The Alouettes earn a team-record 15th win
By Richard Obrand,
MontrealAlouettes.com
Toronto – There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that this is Anthony Calvillo’s football team, but should something ever happen to the future hall-of-famer, fans of the Alouettes can most definitely seek comfort in the arm of Adrian McPherson.
Making just his second career start, McPherson was stellar in his three quarters of play under centre and completing 16 of 20 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 55 more yards on the ground over three quarters.
As advertised, McPherson displayed great poise and calmness in a 42-17 franchise-record 15th win of the season over the host Toronto Argonauts, spreading the ball out between 10 different receivers.
Among the 10 was slotback Ben Cahoon, whose single catch for six yards extended his streak of at least one reception in a game to 127.
While this has been a relatively quiet season for Cahoon in terms of scoring, the 12-year veteran has been his normal self when it comes to yardage, reaching the 1,000 yards plateau for the eighth straight year with 1,025.
Cahoon’s catch in the first quarter was the second of four-straight completions for McPherson, who eventually found running back Brandon Whitaker in the back of the end zone for a touchdown to give the Als a 7-0 lead.
Solid all around
On the other side of the field, Toronto’s starting quarterback Stephen Reaves wasn’t as fortunate as his counterpart. After an incompletion to wide-receiver Chad Lucas on his first pass of the game, Reaves’ second pass of was intercepted by cornerback Davis Sanchez and from then on it was all Alouettes.
After kicker Damon Duval connected on an 11-yard field goal to make it 10-0, Kerry Watkins caught his eighth touchdown of the season to extend the Als’ lead to 17-0.
Duval’s field goal was the first of seven on the day as the kicker amassed 21 points to set a new CFL single-season record with 242 points.
The Alouette defence put forth yet another solid effort, collecting four interceptions and forcing two fumbles, including Paul Woldu’s interception-return touchdown in the second half.
Having already clinched the East Division, the Als will now wait to find out who they will face in the playoffs.
Tomorrow’s matchup between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers has major implications on which team they’ll be facing off against in front of a roaring crowd on Nov. 22 and you can be sure that the Alouettes will be watching.
The Als will return home to Olympic Stadium for the Eastern Division Final this Nov. 22 at 1 p.m. (RDS HD, TSN HD, CKAC SPORTS, CJAD 800 AM).
There are under 13,000 tickets left… Click here to buy now!
Notes
Damon Duval set a league record for most points in a single season… He also hit a personal-high seven field goals against the Argos… Ben Cahoon extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one catch to 127… Paul Woldu scored his first career interception-return touchdown.
