MONTREAL — A single point from a failed field goal was enough to give the Toronto Argonauts a 24-23 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday in a CFL game at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium.
The result means the Argonauts clinched first place in the East Division and home-court advantage in the playoffs.
“Now we can regain our health. We needed that goodbye and some guys back,” Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie said. “We wanted to win the East obviously, but it was essential to do it this week and not wait until next week.”
Toronto’s McLeod Bethel-Thompson (11-6) threw for 240 yards and two touchdowns and had one interception.
Trevor Harris led Montreal (8-9) with 413 passing yards and two touchdowns in the tough loss.
The Alouettes had great success in the air on their first practice, gaining 52 yards in just three plays and finding themselves on the Toronto 15-yard line.
All progress would be undone when Montreal bet on the third down. They returned the ball when Harris’ pass was intercepted by Jonathan Jones.
After a three-and-out from Toronto, Montreal once again found themselves in a third-down situation but were one yard from the end zone this time. They chose to go again and found themselves empty for the second time in as many red zone drives.
“I have no regrets making those calls,” said Alouettes head coach Danny Maciocia. “Making a basket on the one-yard line in the first quarter, I’m not going to do that.”
From their own one-yard line, the Argonauts roared the field, covering 109 yards in just seven plays.
They would cap it all off by scoring the first touchdown of the game with just over four minutes left in the first quarter. Bethel-Thompson found Markeith Ambles two yards away.
With just under four minutes to go at halftime, Montreal finally got its first points on the board. A catch and 50-yard run from Jake Wieneke set up a 42-yard field goal from David Côté, making it 7-3 at halftime.
Toronto started the second half by returning the opening kickoff from 59 yards, then taking advantage of weak coverage in Montreal’s secondary to score its second touchdown of the game.
Kurleigh Gittens Jr. lost his marker after receiving a pass at the 13-yard line and wandering into the end zone. Montreal responded immediately with another field goal from Côté at 26 yards.
“We had some good things (in the first half) but we just couldn’t finish. We made adjustments at half time and I felt good about the way we were playing towards the end,” Dinwiddie said. “(Montreal) did a good job, they had a lot of different covers that we hadn’t seen yet.”
After trading unsuccessful possessions, Montreal found the end zone for the first time in the game. After making his way to the Toronto 12-yard line, Harris spotted an open Wieneke who waltzed in for the touchdown, closing the gap to three.
Just one play later, Bethel-Thompson’s misguided bombshell found the waiting arms of Marc-Antoine Dequoy, breathing new life into the Alouettes’ offense.
The possession would give Côté his third field goal of the game, tying the game 16-16 after a 47-yard conversion.
In the ensuing practice, a series of penalties brought Toronto to the Montreal one-yard line. Chad Kelly was right when the quarterback slipped the ball, allowing the Alouettes to tie the game.
As Montreal marched down the field, Harris came to life, finding receivers every time he backed up. They completed the comeback when Eugene Lewis’ diving catch tied things up.
With 34 seconds on the clock, Toronto now had the crucial task of stepping onto the court and setting up a game-winning field goal attempt for Boris Bede.
“We believed in each other, the coach made good play choices and we executed,” Gittens said. “It’s all you can ask for and now we have that weight on our shoulders.”
As Bede missed the kick, the single point was enough to give the Argonauts the win with no time left on the clock.
The second leg of the home-and-away game will take place on October 29 at BMO Field.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on October 22, 2022.
#Argonautes #claim #place #East #win #Alouettes #TSN.ca