THE CANADIAN PRESS
Montreal, July 24, 2011 – Weston Dressler and Wes Cates scored touchdowns and the Saskatchewan Roughriders jumped on a Montreal attack missing injured quarterback Anthony Calvillo to beat the Alouettes 27-24 and pick up their first win of the season Sunday night.
Saskatchewan (1-3) handed the Alouettes (3-1) their first defeat before a not quite sold out crowd of 24,434 at Percival Molson Stadium.
Calvillo left midway through the second quarter with Saskatchewan leading 14-7.
The 18-year veteran was taken down by former Alouette Dario Romero as a rushed pass was picked off by linebacker Sean Lucas. He went to the dressing room with an eye injury. He returned to the bench, but didn’t play due to blurred vision.
With Adrian McPherson behind centre, the Montreal offence all-but stalled for more than two quarters. But the crowd was on its feet as McPherson led a late drive capped by a nine-yard TD pass to Brian Bratton that close the gap to seven points with 4:11 left to play.
The Riders looked to have put the win away with 1:21 left when Eddie Johnson booted his fourth field goal of the night from 36 yards to give Saskatchewan a 27-17 lead, but it only set the stage for a wild ending.
After James Patrick intercepted a McPherson pass in the Riders’end zone, Hugh Charles fumbled on the next play and Montreal’s Billy Parker ran it to the seven yard-line. McPherson scrambled into the end zone from there for his second major of the night.
Montreal tried to recover a short kickoff, but it failed.
McPherson had scored a major on a one-yard plunge before the Calvillo injury.
Sean Whyte opened the scoring with a Montreal field goal five minutes in, but Johnson matched that moments later. A Johnson single on a missed 34-yard attempt gave the Riders their first lead of the season at 13:47.
Calvillo didn’t look sharp before his injury, at one point throwing five straight incompletions, but a pass to S.J. Green to the Riders’ one yard line set up McPherson’s touchdown 6:18 into the second quarter for a brief 10-7 lead.
One play after the ensuing kickoff, Darian Durant found Dressler alone for a 75-yard touchdown pass.
The Lucas interception set up a 10-yard Johnson field goal.
Durant marched the Riders 73 yards to open the second half and Cates capped it with a one-yard TD plunge.
McPherson answered with a drive to the Saskatchewan 24 yard line, but Montreal turned the ball over on downs after trying a pass on a third-and-three.
Durant also left the game briefly after he was shaken up during a 22-yard run to the Montreal four yard-line in the second quarter.Ryan Dinwiddie was unable to punch the ball in as the Riders settled for a field goal. Durant was back for the next series.
Saskatchewan linebacker Chris Graham left in the second quarter with what looked like a serious ankle injury suffered in kickoff coverage.
Riders guard Gene Makowsky played his 270th career game, one fewer than Roger Aldag’s club record.
