It was Halloween eve on Saturday and the Montreal Alouettes kept the theme alive by playing a horrifying game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Visitors even came to haunt the Montreal football club, relegating it to third in the Eastern Conference with a narrow 19-14 victory.
Eugene Lewis’s touchdown on a Trevor Harris pass following a 93-yard push with 1:26 remaining put the locals close to three points, but they hadn’t really been in the game before that.
The Alouettes (6-5) then attempted a short kick, which the Riders (7-4) recovered to regain a five-point lead.
Harris tried to orchestrate a comeback that would have put a smile on the face of the silent 11,817 spectators gathered in horrible weather at Percival-Molson Stadium, but he came short.
The Alouettes’ offense was so ineffective that Khari Jones sent Harris into the fray at the very end of the third quarter to replace Matthew Shiltz, who was ineffective in this game.
The No. 18 Alouettes completed just seven of his 13 passes for 106 yards in addition to being intercepted on one occasion.
This interception, at the end of the second quarter, also woke up the Roughriders, who were going nowhere until then.
Trailing 3-0, the visitors had just been trapped deep in their zone, allowing the Alouettes to regain the ball from their 33-line. But in the first game, Loucheiz Purifoy passed in front of Jake Wieneke to capture the pass that was intended for him before bringing the ball back 35 yards.
Seven games later, William Powell capped the push with a short three-yard run into the end zone to make Saskatchewan 7-3 after the conversion. Like the children who will pass through the streets of the city on Sunday evening, they will no longer look behind.
Brett Lauther completed the mark with four field goals in as many attempts, on 21, 36, 41 and 32 yards.
Kicker David Côté had field goals of 36 and 45 yards, in addition to adding a single on a punt.
This loss hurts the Alouettes on several fronts. In addition to pushing the team behind the Hamilton Tiger-Cats before facing the powerful Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10-1) twice, it could deprive the organization of a home playoff game, always important to allow the Alouettes to pay their costs in normal times. This local elimination meeting must be all the more important after a canceled season and another shortened.
It also complicates the road to the grand final, the club’s avowed objective, by potentially forcing it to play two playoff games on opposing lawns.