Argonauts clinch 1st place in East Division with wild victory over Alouettes

A single level following a missed area aim was sufficient to offer the Toronto Argonauts a 24-23 win over the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday in CFL motion at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium.

“Now we will get wholesome. We wanted that bye and get some guys again,” mentioned Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie. “We wished to win the East clearly, however it was important to get it finished this week and never wait till subsequent week.”

Toronto’s (11-6) McLeod Bethel-Thompson threw for 240 yards and two touchdowns and had one interception.

Trevor Harris led Montreal (8-9) with 413 passing yards and two touchdowns in the robust loss.

WATCH | Argos clinch 1st place in East Division on wild last-second play:

The Alouettes discovered a number of success via the air on their opening drive, gaining 52 yards in solely three performs and discovering themselves on the Toronto 15 yard-line.

All the progress can be undone when Montreal gambled on third down. They turned the ball over when Harris’s go was intercepted by Jonathan Jones.

After a Toronto three-and-out, Montreal discovered themselves as soon as once more in a 3rd down scenario however had been a yard away from the tip zone this time. They once more elected to go for it and got here up empty for the second time in as many purple zone drives.

Starting at their very own one-yard line, the Argonauts proceeded to march down the sphere, protecting 109 yards in simply seven performs.

They would cap it off by scoring the primary landing of the sport with simply over 4 minutes remaining in the opening quarter. Bethel-Thompson discovered Markeith Ambles from two yards out.

With just below 4 minutes left in the half, Montreal lastly obtained their first factors on the board. A 50-yard catch and run from Jake Wieneke arrange a 42-yard area aim by David Cote, making the rating 7-3 at halftime.

Toronto began the second half by returning the opening kickoff 59 yards after which capitalizing on weak protection in Montreal’s secondary to attain their second landing of the sport.

Kurleigh Gittens Jr. misplaced his marker after receiving a go on the 13-yard line and strolled into the tip zone. Montreal responded instantly with one other Cote area aim from 26 yards out.

‘I felt good about how we had been taking part in in the direction of the tip’

“We had some great things [in the first half] however simply could not end. We made changes at halftime, and I felt good about how we had been taking part in in the direction of the tip,” mentioned Dinwiddie. “[Montreal] did a great job, they’d a whole lot of totally different coverages we hadn’t seen but.”

After buying and selling unsuccessful possessions, Montreal discovered the tip zone for the primary time in the sport. After working their means all the way down to Toronto’s 12-yard line, Harris noticed an open Wieneke who waltzed in for the landing, slicing the deficit to 3.

Just one play later, Bethel-Thompson’s ill-advised bomb downfield discovered the ready arms of Marc-Antoine Dequoy, giving the Alouettes’ offence new life.

The possession would give Cote his third area aim of the sport, tying the sport 16-16 after changing from 47 yards.

On the following drive, a collection of penalties introduced Toronto to the Montreal one-yard line. Chad Kelly made no mistake because the quarterback sneaked the ball in, permitting the Alouettes to tie the sport.

As Montreal marched down the sphere Harris got here alive, discovering receivers each time he dropped again. They accomplished the comeback when Eugene Lewis’s diving catch tied issues up.

With 34 seconds on the clock, Toronto now had the essential job of getting downfield and organising a game-winning field-goal try for Boris Bede.

While Bede missed the kick, the one level was sufficient to offer the Argonauts the win with no time left on the clock.

The second leg of the home-and-home will take place on Oct. 29 at BMO Field.