(Toronto) David Côté missed a 21-yard field goal opportunity with 14 seconds left on Thursday, allowing the Toronto Argonauts to pull off a 20-19 win over the Montreal Alouettes.
Posted at 10:56 p.m.
Côté missed the target on the left, after catches of 25 and 21 yards from Eugene Lewis and Hergy Mayama-that of Lewis on a third down and 10 yards.
The loss brings the Alouettes’ record to 0-2, after the loss by three points in Calgary.
The club will play for the first time at home next Thursday against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Late-game catches took Trevor Harris’ aerial yardage tally to 270, one more than McLeod Bethel-Thompson.
Lewis had 127 receiving yards, Reggie White 83.
For the Argos (1-0), Andrew Harris had 87 rushing yards, while Markeith Ambles and Kurleigh Gittens added 67 and 66 receiving yards.
The visitors believed they had signed an interception in the sixth minute of the game, Mike Jones jumping high to collect the ball.
The item, however, hit the ground when Jones landed, officials saw on recovery.
Toronto got away with a 17-yard field goal from Boris Bede, for a 3-0 lead.
Late in the first quarter, Montreal leveled the score when Côté made a 43-yard field goal.
The punt came shortly after Darius Williams scored his first CFL interception at midfield. Bethel-Thompson’s pass had deflected off the right hand of targeted DaVaris Daniels.
Penalties to the Alouettes then erased an excellent return from Chandler Worthy and a 39-yard catch from Eugene Lewis.
After two Argonaut singles, Côté answered with a 26-yard field goal, giving the Alouettes a 6-5 lead.
Just before halftime, a 30-yard catch from Ambles led Toronto to a 29-yard field goal from Bede, a former Montrealer.
Just when the crowd favorites were thought to be heading into the locker room at 8-6, an interception by Tarvarus McFadden allowed Bede to add three points to the board from 38 yards.
In the third quarter, veteran Brandon Banks caught a 15-yard touchdown pass. He played for a long time with Hamilton, before joining the Argonauts in February.
Towards the end of the engagement, Côté added another accurate kick, this time from 18 yards. The Alouettes were approaching at 18-9.
Côté hit the mark again in the final quarter (32 yards), reducing Toronto’s lead to 19-12.
In that kicking battle, Bede then missed on the right side from 45 yards.
Khari Jones’ group didn’t give up, crossing for 70 yards on seven plays, including a one-yard touchdown run from Dominique Davis.
Montreal wanted to create the deadlock with a two-point convert but the score remained 20-18, Harris making a pass too deep for Jake Wieneke.