On Thursday night at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, the Montreal Alouettes (1-2) pummeled the Saskatchewan Roughriders (2-1) 37-13 in their home opener.
Heading into this game, the Roughriders were favorites after putting on clinics against Hamilton and Edmonton, while Montreal lost two close games to start the season.
It took twelve seconds for Montreal to get on the board. Chandler Worthy returned the opening kickoff for an 88-yard touchdown, putting the Alouettes up 7-0. It was the second fastest touchdown to open the game in CFL history.
Alouettes’ quarterback Trevor Harris had himself a day, going 16/22 for 262 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. Harris’ touchdown happened in the second quarter when he found Kaion Julien-Grant for 70 yards, making it 20-3 with 14:42 left. Julien Grant led the receivers with two catches for 75 yards and one touchdown. Once the game was out of reach, Dominique Davis replaced him.
The Alouettes’ defense put on a clinic on Saskatchewan’s offense. They read just about every play, beating the Roughriders to the ball. Saskatchewan made some progress, but that was after the game was out of reach.
The Alouettes’ defense allowed 328 yards, with eight sacks, 50 tackles, five pass breakups, and three interceptions. One of those interceptions was returned for a touchdown by Marc-Antoine Dequoy, who picked off Cody Fajardo and went 21 yards, making it 30-6 with 3:07 left in the third quarter. Kicker David Cote made five field goals.
For the Roughriders, Cody Fajardo had a rough game, going 17/28 for 191 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, and four carries for 13 yards. He was taken out in the fourth quarter and replaced by Mason Fine, who went 7/9 for 83-yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
Fine’s touchdown happened in the fourth quarter on a five-yard pass to Duke Williams that made it 37-13 with 1:36 left in the game. Williams led the receivers with four catches for 101 yards and one touchdown. Kicker Brett Lauther made two field goals. The Roughriders’ defense allowed 333 yards, 41 tackles, two sacks, and one pass breakup.
Montreal’s defense and special teams came to play. This was different from the last two weeks; surprisingly, the Roughriders did not play well in this game. The East Division is up for grabs, and if the Alouettes can continue to put on shows like this, they will have no problems winning the division.
The Roughriders got to see what the Alouettes can do, and they will get an opportunity at redemption next Saturday night against Montreal at 7 pm on ESPN2.
