By Richard Obrand,
MontrealAlouettes.com
Calgary – The streak is over.
The Alouettes’ five-game winning streak dating back to their July 31 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats came to an abrupt end Friday night as they found themselves on the losing side of a humbling 41-30 score at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium.
Stampeder quarterback Henry Burris played a big role in ending Montreal’s winning ways, throwing five touchdowns to five different receivers and completing 24 of his 38 passes for 408 yards.
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For Montreal Anthony Calvillo wasn’t exactly at his best, despite completing 22 passes for 309 yards and a pair of touchdown passes in the loss.
The problem? Three interceptions. Having thrown just five picks all year prior to Friday’s matchup, Calvillo’s intercepted pass by Brandon Browner at 1:35 of the second quarter ended the 36-year-old pivot’s four-game streak without throwing an interception. Maybe it was the frigid Alberta weather, or maybe it was just a matter of time, but Marc Trestman’s Alouettes looked unusually out of sync on a night on which a win could have extended their East Division lead to eight points over the Argonauts – who were also losers to Winnipeg in Toronto. The Alouettes just couldn’t catch a break Out West. Their bad luck began following a Burris touchdown when Damon Duval hit the uprights on a field-goal attempt early in the first quarter. The kick would have put the Als on the board, but instead kept Calgary’s early seven-point lead intact. Two possessions later, however, Duval connected from 27 yards out to cut the lead to four. The second quarter saw both teams exchange scores with Calgary kicker Sandro DeAngelis splitting the uprights from 18 yards out, and Avon Cobourne’s replacement at running back, Mike Imoh, scoring his first touchdown of the year. |
Following Calvillo’s first intercepted pass, Burris went to work, finding Joffrey Reynolds from nine yards out to extend the Stampeder lead to 10.
Then the nail in the coffin, with no time left in the half, and with both teams half-way into their respective locker rooms, came as Burris dug deep and found Teyo Johnson on Hail Mary in the end zone to extend his team’s lead to 17.
The second half started with another DeAngelis field-goal, followed by another Burris touchdown pass, this time to Ken Yon Rambo for a 43-yard score.
Burris then capped his career night by finding former Alouette Jeremaine Copeland for his fifth touchdown pass of the night.
With time winding down, and the game out of reach, Calvillo found receiver Kerry Watkins for the receiver’s eighth touchdown of the year.
The Alouettes next host the Edmonton Eskimos at Percival Molson Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 1 p.m. (RDS, TSN, CKAC SPORTS, CJAD).
