2023-09-16 03:56:00
SUMMARY
MONTREAL – An interception late in the game sank the Montreal Alouettes, who lost 23-20 to the Toronto Argonauts on Friday.
It was a 38-yard field goal from Boris Bede that sealed the outcome of this match, with 21 seconds to go.
This placement was made possible thanks to Adarius Pickett, who came to haunt his ex-teammates a few moments earlier. The linebacker came to jostle Cody Fajardo while the Alouettes (6-7) were well placed to take the lead late in this duel. Fajardo’s pass was greatly affected and lacked force, ending up in the hands of Jamal Peters.
The latter brought the ball back to the Birds’ 50 line. Two games later, Bede came to give the Argos the lead (11-1), who thus secured first place in the Eastern section.
“There was nothing left on that ball. It’s unfortunate that the ball went directly into the hands of their linebacker. That’s what’s so frustrating. If the ball jumps or goes higher, we are not in the same situation. But when you play once morest a good team, you have to play your best football every play,” said Fajardo, who had his face buried in his hands when reporters entered the locker room.
“I told him to keep his head up. He played a great second half. To do that following the kind of first half we played, it was excellent, said head coach Jason Maas. To lose a match like that, it clearly hurts. But he has to keep his head high, like everyone else in this locker room. We have lessons to learn from this match. We wanted to win a match once morest them. Now we have to move on to the next one. »
Damonte Coxie allowed the visitors to make it 20-20 with just under two minutes remaining on a 41-yard pass from Chad Kelly (21 in 35, 275 yards, one touchdown). The Argos’ offensive sequence lasted 13 seconds for 66 yards. AJ Ouellette scored the Argonauts’ other touchdown on a three-yard run.
Bede also made field goals of 47 and 16 yards.
Despite everything, the Alouettes had the opportunity to tie the score with five seconds left, but David Côté’s 45-yard field goal attempt was blocked by the Argos defense. Côté also missed the target from 54 yards, following successes from 33 and 16 yards.
Caleb Evans, on a one-yard sneak, and Tyson Philpot scored the Alouettes’ touchdowns.
Two-part match
The Alouettes’ attack went nowhere in the first half and yet, Montreal only returned to the locker room trailing 10-3.
After Bede gave a 10-point lead on his second field goal of the game, the Alouettes’ attack suddenly got going.
Fajardo completed all his passes in this third period to create a tie 13-13. This sequence continued until the start of the fourth quarter, when the Alouettes passer connected with Philpot on a 15-yard play for the major, making it 20-13.
We were also treated to the Philpot of sunny days. The receiver caught nine passes for 105 yards, certainly his best game this season.
“He was the star of the match tonight,” praised Maas. We hadn’t seen that from him this season. He played exactly like he played last year. He had a confidence, an efficiency that we hadn’t seen this season. If he starts playing like this regularly, we will benefit from it. »
“We play to win and we weren’t able to do that. We will find good things by looking at the tapes, but at the end of the day, it remains a defeat,” said Philpot.
In this heartbreaking loss, Austin Mack caught six passes for 45 yards, which allowed him to bring his total for the season to 1,016.
As for Fajardo, he completed 30 of his 39 passes for 274 yards, a touchdown and an interception, which appears on his record, but is not really his fault.
The Alouettes will have to quickly forget this failure, since they will return to the field on Tuesday to prepare for their clash in Alberta next Saturday, once morest the Calgary Stampeders.
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