CFL: The Alouettes lost 23-20 to the Toronto Argonauts

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MONTREAL – A late-game interception stunned the Montreal Alouettes, who lost 23-20 to the Toronto Argonauts on Friday.

It was a 38-yard field goal from Boris Bede that decided the outcome of this game with 21 seconds left.

This placement was made possible thanks to Adarius Pickett, who had come to haunt his former teammates a few moments before. The linebacker came out to crowd Cody Fajardo as the Alouettes (6-7) were well positioned to take the lead late in this duel. Fajardo’s pass was greatly affected and lacked power, ending up in the hands of Jamal Peters.

The latter returned the ball to the Birds’ 50. Two games later, Peddie came through to give the Argos the lead (11-1), thus clinching first place in the East Division.

“There was nothing left on that ball. It’s unfortunate that the ball went straight into the fullback’s hands. That’s what’s so frustrating. If the ball jumps or goes higher, we’re not in the same position,” said Fajardo, who buried his face in his hands as reporters entered the locker room. Clothes: “We buried his face in his hands when the reporters entered the dressing room. But when you play against a good team, you have to give your best in every match.”

“I told him to keep his head up. He played a great second half. To do that after the first half was excellent,” coach Jason Maas said. Obviously losing a game like that hurts. But he has to keep his head up, like any “Another person in this locker room. We have lessons to learn from this match. We wanted to win the match against them. Now we have to move on to the next stage.”

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 of 35, 275 yards, one touchdown). The Argos’ offensive sequence lasted 13 seconds for 66 yards. AJ Ouellette scored the other Argonauts goal on a three-yard run.

Bede also made field goals of 47 and 16 yards.

Despite everything, the Alouettes had a chance to tie the score with five seconds left, but David Côté’s 45-yard field goal attempt was blocked by the Argos defense. Coote also missed the target from 54 yards after successes from 33 and 16 yards.

Caleb Evans, on a one-yard sneak, and Tyson Philpott scored for the Alouettes.

Two-part match

The Alouettes’ offense went nowhere in the first half, however, as Montreal returned to the locker room trailing 10-3.

After Bede took a 10-point lead on his second field goal of the game, the Alouettes’ offense suddenly took off.

Fajardo completed all of his passes in that third period to tie the game 13-13. This sequence continued until the start of the fourth quarter, when an Alouette passer connected with Philpott on a 15-yard TD play, making the score 20-13.

We also dealt with Philpot on sunny days. The receiver caught nine passes for 105 yards, definitely his best game of the season.

“He was the star of the game tonight,” Mas praised. We haven’t seen that from him this season. He played exactly like he did last year. He had confidence and quality that we haven’t seen this season. If he starts playing like this regularly, we will benefit from him. »

“We play to win and we couldn’t do that. We’ll find good things by looking at the tape, but at the end of the day, it’s still a defeat,” Philpott said.

In this heartbreaking loss, Austin Mack caught six passes for 45 yards, allowing him to bring his passing total for the season to 1,016.

As for Fajardo, he completed 30 of 39 passes for 274 yards, a touchdown and an interception, which shows on his record, but it’s not really his fault.

The Alouettes will have to quickly forget this failure, as they will return to the field on Tuesday to prepare for their match in Alberta next Saturday, against the Calgary Stampeders.