‘We needed this’: Als bounce back with win over Ottawa
OTTAWA — The Montreal Alouettes rebounded from last week’s crushing one-point loss to Edmonton by shutting down a late comeback attempt from Ottawa on Thursday night. The Alouettes finished the job this time around after it appeared they were headed toward another fourth-quarter collapse.
The much-needed win gives the Als a 2-4 record while moving them into a tie with Toronto for first in the East Division.
“It’s just good for us to finish off a win,” quarterback Trevor Harris told TSN after the win. “We needed to make sure we finished that because last week we didn’t. You don’t get an opportunity to right your wrong quite a bit in pro football, so just glad we were able to be able to do that.”
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Ottawa scored a late touchdown to make it a one-point game with under three minutes left, but Montreal’s defence bounced back with a big stop in the final minute to secure the team’s second win of the season.
“It was the longest three minutes of my life; I thought it would never end, but I’m glad we came out with a W, and the defence held it down for us,” receiver Reggie White Jr. told TSN.
After surrendering 14 fourth-quarter points while letting a win slip away last week, Montreal entered TD Place in Week 7 with one goal in mind — to finish. Montreal’s offence scored 18 unanswered points in the second quarter after the team trailed early, and they finished strong by outscoring Ottawa 15-7 in the fourth quarter.
“We needed this win big time. We’ve been in a lot of close games and we’ve been preaching to finish this week. So for us to finish this game and go home with a W, that’s huge for us,” White said.
While White had a strong performance against Ottawa with a season-high 99 receiving yards on five grabs, it was fellow receiver Hergy Mayala who stole the show on offence for Montreal.
Mayala set up Montreal’s first touchdown of the game with a 69-yard catch, and he later scored his first touchdown as an Alouette on a four-yard catch. It was a special moment for the Montreal native who spent his first two seasons in Calgary.
“It felt great. Coming back home was a great feeling for me and something that was important. To get a chance to score a touchdown in this uniform is an honour,” Mayala told TSN at halftime.
Mayala finished with a season-high 102 yards on just five catches — his best game since his rookie season in 2019.
Along with completing 81 per cent of his passes for 341 yards and two touchdowns, Harris also rebounded from last week’s loss by not throwing an interception. The win is his second as Montreal’s starting quarterback since taking over under centre in Week 2.
“It’s a big win for us; we needed it,” Harris said. “But it is (just) one win. We’ll watch the film, correct our mistakes, get better and move on to the next week and go see Hamilton in the Hammer,” Harris said.
The Alouettes will look to keep things rolling when they travel to face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats next Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET to kick off Week 8.
