Montreal Alouettes come from behind to defeat Stampeders in front of home crowd
MONTREAL – The Montreal Alouettes may have been down, but they proved they were never out as they came from behind, a double-digit deficit, to defeat the Calgary Stampeders 30-26 in front of their home crowd at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.
Cody Fajardo completed 35 of 42 passes for 374 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in the win, while Walter Fletcher led the Als with 56 yards rushing as well as a touchdown. Tyson Philpot led the Als in receiving with 134 yards on 12 catches.
Jake Maier threw for 106 yards, completing 18 of 28 passes, for a touchdown and an interception in the loss, and Tommy Stevens rushed for 49 yards and two touchdowns for the Stamps.
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The Als started off strong grabbing the first lead, as on second down at the Calgary five-yard line Fajardo found Kaion Julien-Grant deep in the end zone to take a 7-0 lead.
On the very next drive, with less than two minutes to play in the first quarter, the Stamps tied things up as they chose to go for the touchdown on third-and-one and were successful as Tommy Stevens rushed in the middle for a one-yard gain for the score.
The Stamps took their first lead of the night as they turned a fumble by Tyson Philpot into a drive that set up Rene Paredes for a 22-yard field goal.
Fajardo was intercepted by Bentlee Sanders for a 22-yard return to the Montreal 50-yard line on the next play, which allowed Maier to connect with B.J. Emmons and Marken Michel to move the chains downfield.
The drive set up another Stevens one-yard rush into the end zone for the Stamps, but the Mustafa Johnson blocked the extra point attempt which Kabion Ento returned all the way back for two points for the Als.
Defensively, the Stamps forced a two-and-out from the Als on the next drive, and wasted no time, taking just three plays to go 53 yards in 20 seconds for a touchdown.
Peyton Logan rushed for 42 yards the Montreal six-yard line, and Maier connected with Reggie Begelton for the score.
Jose Maltos kicked a field goal for the Als with one second left in the third quarter to cut into the deficit, before the Stamps and Als traded field goals to start the fourth quarter.
A momentum swing came for the Als in the final frame as Fajardo connected with Philpot and Walter Fletcher each for 24 yard gains to move downfield, before finding Cole Spieker in the end zone for 15 yards and a touchdown.
Despite the missed two-point conversion, on the next Als drive with just over five minutes on the clock, Maltos put a 30-yard kick through the uprights to make it a two-point game as Montreal scored 12 unanswered points.
Calgary was unable to score after using up two minutes of clock, with just over 2:30 left to play in the game, but Montreal capitalized on getting the ball back as Fletcher rushed for 31 yards for a touchdown to give Montreal the lead back for the first time since the first quarter.
The Stamps had less than a minute to try and get a touchdown that would but them in front, but Maier was intercepted to seal the game and give the Als the win.
Montreal will host the Toronto Argonauts at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium in Week 6 action at 7:30 p.m. EDT on July 11, while the Stamps will head to Winnipeg to face the Blue Bombers at Princess Auto Stadium at 8:30 p.m. EDT on July 12.
