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Ticats push Alouettes but come up short

The Montreal Alouettes remain undefeated, but now they know they have a dangerous rival in the CFL East Division in the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Quinton Porter; Anwar Stewart;
Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Quinton Porter is sacked by Montreal Alouette Anwar Stewart Thursday. Montreal won 21-8.

Alouettes 21 Tiger-Cats 8

MONTREAL — The Montreal Alouettes remain undefeated, but now they know they have a dangerous rival in the CFL East Division in the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Anthony Calvillo passed for 404 yards with touchdown tosses to Jamel Richardson and Brian Bratton to lead the Alouettes to a 21-8 victory over the Tiger-Cats that was closer than the score indicated on Thursday night.

Damon Duval added two field goals and single for Montreal (4-0), which laboured to score for the first time this season after averaging 44.3 points per game through their first three contests.

“We knew there’d be resistance tonight,” Montreal coach Marc Trestman said. “Everyone has this picture of how things are going to turn out, but the fact is you have to play the game and this was a highly competitive game.”

The TD passes gave Calvilllo 335 in his career, moving past Saskatchewan great Ron Lancaster into second place all-time behind Damon Allen, who had 394 in 23 seasons. His 48-yard TD toss to Richardson in the second quarter got the milestone and earned a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 20,202.

Nick Setta had two early field goals for Hamilton (2-2), which was held to only a safety in the fourth quarter by a Montreal defence that has allowed only 61 points in four games.

The Ticats, who won only three games all of last season, wasted a chance to tie Montreal for first in the division, but showed that big wins in the early season over British Columbia and Winnipeg were no flukes.

“We know we’re a good team — that’s one thing we can take from this,” said Ticats quarterback Quinton Porter.

For a second week in a row, Kevin Glenn relieved Porter in the second half and had more success than the starter in moving the ball forward although, unlike a week ago against Winnipeg, failed to score any TDs and pull off a comeback win.

“They get good pressure on the quarterback and they play a tight man-to-man (on pass coverage),” said Porter. “That’s something we have to get better at.”

Coach Marcel Bellefeuille said he and his staff will review film of the game and decide early next week whether Porter or Glenn will start a home game July 31 against British Columbia. Together, they completed 24 passes for a healthy 353 yards. Porter had 155 passing yards and Glenn had 198.