, defensive football. Though both teams had sustained drives, neither was able to put points on the board until the final five minutes, when a Bede miss from 43 yards cleared the back of the end zone for a single to make it 4-0 Montreal.
The Als defence continued to shine, posting a Jovon Johnson interception and John Bowman sack on back-to-back possessions.
Montreal appeared to be on cruise control heading into the half, but a delay of game penalty forced Bede to concede a safety with 45 seconds left in the half.
Rakeem Cato, the Marshall alumnus had decent numbers, completing 18 of 25 passes for 203 yards.
Don’t miss the Alouettes next home game on Friday, July 29 when the Saskatchewan Roughriders will be in town!
PHOTOS: (Credit: Johany Jutras)
