Winnipeg Blue Bombers 20 Montreal Alouettes 18 (July 19, 2007)
| 1
|
| |||
|
0 votes 
0 commentsTerrence Edwards and Charles Roberts scored the game's first touchdowns in the fourth quarter for Winnipeg and Tom Canada made a key sack to preserve a 20-18 Blue Bombers win over the sputtering Montreal Alouettes on Thursday night.
Winnipeg (2-1-1) beat Montreal (1-3) for the second time this season.
Bombers receiver Milt Stegall remained stalled at 137 career touchdowns, failing in his third bid to pass running backs George Reed and Mike Pringle for the all-time CFL record.
Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo passed Ron Lancaster to move into third place on the CFL's all-time passing yardage list one week after he became the fourth quarterback in history to pass the 50,000 yard mark in front of a sellout crowd of 20,202 at Percival Molson Stadium.
Calvillo was unable to lead Montreal into the end zone until there was less than two minutes to play, and he rolled into a Canada sack on the two-point convert try that would have tied the game.
The Bombers trailed 12-6 going into the fourth quarter and scored the game's first touchdown to take their first lead. They got good field position on the go-ahead drive thanks to a 15-yard no yards penalty on Montreal's Patrick Dorvelus.
Quarterback Kevin Glenn found Charles Roberts on a beautifully timed 23-yard screen play to get the ball to the Als 41 on the final play of the third quarter. On the first play of the fourth, Edwards sprinted downfield and was left open when Chip Cox fell, making him an easy target for Glenn on a 41-yard scoring play to make it 13-12 for the Bombers.
On the next possession, Calvillo completed four passes to four different receivers to get Montreal to the Winnipeg 2. Running back Robert Edwards was stuffed for no gain on first down and backup quarterback Marcus Brady gained one yard on a sneak play. A field goal would have given Montreal the lead, but head coach Jim Popp elected to go for it, and Edwards was stopped just outside the goal-line on third down to give Winnipeg the ball back.
The Bombers, scrimmaging from their own 1, were led by Glenn on a 109-yard march in just under four minutes, capping the impressive drive with a 16-yard run by Roberts at 9:29 of the fourth to make it 20-12.
The Alouettes still had a chance to tie the game on their subsequent drive when Calvillo found Ashlan Davis on a short crossing route that turned into a 30-yard touchdown play at 13:14 of the fourth to make it 20-18.
On the two-point conversion attempt, Calvillo rolled to his right - directly into the arms of Canada, who smothered both him and the Als chances for a comeback.
Neither team could put together a sustained drive in the first half. Four field goals and two singles accounting for all the scoring.
The Als got three on the board on their first two drives. Damon Duval connected from 48 yards at 3:46 and from 32 yards at 10:00. The Bombers, meanwhile, went two-and-out on their first three drives.
Singles of 53 and 46 yards by Rob Pikula got Winnipeg on the board, and Troy Westwood connected from 42 yards out at 12:44 of the second to make it 6-5 for the Als.
Duval hit a field goal from 40 yards at 14:10 to give Montreal a 9-5 lead going into halftime.
The kicking display continued into the third quarter as Duval kicked a 14-yarder to make it 12-5 at 8:46 after Montreal failed to get in the end zone on first-and-goal from the 2. Pikula added his third single of the game from 63 yards away at 11:51 to narrow the Bombers gap to 12-6.
Notes: Both teams were missing key pieces of their defence. Blue Bombers leading pass rusher Gavin Walls missed his first game in three years with a shoulder injury, while Alouettes linebacker and defensive captain Timothy Strickland was out with a hamstring injury . . . Montreal was also without receiver Kerry Watkins (ankle), starting left guard Paul Lambert (knee), and centre Brian Chiu left the game in the third quarter with an undisclosed injury . . . Calvillo was honoured prior to the game for becoming the fourth quarterback in CFL history to pass the 50,000 yard mark in his career, a milestone he reached in last week's 29-20 win at Hamilton. Calvillo, at age 35, became the youngest quarterback to reach the mark . . . Referee Glen Johnson worked his 300th career CFL game.
courtesy of cfl.ca
Date
July 19, 2007
