You had to arrive early and stick to the end of this beautiful Thanksgiving game! Our Alouettes had already served us the 2019 formula last week in Hamilton, and well they served it again this afternoon in Montreal.
In front of a very beautiful and noisy crowd, the two teams were at each other’s necks the whole game. However, our Alouettes had a thunderous start to the game! Two sacks in the first quarter and on their first offensive drive Vernon Adams, Geno Lewis and Jake Wieneke combined their efforts to score the first touchdown of the game!
Unfortunately, after this great start, the pace started to slow down…both teams’ defences were all over the place and when plays or runs were allowed, it would end up in field goals. As a result, by halftime, Ottawa had taken the lead 8-7.
The beginning of the 3rd quarter picked up the same tempo until our Alouettes (once again led by an incredible defence) made two other field goals, notably following an interception by Najee Murray, and thus gaining a 14-7 lead. However, the REDBLACKS were not done yet and were able to win the field position battle, forcing the Alouettes to give up a safety and other field goals…
The end of the last quarter was much like the rest of the game, our birds’ offensive line was starting to wear down, and Vernon Adams got hit several times. It was left to Matt Shiltz to finish the game. And boy, did he do it! First, he found Julien-Grant (16 yards) and then BJ Cunningham (19 yards) in the Ontario end zone, then ran for 17 yards himself before Cameron Arthis-Payne (21 runs, 122 yards, 1 touchdown), also filling in for William Stanback today, finished the job with the game-winning touchdown with only 26 seconds left!!!
In an incredible atmosphere thanks to the best fans in the league, the defence did not let anything happen on the last Ontarian offensive drive and our Alouettes finally won 20-16, a second consecutive victory and a first at home to get back to a 4-4 record.
Safe to say, our boys are on fire! Watch them as they hit the federal capital for the second time this season on Saturday! Got your ticket?
