The Montreal Alouettes were victims of three majors in the third quarter and the Saskatchewan Roughriders took the opportunity to take their revenge 41-20, Saturday at Mosaic Stadium.
Like the activities organized during the Canada Day weekend in Regina, the spirit was high for the Riders (3-1) who avenged a 37-13 loss at the hands the Alouettes (1-3) the previous week, at Percival-Molson Stadium.
The Alouettes retired to the locker room with a 13-11 lead at the half, before collapsing in the second half of the game.
The Alouettes’ offense was limited to a single touchdown. The other major came from special teams via Chandler Worthy, who returned a punt for 84 yards.
Worthy became the first player to score a touchdown on a punt return in two consecutive games in 69 years since he played the same shot for the Riders last week.
Riders quarterback Cody Fajardo had a night of 224 yards through the air as 18 of 29 passes were taken. In addition to scoring a major himself, he threw two touchdown passes.
Alouettes quarterback Trevor Harris, who got the start for a second straight game — at the expense of Vernon Adams Jr. — completed 18 of 26 passes attempted for 198 yards through the air.
He threw no touchdown passes and saw two of his passes intercepted.
Adams completed one of three passes attempted in relief for 30 yards in the air. He was the victim of a sack.
Khari Jones’ men lost a key cog in the third quarter when Mickael Wakefield was disqualified for two misconduct penalties on the same streak.
The Alouettes will now enjoy their first week off of the season. The club will return to action on July 14 at home against the Edmonton Elks.
A duel in two stages
From their first possession, the Alouettes went to the door of the Roughriders’ end zone, notably thanks to a 27-yard pass from Harris towards Hergy Mayala.
Harris, however, suffered a sack from Anthony Lanier Jr. on second down and the Alouettes fell back on David Côté to score the three points.
Fajardo and the Roughriders responded on the next possession. The American quarterback combined his efforts with those of Tevin Jones on a 40-yard sequence to set the table for the first major of the game.
Fajardo then spotted Mitchell Picton from eight yards and the hosts took a 7-3 lead.
Reflecting an explosive start to the game, the Alouettes kick returner, Worthy, used his speed to get around the Roughriders players and move up the field. He eventually ran for 84 yards and got the middle finger. After the conversion the score was 10-7 and the Riders lead only held for a few moments.
The second quarter, however, was less sparkling than the first. Brett Lauther of the Riders got a point after missing his field goal from 48 yards, but made it for 57 yards with nearly a minute left in the quarter.
Côté scored his second field goal of the game shortly before Lauther’s success and the Alouettes retired to the locker room with a 13-11 lead.
On the first possession in the second half, the Riders took control of the game. Jamal Morrow scored the touchdown on a 12-yard run. The Saskatchewan club, however, missed the conversion by two points.
The Riders came back a few minutes later, with 7:34 left in the third quarter, Fajardo completed the job and was credited with the one-yard touchdown. This time, the Riders nailed the two-point conversion and made it 25-13.
Continuing their good run, the Riders scored another touchdown given a pass from Fajaro to Kian Schaffer-Baker. The latter skirted the sidelines for 44 yards and gave his team a 32-13 lead.
With less than ten minutes left in the game, a 3-yard run from Walter Fletcher — and the conversion that followed — brought the Alouettes 12 points behind the hosts in a losing cause.
While the Alouettes were going all out, Harris saw one of his passes being intercepted by Nick Marshall, who then rolled the ball up 90 yards to score the middle finger. The Riders nailed the two-point conversion.
This interception signaled the end of the game for Harris and the entry into play for Adams.