By Richard Obrand,
MontrealAlouettes.com
Montreal – It wasn’t the prettiest pre-season victory you’ll see, but the Alouettes (2-0-0) managed to hold off the Bombers (1-1-0) for the win, and now head into the regular season on a high note after beating Winnipeg 31-27.
“This game isn’t going to define whether a player makes the team or not – that’ll be decided based on a combination of everything they’ve done up till now,” said Alouettes coach Marc Trestman. “But that said, I was really pleased with the way the guys used their opportunity to show us what they’ve got tonight.”
While it was kicker Damon Duval who first put the Als on the board with a 43-yard field goal at 4:15 of the first quarter, it was linebacker Diamond Ferri who really got things started for the home team.
The third-year CFL vet leapt up for the Als’ second interception of the pre-season and returned it 80 yards for the score to give his team a 10-0 lead just under halfway into the first quarter.
Just over three minutes later, the Bombers responded with an Alexis Serna field goal – his first of three on the night – to cut the deficit to seven.
The trend at Percival Molson Stadium continued Tuesday night, as the Als played in front of 20,202 fans, a sell-out crowd.
Despite making his first game appearance since last November, quarterback Anthony Calvillo picked up right where he left off in 2008, connecting with receiver Brian Bratton for a 16-yard touchdown in the waking moments of the second frame.
Winnipeg finished off the first half of play on a 13-0 scoring run, bringing themselves within one-point of the Als heading into the third quarter.
For their part, Brandon Whitaker and Adrian McPherson continued their strong pre-season play – the two combined efforts to put together a very impressive early-third quarter drive, capped off by a six-yard touchdown run by Whitaker.
“I thought Whitaker ran hard and played well, and (Chris) Jennings also had some nice runs, and Avon (Cobourne) also did well,” Trestman said.
Following a handful of singles and field goals by both Duval and Serna to bring the score to 25-19 for the Als, Bombers running back Yvenson Bernard put Winnipeg in front by one thanks to his one-yard touchdown run, followed by a Serna convert.
The lead, however, was brief as Duval connected for two more three-pointers to bring the Als in front for good.
With the win, the Als went undefeated in pre-season play for the first time since 2006.
The Als will officially begin the 2009 season on July 1 as they visit the Stampeders at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium – 10pm (RDS HD, TSN HD, CKAC SPORTS, CJAD 800 AM).
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Calvillo: 4/5, 60 yds, 1 TD
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