Jul 25 Montreal Alouettes Lose Another Heartbreaker To The BC Lions 36-34

The Montreal Alouettes went into Vancouver Friday night wanting to accomplish something that they have not been able to do since Y2K; Beat the BC Lions on their own home turf. They'll have to wait until next year.

After a rather heartbreaking loss to Saskatchewan last week, the 2-2 Alouettes saw themselves playing another game where they were dominant in the 1st half and then let the opposition catch up and overtake them in the second, as was the case when they went head to head against the Roughriders.

While the Lions scored 1st with a field goal, the Alouettes, came back with an impressive sequence with Avon Cobourne showing the competition that the Als could, in fact run the ball. He and QB Anthony Calvillo collaborated on 2 running plays that got the ball to the 1 which eventually resulted in a touchdown. On the Als' next possession, the Als' offence, known to be explosive in the 1st half, went at it again when Calvillo threw an 8 yard pass to Kerry Watkins. Kicker Damon Duval missed the extra point attempt but in the ensuing kickoff, the Als were able to get the point on a convert as BC was forced to take a knee in their end zone.

It was a rough first half for the Lions who got into penalty trouble often which broke up any momentum they ever tried to mount. One such penalty resulted in a missed possession opportunity when SB Bret Anderson roughed Damon Duval as he was kicking the ball off to BC.

Montreal's defence was also hard at work in the first, keeping the BC offence at bay. The Lions would have to settle for 2 field-goals in the first half,as any sequences that showed some promise were eventually thwarted by Montreal's D.

Montreal would come out strong initially in the 2nd half with a 9 play sequence that ended with a Brian Bratton TD catch making the score 24-6. Montreal, however, would give BC a break when they fumbled the ball and in the ensuing sequence got into some penalty trouble of their own when Davis Sanchez flagrantly interfered with Paris Jackson as he was attempting a catch in the end zone. this moved the ball to Montreal's 3 and the Lions had no trouble converting for the touchdown. This cut Montreal's lead to 8 towards the end of the 3rd. Montreal stormed right back on their next possession and added 3 more points via Damon Duval's foot after an impressive couple of catches by Ben Cahoon to bring the Als within striking distance for Duval.

The Lions, however had no plans to quit and upon receiving the kickoff, former Alouette, Ian Smart ran the ball back 92 yards for an impressive touchdown, chipping the Als lead away to get within 4. This spark ignited the Lions' offence who until this point seemed rather tame. In the same token, the Als, defence was caught napping and the Lions overtook the lead with a  collaboration by the Jacksons, seeing Jarius throw a 43 yard spiral to Paris for the go ahead TD.

Reminiscent of last weeks back and forth scoring, the Als were determined to take back the lead and on the very next possession, Calvillo found Brian Bratton streaking away from his coverage and Bratton ran 75 yards for a TD. The score was now 34-30 in Montreal's favor. The Lions would add another field goal to come within one, but any chance of the Als adding to their score was cut short by another late game interception throw by Anthony Calvillo. This interception was his second of the night, both caught by former Al Barron Miles. The Lions would storm through on an aggressive possession putting them within field goal distance and got the 3 points putting them up 36-34 with only a few seconds left in the game, but not enough to allow Montreal to mount a comeback.

If you are a football fan, the Als' last 2 games have been great from an entertainment perspective. If you are solely an Als fan, you must be asking yourself what they have to do to take their 1st half dominance into the 2nd and win a game as they now fall 2-3 after having won their first 2 games.

Tags: BC Lions \ cfl \ game \ lose \ Montreal Alouettes