Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
The Montreal Alouettes exploited a depleted Saskatchewan Roughriders secondary on Saturday night.
In front of an announced attendance of 26,951 on a rainy Saturday at Mosaic Stadium in Week 15 of the CFL season, the Alouettes (6-7) snapped a five-game losing skid with a 48-31 win over the Roughriders, who fell to 10-3.
After being listed as game-time decisions due to injuries, Roughriders cornerbacks Tevaughn Campbell and Marcus Sayles were both ruled out prior to kickoff and the Alouettes picked on their replacements, Kerfalla Exume and Benny Sapp III, who were both making their first starts.
Montreal quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson threw for 379 yards, with 238 of those yards and two touchdowns caught by receiver Tyson Philpot, who was routinely being covered by Exume.
“I know what it looks like guys, but they should have had some help in some situations,” said Roughriders head coach Corey Mace. “And we just had some mental busts.
“But again, I don’t want to take anything away from what those guys did. Heck of players, great play calls. But, yeah, some were earned, some weren’t.
“Our personnel, our scouting department, our coaches, the players, we do so much to make sure that we’ve got belief in everybody in the room. The standard will never change; doesn’t matter who’s out there.
“Not good enough, obviously. But that’s not an excuse. If there was mental busts, which I know there was, we’ve got to coach it better.
“So no excuse. We’ve got to be better than that.”
The Roughriders also gave up 125 rushing yards to Alouettes tailback Stevie Scott III, while former Rider quarterback Shea Patterson plunged in for two rushing touchdowns on quarterback sneaks.
On the other side, Saskatchewan’s offence failed to get it going early as they had just one touchdown in the first half while the Alouettes built up a 28-10 lead at the break.
“We’re making a habit of not starting well, and it’s got to stop,” said Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris, who finished the game 23 of 32 for 252 yards with one touchdown and one interception. “It’s not a big issue, but I do think it’s something that we need to address in the bye week, because it’s becoming a little bit too much of a habit for us.
“We’ve got to be able to come out of the gates and be better.”
Despite the loss, the Roughriders clinched a playoff spot on Saturday. With Winnipeg and Edmonton both losing this week, Saskatchewan officially secured a postseason berth prior to kickoff. The Roughriders now head into their third and final bye week of the season before returning to action Sept. 27 against the Edmonton Elks.
“That room is pissed off,” said Mace. “I’m pissed off because we didn’t do things the way we wanted to do.
“I think the timing for us is good for the bye, but to just remind those guys you’ve got to prove this every week. I don’t care who it is; if you don’t come with it, you’re going to be in for a long night — and we were tonight.
“You go out into a bye week with something like this, I’m telling you that sucks … Guys are going to be eager to come back, so looking forward to that.”
After the Alouettes opened the scoring with a 52-yard field goal by Jose Maltos Diaz on the opening drive of the game, Saskatchewan tied it on their first drive as Brett Lauther kicked a 46-yard field goal to make it 3-3.
On Montreal’s second drive of the game, the Alouettes went back on top 10-3 as Bethel-Thompson found a wide-open Philpot.
On the next drive, the Roughriders gave the ball right back to the Alouettes as Harris was intercepted by Montreal defensive back Wesley Sutton, who was originally called for pass interference on the play before a successful challenge by the Alouettes overturned the original call.
However, the turnover didn’t cost the Riders as Maltos Diaz hit the upright on his 54-yard field goal attempt.
On Saskatchewan’s third drive of the game, the Green and White turned it over once again as backup quarterback Tommy Stevens fumbled the ball a third-and-one attempt.
On the next play, Bethel-Thompson exploited Exume once again as he found an open Philpot for a 39-yard gain to get into scoring position.
“He put the ball out there and they went and got it,” said Mace. “They did some good stuff, no doubt. But nothing which we can’t identify and execute.
“We just didn’t execute tonight.”
A few plays later, Patterson punched it in on a sneak from the one-yard line to make it 17-3 with the convert early in the second quarter.
After a punt by Saskatchewan, the Alouettes tacked on a single point as Maltos Diaz missed a 46-yard field goal through the back of the end zone to make it 18-3.
The Roughriders offence then came alive on their first drive of the game with six minutes left in the half as Harris hit Ajou Ajou — who had a team-high 95 receiving yards on eight catches — over the middle for a 26-yard gain before connecting with KeeSean Johnson on a 38-yard touchdown strike to cut the lead to 18-10.
Montreal added a 47-yard field goal on their next drive to make it 21-10 before adding a touchdown on their next series with 20 seconds left in the half as Bethel-Thompson found an open Philpot in the corner of the end zone for a 16-yard score to make it 28-10 at the half.
After another Alouettes field goal to make it 31-10, the Roughriders offence cut into the lead making it 31-17, as Stevens plunged in from one yard out after a 10-play, 63-yard drive highlighted by a 27-yard pass from Harris to Tommy Nield on a third-down gamble near midfield.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Alouettes extended their lead. After Bethel-Thompson connected with Philpot for a 77-yards gain, Patterson punched in his second touchdown of the night to make it 38-17 with the convert.
“They found us in situations that he was able to go up one-on-one (and) he came down with it,” Mace said of Philpot. “He’s a heck of a player, so I don’t want to take any credit away from him but certainly we could have done a better job with some of our details and not making it look so easy.”
Down by 21, the Roughriders put together an 11-play, 69-yard drive capped off by A.J. Ouellette — who had 90 yards on 16 carries — plunging into the end zone from one yard out to make it 38-24 with 8:50 left.
On Montreal’s next drive, the Alouettes extended their lead with a touchdown drive of their own as receiver Tyler Snead fumbled the ball into the end zone before offensive lineman Donny Ventrelli recovered it for the score to make it 45-24.
From there, Riders backup quarterback Jake Maier came into the game for Harris and proceeded to hit Dhel Duncan-Busby for a 27-yard gain before connecting with Dohnte Meyers over the middle for a 47-yard touchdown pass to make it 45-31.
The Alouettes added a field goal with 1:38 to make it a 48-31 final score.
“Today just seemed like the hole was a little bit too big for us to kind of climb out,” said Harris. “I was proud of us for scrapping throughout the second half.
“There’s no quit in this team; no quit in this locker room. And there was full belief that we that game and shoot, we just can’t dig ourselves in a hole early.
“The fact of matter is, we’re 13 games in (and) we’re 10-3. We’re sitting at top of the West and we control our own destiny of where we end through the rest of the season.
“And so how we respond to this is really the most important thing.”
tshire@postmedia.com
