Tiger-Cats 34 Alouettes 26
Kevin Glenn threw two touchdown passes to Dave Stala to lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to a tense 34-26 win over the Montreal Alouettes on Friday night.
After hooking up in the first half, Glenn hit a wide-open Stala on a 58-yard scoring strike at 11:31 of the fourth to put Hamilton ahead 33-19. That thrilled the Ivor Wynne Stadium gathering of 24,068 on a brilliant summer evening.
But it was an anxious finish as Montreal countered with Dahrran Diedrick’s one-yard TD run with 1:04 remaining. It came after Anthony Calvillo’s apparent six-yard touchdown pass to Brian Bratton was overturned by replay but a Hamilton interference penalty put the ball at the one-yard line.
However, the comeback bid ended when Hamilton recovered the onside kick attempt with 1:01 to play.
Hamilton (3-2) earned its third straight win while Montreal (3-2) suffered its second consecutive defeat.
The contest was Hamilton tailback Avon Cobourne’s first against his former team. Cobourne spent five seasons with Montreal, helping the team win two straight Grey Cup titles but left in the off-season as a free agent after the Als wouldn’t make him the CFL’s top paid running back.
Cobourne didn’t score against his former team, but figured prominently in Hamilton’s opening TD. His 38-yard reception in the first quarter put the Ticats at the Montreal four-yard line and set up Quinton Porter’s scoring run the next play.
Montreal was its own worst enemy in the third when John Bowman returned a Hamilton fumble 27 yards, only to have it called back due to an illegal block call that led to a Ticats’ field goal for a 20-13 lead.
And twice Montreal mounted drives exceeding 80 yards but had to settle for field goals. And on another occasion, the Als held the ball for 11 plays but again could only register three points.
Hamilton’s Justin Medlock kicked three converts, three field goals and two singles. The other points came on a safety.
Jamel Richardson scored Montreal’s touchdown. Sean Whyte added four field goals and two converts.
Richardson’s eight-yard TD catch at 14:00 of the second cut Hamilton’s half-time advantage to 17-13 in an arduous opening 30 minutes that featured six fumbles (two lost), 21 combined incompletions and 16 combined penalties.
And while Richardson’s reception capped a five-play, 75-yard drive, it was one kept alive when a Hamilton fumble recovery was nullified by penalty.
Hamilton converted a Montreal turnover into Stala’s 11-yard TD catch at 12:58. It was set up by Jason Shivers’ recovery of S.J. Green’s fumble at the Alouettes’ 33-yard line following a 15-yard catch.