By Richard Obrand,
MontrealAlouettes.com
Montreal – The red-ribbon has been cut, the field has been christened with a decisive win and the Alouettes are sitting on their normal perch atop the CFL’s East Division standings – all is well in Als land.
However, with parity at an all-time high throughout the early stages of the 2010 season, Thursday night’s matchup between the 3-1-0 Alouettes and the visiting 3-1-0 Toronto Argonauts has all the makings to disturb the party currently going on in Montreal.
Historically speaking…
In recent years, the Alouettes have certainly had their way with the Argonauts. In fact, since head coach Marc Trestman joined the organization in 2008 the Als have yet to lose a game against Toronto in six matchups, outscoring them 214-92 in the process.
This season however, the Argonauts have seemingly taken the CFL by storm. Led by new head coach Jim Barker and new quarterback Cleo Lemon, the Argos have churned out three hard-earned wins since losing their opener to the Stampeders four weeks ago.
Toronto’s biggest margin of victory has been by a mere four points which came last week against the BC Lions, while their total margin of victory throughout the season is a measly nine points. Suffice to say, they make every one count.
Much like the Argonauts, the Als have produced three-straight wins since losing their season premiere, coming from behind in two of the three.
Touché…Touchdown!
It took a little longer than expected, but Anthony Calvillo and the Alouette offence seems to be finding their way around the end zone. Heading into the fourth quarter of last week’s meeting with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Als went seven quarters without scoring a touchdown, much to the dismay of Trestman and his staff.
But that all changed in the early stages of the fourth quarter as Calvillo connected with receiver Kerry Watkins to put a stop to the prolonged slump.
AC then found fullback Kerry Carter for a score later in the fourth quarter to ice the win for the Als and prove that the drought was simply a minor setback.
Stats
With both teams sharing a piece of the East Division lead look for both teams to come out firing come Thursday night. CFL rushing leader Cory Boyd has been simply stellar this season, rushing for over 100 yards in his last three games, totalling 431 yards on the season.
For the Alouettes, Calvillo is currently second in passing yards but leads the league in completion percentage with 66.9 and touchdowns with eight.
The Alouettes welcome the Toronto Argonauts to McGill on July 29 at 7:30 pm EST on RDSHD, TSNHD, NRJ, CJAD and CHOM.
