THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL -- Anthony Calvillo looks like he'll be alright, but the same can't necessarily be said for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats diminishing playoff hopes.

Calvillo threw two touchdown passes before leaving the game with tightening in his calf midway through the third quarter and the Montreal Alouettes hung on to down the struggling Tiger-Cats 41-38 on Sunday afternoon.

"I haven't had a calf injury in a while," said Calvillo, who completed 14 of 18 passes for 232 yards in just over two quarters of work. "But we have good trainers here, they'll look after me, and it shouldn't be a problem."

Kerry Watkins had 102 yards receiving to pass the 1,000-yard mark for a fifth straight year and caught a touchdown pass for the Alouettes (13-2), who also got touchdowns from Ben Cahoon, Avon Cobourne, Jamel Richardson and rookie Michael Giffin.

Second-year backup Adrian McPherson was efficient replacing Calvillo, completing 10 of 11 passes for 110 yards, and he orchestrated what turned out to be the winning touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter to ice the victory.

"It was great to get out there and get a chance to throw the ball around a little bit," McPherson said. "Most importantly, I wanted to show the coaches they can have confidence in me should anything ever happen. The offensive line did a great job of protecting me and the receivers did a great job of making plays. I thought it was fairly easy for me to get the guys a chance to make plays, and they did."

Hamilton (6-9) had a prolific day offensively with 579 yards gained, shredding the Alouettes league-leading defence, but the Tiger-Cats had to settle for Nick Setta field goals three times in the second half.

Despite the encouraging signs from the offence, Hamilton head coach Marcel Bellefeuille couldn't help being disappointed with the bigger picture as the Tiger-Cats lost their fourth straight and continue fighting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for second in the East Division.

The Tiger-Cats play in Toronto on Friday then host Saskatchewan before finishing the season in Winnipeg on Nov. 8.

"As much as I want confidence, we need points in the standings if we want to make the playoffs, and that overshadows the other part of it," Bellefeuille said. "There were a lot of positives here tonight, and hopefully it's enough because we're going to need to win a few ball games down the stretch."

Kevin Glenn, making only his fourth start of the season for Hamilton, had a career-high 506 yards on 29-of-44 passing and threw two touchdown passes to Marquay McDaniel and another to Arland Bruce.

"We had a good game plan and we came out and executed it, but we didn't get the win," Glenn said. "The bottom line is that we didn't get the win."

The game turned toward the end of the first half when, with Hamilton driving toward the Montreal end zone looking to build on a 15-14 lead, McDaniel had the ball stripped by Als linebacker Chip Cox. Jerome Brown picked up the fumble at his own 7-yard line and ran it back 93 yards to the Hamilton 10.

Two plays later, Cobourne plunged into the end zone to give Montreal a 21-15 halftime lead instead of facing a 22-14 deficit.

"I should have just covered up and put two hands on it," McDaniel said. "(The difference) was probably that turnover. I had one, they had none."

Montreal opened the second half with a five-play, 65-yard drive capped by a 9-yard touchdown for Cahoon, only his second of the season, to extend the lead to 28-15 at 3:17 of the third.

McPherson came in for Calvillo midway through the third quarter, setting off a battle of field goals. Montreal's Damon Duval kicked two from 42 and 18 yards, while Hamilton's Setta booted three from 44, 24 and 12 yards to make it 34-24 with just under 10 minutes to play. Both short Setta field goals came after McDaniel then Bruce dropped passes on the Montreal goal line.

"One time I don't have a problem with that, when the receiver is pulled and grabbed, you're not going to make that play," Bellefeuille said of McDaniel's drop. "The second time we had a chance on first down but had a ball dropped. It could have made the difference, but in the end if we keep them off the scoreboard a little more then 38 (points) would have been enough."

McDaniel redeemed himself by catching a 14-yard touchdown pass from Glenn at 8:37 of the fourth to make it 34-31 Montreal.

McPherson then led the Alouettes down the field, helped largely by a pass interference penalty on Hamilton halfback Chris Thompson to give Montreal the ball at the Hamilton 10-yard line. McPherson found Richardson in the end zone two plays later to make it 41-31 with 2:02 left in regulation.

The Tiger-Cats weren't finished, however, as Glenn marched them downfield in 1:14 for a 23-yard touchdown pass to McDaniel, but Hamilton was unable to recover the onside kick and Montreal ran out the clock to win 41-38.

The Tiger-Cats wasted several chances to put an uncharacteristically sluggish Alouettes team away in the first half.

The Alouettes found the end zone on their first possession, thanks largely to two costly Hamilton penalties. McPherson, who is brought in on short-yardage situations as a sneak threat, found an open Giffin in the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown pass at 6:22 of the first. It was a first career touchdown catch for the fullback from Kingston, Ont.

Hamilton struck right back with a four-play, 67-yard drive capped by a 24-yard touchdown pass to Bruce less than two minutes later to make it 8-7 Hamilton.

Calvillo found Watkins from 11 yards out at 3:41 of the second to put Montreal up 14-8, a play set up by a 63-yard catch-and-run by Richardson.

Hamilton jumped back in front 15-14 at 7:33 of the second on a 1-yard quarterback sneak from third-stringer Adam Tafralis.

The Ti-Cats were driving toward the end of the half when McDaniel had his decisive fumble, and Hamilton never recovered.