Calgary Stampeders 18 Montreal Alouettes 30 (August 9, 2007)
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0 commentsAnthony Calvillo threw two touchdown passes to Ben Cahoon and moved into second place on the CFL's all-time completions list as the Montreal Alouettes extended their winning streak to three games Thursday with a 30-18 victory over the Calgary Stampeders.
Running back Jarrett Payton had a hot and cold game for the Alouettes (4-3), doubling his season total with 141 rushing yards on 19 carries with a touchdown but also losing two fumbles that led to 14 points for Calgary (3-4).
Cahoon had the 26th 100-yard receiving game of his career - setting a new team record - and caught the 50th and 51st touchdowns of his career in front of a sellout crowd of 20,202 at Percival Molson Stadium.
Stampeders quarterback Henry Burris had an erratic night, completing only 22 of 44 pass attempts for 276 yards, while running back Joffrey Reynolds was limited to 20 yards on only four carries for Calgary.
The lone bright spot for the Stampeders offense was receiver Ken-Yon Rambo, who had his first 100-yard receiving game of the season after sitting out last week's 34-32 win at Edmonton.
A nine-yard screen pass to Payton just over six minutes into the second quarter was the 3,641st completion of Calvillo's career, moving him alone into second place on the CFL's all-time list past Danny McManus. When Calvillo made the completion, he had 687 fewer pass attempts than McManus.
Calvillo finished with 308 passing yards on 24 of 29 passing.
The Alouettes offense welcomed back two key pieces as centre Brian Chiu came back after missing two games due to arthroscopic knee surgery and wide receiver Kerry Watkins ended a three-game absence with ankle and back ailments.
Watkins - Montreal's most dangerous deep threat - immediately made his presence felt when his 46-yard reception set up Brady's second quarter touchdown plunge. It was Montreal's longest play from scrimmage this season.
The Calgary offense, meanwhile, continuously shot itself in the foot, scrimmaging on two separate occasions with a first-and-goal inside the Als 3-yard line and coming away with only three points.
Trailing 23-11 in the fourth quarter, the Stampeders took advantage of some Als miscues to get back in the game. Payton's second fumble of the game was recovered by Brandon Browner at the Calgary 14-yard line, and the Stampeders used a 46-yard pass to Nik Lewis and an additional 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on Chip Cox to quickly get to the Als 25-yard line.
Burris eventually capped the drive with a one-yard sneak at 5:06 of the fourth to make it 23-18 Montreal.
But the Alouettes iced the game with a 10-play drive capped by Cahoon's second touchdown of the game, a 20-yard strike from Calvillo at 13:20 of the fourth that made it 30-18 Montreal.
After the teams traded singles in the first quarter, the Alouettes exploded for three touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 22-8 lead into halftime.
But it was the Stamps who got in the end zone first when Trey Young picked up a Payton fumble and ran it back 15 yards for a touchdown at 0:33 of the second quarter.
Montreal responded quickly, using a 46-yard Watkins reception to get to the Calgary 1 before backup quarterback Marcus Brady ran it in on a sneak to tie the game 8-8.
The Als next scoring drive lasted over six and a half minutes, extended by a fake punt play where Brady lined up as the punter and threw an 8-yard pass to Jeff Piercy. Calvillo capped it by throwing a low pass between two Calgary defenders to Cahoon for a 17-yard touchdown at 12:11 of the second.
Montreal went ahead 22-8 moments later when Payton broke loose for a 35-yard run before punching it in himself from eight yards out at 14:05.
The Stamps squandered a great chance to score before halftime when Burris got them down to the Als 3-yard line in the dying seconds, but he threw an incompletion before holder Brett Ralph bobbled the snap on the ensuing 11-yard field goal try.
Notes: Montreal has not had a 100-yard rusher in a game since Robert Edwards ran for 109 yards on Sep. 29, 2006 in Winnipeg. Calgary was missing injured defensive line starters Keron Williams and Anthony Gargiuloa.
courtesy cfl.ca
Date
August 9, 2007
