Even if this meeting meant absolutely nothing in the final standings, no one at the Montreal Alouettes wanted to lose this duel against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday.
In addition to providing an 11e victory for the club, unseen since 2012 in Montreal, this 22-20 victory against the Tiger-Cats (8-10) allowed the Alouettes (11-7) to sign a fifth consecutive victory to end the 2023 season .
Enough to give Jason Maas’ troops a great boost at the dawn of the playoffs.
“We didn’t want to end on a bad note,” said marauder Marc-Antoine Dequoy. We didn’t want to rest for next week. It’s a state of mind. We had ups and downs [dans ce match], but I am very proud of the performance we offered with the players we had. »
“From the top of the organization to the players, we can be very proud. We are in a good position for the playoffs. »
Cody Fajardo has often repeated it during the season: in this league, it is often the team that arrives on better momentum that wins the playoffs, not necessarily the one with the best record.
It’s hard to ask for better, as the Alouettes are on a five-win streak and have compiled a 3-0 record against the Tiger-Cats, their opponents in the Eastern semi-final, at Percival-Molson Stadium, next Saturday.
“It’s a great pace going into the playoffs. We wanted to win this game to show how serious we are,” noted Fajardo, who was taken out of the game after completing six of his eight passes for 55 yards and a touchdown on Saturday.
“Everyone did their job and we need everyone to win a championship. We have the elements to do it here. […] Several experts did not take the Montreal Alouettes seriously this season. It’s perfect: keep doing it, we’ll continue to keep our heads down and win our matches. »
Fajardo couldn’t better describe the contribution of the substitutes in this meeting: Caleb Evans completed five of his 10 passes for 30 yards. Davis Alexander finished the game with five completions on six attempts for 51 yards, including an important two-point conversion. Jeshrun Antwi, who has been playing the good soldier behind William Stanback for the past few seasons, carried the ball four times for 18 yards in addition to adding 18 yards on a big catch.
“You see the performances on the pitch, but you don’t see everything they do in training,” Maas said to explain the success of players who are not part of his starting lineup. We’re not talking about starters and substitutes, we’re talking about the 45 players in uniform. These guys are waiting for their turn. A guy like Davis or Antwi, who plays every week, doesn’t get the reps like the starters. They practice hard against our defensive players every week. »
“Davis entered the game on a two-point conversion, a first significant play for him this season, and he executed it like he did it every week. »
Runners or not, a victory is a victory in the eyes of the coach.
“I am very happy with this result. There is never an apology for how a victory was achieved or against whom it was achieved. You’ve often heard me say it, but it’s very difficult to seek victories in this league. Every time you reap a victory, you are very happy about it. »
“Is there anything to improve? Absolutely. But we said at the start of the week that we wanted to come out of this game a better team and we are. We had some really good reps in practice and we had a strong game. We’ll watch the tapes and have another good week in practice. We know who our opponent will be and we will work accordingly. »