CFL.ca Staff
TORONTO – The Argonauts finished the pre-season undefeated as they topped the Alouettes 25-20 in front of 36,214 at Rogers Centre. The crowd was primarily made up of school children who attended the rare afternoon contest as a part of a promotion between the Argos and local school boards.
Ricky Ray started the game under centre for the Argos but got off to a tough start. His first pass, intended for running back Cory Boyd, was tipped at the line and intercepted by former BC Lions defensive tackle Aaron Hunt.
Ray would go two-and-out on the next drive, forcing Toronto to punt from deep in their own end of the field.
Montreal, led by Anthony Calvillo, would capitalize engineering a two-play touchdown drive, aided by a major foul penalty and capped off by a Brandon Whitaker 16-yard scamper into the endzone to take an early 7-0 lead.
Ray’s struggles would continue on the next drive after an errant pass intended for WR Chandler Williams sailed into the hands on veteran Als DB Billy Parker who made an acrobatic play on the ball.
Both Ray and Calvillo would leave the game at the end of the first quarter, allowing their backups to get valuable reps.
» By the Numbers: Anthony Calvillo – 7/11, 55 YDS, 0 TD, 0 INT | Ricky Ray – 3/7, 27 YDS, 0 TD, 2 INT
Adrian McPherson, who started the Als’ last pre-season game, would enter the contest first and immediately lead a 59-yard drive that was capped off by a 42-yard Sean Whyte field goal.
On the other side, Jarious Jackson would take over the Argos’ offence in the second quarter and move the ball with a bit more consistency, primarily because the Alouettes were blitzing less. He would help the Argos cut into the Als’ lead at 12:04 of the quarter, setting up a 48-yard Noel Prefontaine field goal.
Montreal would stall on the ensuing drive and the Argos would tie the game up at 10 when rookie DB Pacino Horne blocked a punt and ran it nine yards for a major.
The Alouettes would get a big gain from Eric Deslauriers before finishing the next drive with a touchdown pass from McPherson to Travon Patterson to enter halftime with a 17-10 lead.
Rookie QB Trevor Harris would take over at quarterback for Toronto in the third quarter and engineer a 71-yard drive capped off by a 10-yard touchdown pass to rookie Jessie Hubbard. It was Hubbard’s second major of the pre-season.
Harris would lead another successful drive but would fumble the ball inside the red zone and have to settle for a field goal attempt which would sail wide for a single point.
Harris would make for his error and continue to impress, generating a 9-play, 93-yard drive completed by a five yard touchdown pass to WR Samie Parker.
Whyte would cut into the Argos lead with a 43-yard field goal at 5:01 of the fourth quarter to pull his team to within five.
