Le ROUGE et NOIR terminent une saison parfaite par une victoire sur les Alouettes

The Ottawa REDBLACKS closed out the preseason schedule on Friday night, taking down the Montreal Alouettes 19-13.

The first half saw little in the way of scoring, although the REDBLACKS’ offence did effectively move the ball for 206 yards. Kicker, Lewis Ward connected on a pair of field goal opportunities, from 52 and 35 yards out respectively, while the defending Grey Cup champions responded with a make of their own early in the second quarter.

In a defensive stalemate, the Head Coach Bob Dyce elected to trot his starters back on the field for the third quarter. The Als tied the game on a José Maltos field goal, but on the next defensive drive, the REDBLACKS had an answer.

Montreal pivot James Morgan dropped back to pass, but an alert play from linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox to get his hands up and deflect the ball led to an interception for defensive back, Tobias Harris. The Pflugerville, Texas native has been used primarily as a kick returner in his time in Ottawa, and it showed, running it back 101 yards for Ottawa’s first major of the night.

A quick stop on defence got the ball back for the home side, and the REDBLACKS put together yet another field goal drive, to extend their lead to 13-6.

That called the end of the day for many of the starters. Dru Brown, who started at quarterback, finished the night having gone 20 of 33 for 247 yards, and Kalil Pimpleton and Bralon Addison stood out with 83, and 64 receiving yards respectively.

Now led by Dustin Crum, the REDBLACKS put together a 40-yard drive, which stalled out at the Montreal 10-yard line. Ward converted his fourth kick of the night, ending the evening four-for-six.

Late in the contest, with Ottawa trying to ice the game away, Morgan plunged into the endzone on a quarterback sneak, closing the gap to six points, but that’s as close as Montreal would get, and the REDBLACKS flew away with their second win on the preseason.

Ottawa will view the opening week of CFL action from the comfort of home with their Week 1 bye, before returning to TD Place for their home opener on June 13th, when they take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.