Alouettes clinch home playoff date with win over Ottawa

09/21/2024 05:09 PM

OTTAWA — The Montreal Alouettes have clinched a home playoff date with their win over Ottawa REDBLACKS on Saturday afternoon.

With the Toronto Argonauts losing to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday night, all Montreal had to do was win their Week 16 contest to clinch a home playoff date. Their 24-12 victory over the REDBLACKS at TD Place means that the Alouettes will host either the Eastern Final or the Eastern Semi-Final in November.

Montreal defensive back Dionté Ruffin scored a pick-six in the first quarter of the contest, the first of two interceptions for the Als’ defence on the afternoon. Linebacker Geoffrey Cantin-Arku hauled in the other pick for the visiting team.

Cody Fajardo scored a touchdown on the ground in the victory as well. Fajardo connected on 16 of 27 passes for 226 yards. Kicker Jose Maltos was good on all three of his field goal attempts.

Dru Brown started the contest for Ottawa, but left in the second quarter with an ankle injury. Prior to his exit, Brown connected on eight of 16 passes for 69 yards and two interceptions.

Jeremiah Masoli replaced Brown and threw 218 yards and a touchdown to Justin Hardy (nine passes for 117 yards) in the losing effort.

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Ottawa started their opening drive using their running back Khalan Laborn on back-to-back running plays followed by a four-yard catch out of the back field. On second down, Montreal’s Mustafa Johnson batted down Brown’s pass at the line of scrimmage, bringing up a punting situation for the home team. The REDBLACKS defence did their job on the ensuing drive, holding Montreal to a two-and-out.

Alouettes defensive back Dionté Ruffin scored the first points of the game on the next drive, picking off a Dru Brown pass on second-and-five and returning it 79 yards to the end zone. With the completed convert, the Als took a 7-0 lead about five minutes into the contest.

Brown went back to work after the pick-six and started moving the chains. A few plays into the drive, Brown found Justin Hardy for a gain of 20 to bring his team down to Montreal’s 35-yard line. Montreal’s defence didn’t allow them to do much else though, picking off Brown for the second time in the first quarter. This time it was rookie linebacker Geoffrey Cantin-Arku who pulled in the interception on second-and-nine. Montreal couldn’t capitalize on the turnover, however, and had to punt the ball away after a two-and-out.

Starting on their own 51-yard line, the REDBLACKS moved down the field into the red zone, but they had to settle for a field goal attempt to cap off the drive. Lewis Ward connected on his 18-yard boot, cutting Montreal’s lead to 7-3 with a minute and half left in the frame.

A Joseph Zema punt into the end zone to start the second frame added a single point to the Als’ lead (8-3) before the teams traded two-and-outs on the next three possessions.

With Montreal’s offence at Ottawa’s 47-yard line, Fajardo took a deep shot looking for Tyler Snead and defensive back Alijah McGee was called for defensive pass interference. Ottawa’s head coach Bob Dyce challenged the play but it was unsuccessful. The penalty brought the Als down to Ottawa’s 20. A few plays later, the Alouettes scored their first offensive points of the ball game with Fajardo plunging into the end zone for the one-yard score. Jose Maltos missed the extra point and Montreal’s lead was 14-3 with seven minutes left in the half.

After a REDBLACKS two-and-out, Fajardo aired it out to Charleston Rambo on the first play of their possession for a gain of 53 yards. Fajardo looked for Snead on second down in the end zone but it was incomplete. Montreal’s head coach Jason Maas challenged that there was defensive pass interference on Bennett Williams, but it was unsuccessful and brought up third down. Maltos connected on his 17-yard field goal attempt increasing his team’s lead to 17-3 with 4:08 on the clock.

Jeremiah Masoli replaced Brown, who left with an ankle injury, at quarterback when Ottawa’s offence hit the field on their next possession. He led the offence into field goal range where Ward set up for a 44-yard attempt. His kick went through the uprights, cutting Montreal’s lead to 17-6 with just over two minutes remaining in the half.

In the dying seconds of the second quarter, Walter Fletcher‘s 22-yard catch-and-run brought his team down to the Ottawa three-yard line. After a quarterback draw that was met in the hole by linebacker Tyron Vrede, the Als elected to kick a field goal. Maltos hit his 13-yard attempt to increase Montreal’s lead to 20-6 at halftime.

The first point of the second half was about six minutes into the third frame as Zema tallied his second rouge of the contest by punting into the end zone. That single increased the Als lead to 21-6.

On the ensuing drive, Ottawa scored their first touchdown of the contest as Masoli found Hardy for a 25-yard score. The REDBLACKS decided to go for two, but it was unsuccessful. With the major, Ottawa cut Montreal’s lead to 21-12 with six and a half minutes left in the quarter.

As the fourth quarter began, the Als defence continued to stand tall, forcing the REDBLACKS to punt the ball away as the home team was trying to start their comeback. Then Montreal’s special teams did their job, as a 60-yard return from James Letcher Jr. set Montreal up at Ottawa’s 28-yard line. The REDBLACKS defence did their jobs, too, holding Montreal to a field goal attempt. Maltos was good on his 31-yarder, increasing his team’s lead to 24-12 with 9:22 on the clock.

After an incompletion in the end zone on second down, Masoli looking to connect with Rhymes on the play, the REDBLACKS went for it on third down. Laborn dropped the pass thrown his way turning the ball over on downs, the team’s third turnover of the contest.

There would be no more scoring in the game as the Alouettes defence held off any Ottawa attempts at a comeback.

Next up for the REDBLACKS is a trip to Saskatchewan to take on the Roughriders next Saturday afternoon while the Alouettes head to Toronto to take on the Argonauts on Saturday night.