Tiger-Cats 28, Alouettes 29 | Thanks to Côté, Harris… and the crowd

(Montreal) The Alouettes played in front of their biggest crowd of the season on Saturday. In addition to having witnessed a strong spectacle, the 21,024 spectators gathered at the Percival-Molson Stadium had a considerable impact in the last minutes of the victory in extremis of 29-28 of their favorites.

Miguel Bujold
The Press

Loud as hell, the crowd prevented Matt Shiltz and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from communicating properly in their final series, which ended with a 51-yard field goal from Seth Small that gave them a 28-26 lead. visitors with 37 seconds to go.

But for a second consecutive game, the Als resisted and managed to extract 2 points in the standings thanks to a series orchestrated by Trevor Harris and David Côté’s winning 48-yard kick on the very last play.

“I was in my bubble and I felt good. It’s a winning kick, but it’s just one of many repetitions as we do hundreds and thousands of times in practice, “said the imperturbable kicker.

As soon as the kick cleared the yellow posts, Côté’s teammates rushed to congratulate him and celebrate as the crowd roared and danced in the stands.

“It was a very nice feeling! I can tell you that I received quite a few slaps on the head! said Côté, smiling. “I also heard the crowd screaming with joy when I got the kick off. »

“We have to give credit to our crowd. The atmosphere reminded me of our games in 1998, 1999 and 2000, at the time of AC (Anthony Calvillo) and Mike Pringle,” said Danny Maciocia.

It’s a fair swing of the pendulum for Côté, who had cost his team a victory by missing a short field goal in Toronto at the start of the season. Phlegmatic as he is, bet he will win more games than he loses in his career.

“David told me before the game that he would be comfortable up to 52 yards on this side of the field,” said the interim head coach. “He’s so calm. »

Harris, too, showed a lot of composure. After throwing an interception at 1^er quarterback, the quarterback excelled, especially at 4^e quarter. He completed 24 of 31 passes for 382 yards and 3 touchdowns.

“It was important to give a victory to our supporters. They really supported us today and when there are so many of them it helps a lot,” commented Harris.

When he returned to Montreal, Shiltz was good too (27 for 39 for 303 yards and 2 touchdowns). Shiltz played for the Alouettes from 2017 to 2021.

The concept of singles is often ridiculed in the CFL. And, on Saturday, it was ultimately a single from Côté that proved the difference. The score was 25-18 in favor of the Tiger-Cats when the kicker reduced their lead by one point. If not for this simple, Côté would have tied the game at 28-28 with his goal at the very end…

In the column of negatives for the Birds, there was indiscipline. They received 13 penalties, including several unnecessary ones, for losses of 176 yards.

“At 3^e quarterback, I was really irritated with our team. I even had to control myself a little bit,” admitted Maciocia.

“We have to fix this because it will eventually catch up with us,” commented Eugene Lewis, who led his team with 7 catches for 99 yards and a touchdown. “But we found a way to win. We are a team that is improving and has just won two hard wins. »

With this victory, the Alouettes (4-6) edged the Tiger-Cats (3-7) for second place in the East. After a break week, they will play their next three games in Montreal, including September 2 against the Ottawa Redblacks.

Philpot felt good

There was a moment of concern in the first half when Tyson Philpot was hit hard by two Tiger-Cats players. The receiver appeared to lose consciousness before falling to the ground where he remained for several minutes. The Canadian receiver left the game, but the news is encouraging.

“I spoke to him after the first half and he said he felt good. However, we will know more in the next few hours, ”said Maciocia.