OTTAWA —The Montreal Alouettes continued to set the CFL standard on defence as they took down the Ottawa REDBLACKS 39-18 on Friday night at TD Place.
The Alouettes remain perfect at 2-0 on the season, as does quarterback Davis Alexander – the 6-0 start to his career is a franchise record for Montreal and is two wins away from tying Danny McManus’s CFL record.
Alexander completed 23 of his 32 passes for 344 yards, a touchdown and an interception, making the most of the long ball with receiver Tyler Snead who had 117 yards on four receptions. Austin Mack also eclipsed the century mark for receiving yards on five receptions.
Montreal’s defence racked up three interceptions to help them win a ninth straight game against Ottawa and their 11th straight at TD Place, with Wesley Sutton bringing one back for a touchdown.
Matt Shiltz got the nod under centre for Ottawa with Dru Brown – who led the league with 413 passing yards in Week 1 – out nursing a hip injury he suffered in their season-opening loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Shiltz – the former Alouette from 2017-2021 – completed 22 of his 32 passes for 205 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions as the REDBLACKS move to 0-2 on the young season.
Eugene Lewis was held off the score sheet in his 100th career CFL contest, ending his consecutive games with a touchdown streak at nine, one short of Hall of Famer Terry Evanshen’s record.
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Alexander and the Als got the first crack on offence, and the first-year starter wasted no time finding his favourite target Philpot — who caught three passes for 43 yards on the opening drive. Stalling out in the red zone, Als’ kicker José Carlos Maltos knocked in a 30-yard field goal for the first points of the game.
Ottawa could not respond on their first try, but Bennett Williams made sure they’d get a second attempt. On Richie Leone’s line-drive punt, the linebacker Williams ripped the ball away from Als return man James Letcher Jr., and Adarius Pickett was there for the recovery to set up Shiltz in immediate scoring position.
Restarting at Montreal’s 20-yard line, Shiltz navigated immense pressure to dink-and-dunk his way to the one-yard line in six plays. Ottawa sent in short-yardage specialist Dustin Crum to punch it in, but he was denied twice as Dylan Wynn and Geoffrey Cantin-Arku came up big on the early goal-line stand.
In the second quarter, Montreal’s deceptive front continued to build off its Week 1 success as defensive lineman Lwal Uguak dropped out of his disguise blitz to pick off Shiltz, the big man running it back 32 yards before being pushed out of bounds at Ottawa’s 24-yard line. Unable to get full points, Montreal called on Maltos once again, who made no mistake on the 16-yard chip shot to make it 6-0.
On the ensuing drive, Shiltz leaned on Lewis, hitting him three times for 42 yards en route to a 25-yard field goal from Lewis Ward to get Ottawa on the board.
Halfway through the second frame, Alexander broke the game open with a 65-yard bomb to Tyler Snead. Robert Priester’s touchdown-saving tackle — a horse collar on the one-yard line — went in vain as Caleb Evans pushed his way in for the major and Maltos added the conversion to make it 13-3.
Looking for the answer, Shiltz instead found Cantin-Arku — the linebacker punctuating the Als’ first-half defensive dominance with an interception at midfield.
After both teams exchanged punts, it was déjà vu for Snead as he once again broke open for a big gain — a 35-yard catch and run — that was once again ended by a Priester horse-collar tackle to get Montreal inside Ottawa’s 10-yard line. All of Snead’s 117 yards came during his monster first half. Penalties pushed the Als backwards and they eventually settled for a 27-yard field goal.
With 90 seconds left in the first half, Montreal got the ball back on their 34-yard line and hurried 35 yards downfield to set Maltos up with a 49-yarder as time expired — the former REDBLACK was visibly fired up after his fourth and longest make to close the game’s opening 30 minutes up 19-3.
Alexander kicked off the second half like he did the first — looking for Philpot, but a bullet pass ricocheted off the receiver’s hands directly to C.J. Coldon, who ran it back 34 yards to the Montreal 36 to give Ottawa the boost it needed.
After Lewis drew a pass interference call in the front of the end zone, Ottawa set up on the one-yard line and Crum cashed in for their first touchdown of the game. Ward hit the extra point, and Leone’s kickoff sailed over Travis Theis’s head for another, making it 19-11.
Montreal was quick to respond as Alexander hit Austin Mack twice for 33 yards to get into Ottawa’s territory before the Als pivot hit Letcher — taking on a larger role as a receiver with Charleston Rambo on the suspended list — for a 23-yard touchdown, the first receiving score of the return man’s career. Maltos stayed perfect with the extra point as the Als reclaimed their double-digit lead.
Ottawa would not go away as Shiltz got to work with an 11-play, 73-yard scoring drive. The REDBLACKS pivot connected with Justin Hardy early on a 20-yarder while narrowly avoiding pressure from a leaping Tyrice Beverette on the blitz, then finished the drive with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Bralon Addison — a sixth receiving score in his last five games including playoffs and Shiltz’s first in Ottawa threads. Ward knocked in the conversion to make it 26-18.
After another pair of punts in the fourth, Maltos added a 50-yard field goal, flexing his bicep as he hopped off the field with a 29-18 lead. He would add one more in the late stages to close out a career-high, six-field-goal game.
It was then Sutton’s turn to make a big play for Montreal’s defence. With Shiltz looking for Lewis on a slant, Shawn Oakman got his paw on the ball at the line, Sutton picked up the deflection, and he ran it back to the house to give the Als a commanding, 36-18 lead after the extra point. The American defensive back’s score is the second defensive touchdown for Montreal this season, with Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund returning a fumble for six in Week 1 against the Toronto Argonauts.
Ottawa pulled Shiltz and turned to Crum with the game out of hand, and time expired with a final score of 39-18 after Maltos’ last tally.
The Alouettes open Week 3 on the road in Edmonton against the Elks at Commonwealth Stadium on June 19, while the REDBLACKS take on the Calgary Stampeders on June 21 at McMahon Stadium.
