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- Sport
- CTV News
Elks lose home opener to Alouettes, drop to 0-2
Montreal Alouettes' Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund (91) tries to tackle Edmonton Elks quarterback Tre Ford (2) during first half CFL action in Edmonton, on Thursday June 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson The Montreal Alouettes are off to their traditional solid start. Tyson Philpot reeled in a pair of touchdown passes as the Alouettes remained perfect on the year with a 38-28 victory over the Edmonton Elks on Thursday. Montreal is 3-0 to start the current campaign, and 9-0 in June over the past three seasons. 'You want to win them all, I don't think we are conceding one. We prepare to win every week,' said Montreal head coach Jason Maas. 'The expectations are very high in our locker room. We are going to continue to grind and to work to get better and to make this start count. We've played three games and won them all and want to continue down that trend.' Quarterback Davis Alexander passed for 210 yards and three touchdowns before leaving the game in the third quarter with a hamstring injury. 'It's just something I've been dealing with for a little bit,' he said. 'It was kind of more cautionary to not go back into the game. We were up 24-6 going on a drive and we didn't necessarily need the risk there.' Edmonton is off to another poor start to the season, dropping to 0-2. The Elks were 0-7 to start last season and 0-9 in 2023. However, they did manage to score 22 points in the final quarter to offer some hope going forward. 'We have fight on our football team,' said Elks head coach Mark Kilam. 'We just got in a hole early, too many explosions on defence. That's on the coaching staff, we've got to get that cleaned up. 'Our offence took a step tonight, which is a positive, but we're still looking for that complete team effort.' The Elks struck on their opening drive as Vincent Blanchard kicked a 42-yard field goal, welcome news after missing both attempts in his team's first game. Montreal answered right back on its first possession as Alexander marched down the field before connecting with Philpot on a six-yard touchdown pass. The Alouettes added to their lead late in the first quarter as a 54-yard pass to Charleston Rambo set up a second strike to Philpot, this time a 13-yard TD reception. Edmonton got a second field goal from Blanchard, from 32 yards, six minutes into the second. Montreal almost had a third major after a long pass interference call against the Elks, but was forced to accept an 11-yard Jose Maltos field goal. The Alouettes continued to dominate with a 38-yard bomb from Alexander to a wide-open Tyler Snead in the end zone with two minutes to play in the first half. The Elks looked poised to cut into the lead just before the end of the first half but a long pass by starting quarterback Tre Ford into the end zone was intercepted by Kabion Ento to keep it 24-6. There was definite cause for concern midway through the third as Alexander clutched his thigh while running after delivering a ball and went down. He left the game and didn't return, with McLeod Bethel-Thompson coming in as his replacement. After a punt single, Montreal added a 26-yard Maltos field goal to close out the third. The Elks finally gave their crowd a reason to cheer to start the fourth as Ford took it in himself for an 18-yard rushing TD, adding a two-point convert pass to Justin Rankin. Maltos responded with his third field goal from 32 yards before Montreal added a 23-yard rushing major from Sean Thomas-Erlington. To its credit, Edmonton kept pushing as Ford found Kurleigh Gittens Jr. for a 33-yard touchdown with six minutes left and then went even deeper with a 51-yard TD bomb to Kaion Julien-Grant with 2:35 to play. Notes Alexander is now 7-0 as a starting QB, tying Jeff Garcia and Bo Levi Mitchell for the second-best starts in CFL history. Danny McManus holds the record with an 8-0 record to launch his career … Ford passed the 300-completion and 4,000-yard marks for his career. Up next Alouettes: Visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday, June 27. Elks: Are in Winnipeg to face the Blue Bombers on Thursday, June 26. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2025. Shane Jones, The Canadian Press
Ottawa Citizen
29-05-2025
- Sport
- Ottawa Citizen
Players on Alouettes roster bubble get final chance to impress coaches
Article content ST-JÉRÔME — The Alouettes' veteran players have done everything they could through nearly three weeks of training camp to ensure they'll remain with the team. Article content Now, it's up to the CFL rookies to show the coaches they should take a chance on them. Article content 'We've never been shy talking about the competition on this team,' Als head coach Jason Maas said. 'Every single position, every single player, has been told that since Day 1. We've told the vets: 'Don't you dare think that you've made it.' And told the rookies: 'Don't think you're out of it.' Article content Article content 'Every single guy needs to go on that field and feel he can make our team.' Article content Article content The Als play their final exhibition game Friday against the Ottawa Redblacks at TD Place (7 p.m., TSN4, RDS, TSN Radio-690, 98.5 FM). The teams played on Saturday in Montreal and, despite veterans playing throughout the first half, the Als were dreadful during a 23-7 defeat — at least on offence. Article content The optics have changed this week, with 37 veteran players not taking the two-hour bus ride to Ottawa. Article content One rookie battling for an Alouettes job is defensive-back Tiawan Mullen. The 5-foot-9, 182-pounder was Indiana University's outstanding defensive player in 2020. In 40 games, he intercepted five passes and forced four fumbles. He was a first-team all-American as a sophomore and spent 2023 with the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles. His brother, Trayvon, plays for Baltimore and he's a cousin of Ravens starting QB Lamar Jackson. Article content Article content 'I'm handling this game like any other day,' said the 24-year-old Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native. '(Wednesday) I had to buff the car. (Thursday) I'm able to polish it. Once I'm done polishing, the result is going to show on Friday.' Article content The car? 'A Ferrari,' Mullin said. Article content Although the Redblacks are playing at home, head coach Bob Dyce has elected not to dress 29 veterans, including starting quarterback Dru Brown, tailback William Stanback and receiver Eugene Lewis — the latter two former Alouettes. Matt Shiltz, who also played for Montreal, will start at QB. Article content Caleb Evans is scheduled to start at quarterback and is expected to play the first quarter, at least, before being replaced by James Morgan. Mirabel quarterback Jonathan Sénécal, a seventh-round draft choice this year from Université de Montréal, should play the fourth quarter in what will probably be the epilogue of his short-lived pro career.
