We continue our 2019 season review with an historic game against the Roughriders.
Friday August 9 2019,
Final score : 10-17
Despite suffering a strange and difficult loss to Ottawa the week before, the Als are having a great start to their season in Week 9, with 3 wins and 3 losses under their belt. On Friday, August 9th, Montreal welcomes the Saskatchewan Roughriders who had also been faring well throughout the beginning of their campaign.
It’s a strong start for our boys. The Riders get their first chance on offence but come up short with no points. On the return, newly acquired Shakeir Ryan emerges on a 101-yard return to find himself on the other side of the field crossing the goal line for a touchdown.
We’ll be honest, both team’s offensive units are lacking and ultimately don’t make for the most exciting game. Both defensive units put up a good fight but unfortunately ours sees two costly mistakes that put the Riders up on the board. May we remind you that our quarterback Vernon Adams Jr and running back William Stanback are both injured, and their non-presence is clearly felt on the field.
Both our backup quarterbacks Antonio Pipkin and Matthew Shiltz get sacked but worse, fumble the ball, and Saskatchewan capitalizes both times to score touchdowns. At halftime the score is 16-10 in favour of the Riders and the Alouettes know they need to turn things around in the second half.
The start of the third quarter is messy on both sides of the ball, but you can feel Montreal’s offence slowly marching back. Unfortunately, with 3:03 minutes left to play in the third, Mother Nature decides to rain on their parade.
A thunderstorm breaks out forcing the officials to send players back to their locker rooms. Eventually, the refs also force staff on both sides of the sideline to the locker room and force fans to take shelter in the corridors. At this point, everyone is under the assumption that we’re waiting for the storm to pass to get back on the field.
Ultimately, after waiting for over an hour, the CFL invokes the rule where if there is a stoppage greater than 60 minutes after the game becomes official at the midway point of the third quarter, the game will be considered final. The game ends at 17-10 for the Riders, handing them the victory.
It’s highly frustrating for the Als seeing that they were down by a touchdown, and on good pace to attempt a comeback. It also handed them their second consecutive loss, further dampening their promising start to the season.
However, do not count this team out. They prove they can contend in an impressive overtime win against the reigning Grey Cup champs the following week…
