The Alouettes collapse in Saskatchewan

The Alouettes arrived in Regina with the desire to beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the second week in a row. However, the locals had other plans and they roughed up the Montrealers, inflicting a 41-20 loss on Saturday night.

Nicholas Richard
The Press

Last week, in Montreal, the Sparrows made short work of the Roughriders. A football lesson that ended with the score 37 to 13.

Over the past week, players and coaches have repeatedly reminded us not to arrive in the Prairies with an overdose of confidence on the sidelines of this back and forth duel. Playing at Mosaic Stadium is never an easy task, especially when the spirit is festive, as on this weekend when we celebrate Canada Day.

The Alouettes also wanted to go on leave with peace of mind, given that the team will be on hiatus next week.

However, the defence, which had been the spark plug in the last game, failed. Nothing went as planned for the Montrealers.

The third quarter sinks the team

The start of the game was hotly contested and the first quarter was in favor of the Alouettes. The men in green had taken a 7-3 lead thanks to a pass caught by Mitchell Picton in the end zone, but the Montrealers replied immediately. Chandler Worthy, a team revelation this season, returned the Roughriders punt 84 yards into the end zone to put the Alouettes back in front. It was his second touchdown in two games on a punt return.

If the first half ended with a score of 13 to 11 in favor of the Alouettes, it was on returning from the locker room that everything fell apart for Khari Jones’ troops.

Roughriders running back Jamal Morrow, just over 90 seconds into the third quarter, scored a major as he covered the 13 yards that separated him from the end zone.

Afterwards, they hammered the Alouettes by running, exploiting the perimeters game after game. Nothing was going well for the visitors’ defense, and the locals took advantage of it.

The domination was such that the Alouettes players lost patience. The first was Michael Wakefield. The defensive lineman received two unsportsmanlike penalties and was therefore ejected from the game. The pressure mounted on the Als and quarterback Cody Fajardo’s sneaking didn’t help their cause. Neither did Morrow’s successful two-point conversion. He finished the game with 103 rushing yards.

Kian Schaffer-Baker put an end to any hope of a comeback for the Alouettes by scoring the team’s third touchdown in the third quarter. A passing touchdown for 44 yards, scored again due to poor perimeter coverage by the Montrealers.

In the fourth quarter, the rout continued for the Alouettes, despite a touchdown from Walter Fletcher. Nick Marshall took advantage of a soft and predictable pass from Trevor Harris to intercept the ball and score the fatal touchdown from 90 yards.

Questioning

The Alouettes lost for the third time this season. Moreover, their three defeats occurred on opposing courts.

Khari Jones and his team will have a week to set the record straight. They will host the Edmonton Elks on July 14. Until then, Jones will have to decide whether to relaunch Harris in the fray. The quarterback completed 18 of 26 passes and had 198 yards, but he had no touchdown passes and had two interceptions.

Vernon Adams is ready to take over. It was he who finished the game for the Sparrows.