HAMILTON — The Montreal Alouettes landed in Hamilton on Thursday afternoon when they were without quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell in their first away game of the season with the Tiger-Cats.
It’s Matthew Shiltz, then, who will be the linchpin of offense in this Tiger-Cats’ home opener on Friday night. Alouettes quarterback Cody Fajardo would have loved to play against Mitchell just as much.
“Honestly, there are a lot of good quarterbacks in this league and I like the competition between other players in the same position,” Fajardo said Thursday in an interview at Tim Hortons Field. I want to compete with the best and Bo Levi Mitchell has been one of them over the past decade. It’s always nice to have a chance to face a man like him, but Shiltz is starving. Whenever he gets a chance to play, he always does well.”
The absence of the injured Mitchell remains good news for the Alouettes, but Quebec receiver Hergy Mayala would not be happy either. A Montrealer of Congolese origin and a former Calgary Stampeders player, he maintains a very good and friendly relationship with his former quarterback, with whom he still trains in Alberta during the winter.
“He’s a friend, I spent the off-season with him in Calgary to unveil the Quebec passport recipient. He’s someone I’m really close to. Seeing how he got injured in the last game didn’t feel good. You see a friend fall, but I believe he will recover and go back to his old form.
Memories of Montreal
You have to go back in time a bit to understand Mayala and Mitchell’s relationship. In his first season in the Canadian Football League with the Stampeders, the Quebec native used a visit to Montreal on Oct. 5, 2019 to have his most prolific career game at 116 yards after managing to pass a long 68-yard play.
“I think it was the first game where I had a real chance in this league and in professional sports you have to take those chances,” Mayala said. For me, this game meant coming home. It was my first time playing in Montreal after seven years away, it felt really good.
“He’s a quarterback who cares about you on and off the field,” Mayala said of Mitchell. He takes care of your well-being so that you can perform at your best.
An opportunity that Mayala must seize
Mitchell’s absence aside, the Alouettes face a club that has lost its first two games of the season. Mayala will try to keep the momentum going. In the Birds’ first game, a 19-12 win over the Ottawa Redblacks on June 10, he caught three passes from Fajardo and added 30 yards through the air. As such, he will work to develop that growing chemistry with the Alouettes’ new quarterback.
“What I really like about the system [l’entraîneur-chef] “Jason Maas is of the opinion that the ball can be distributed to several players,” analyzed Fajardo. There isn’t a single guy that gets particularly targeted, and that’s a good thing because in this case, if it doesn’t work, you’re stuck. I continue to build my relationship with our various recipients, including Hergy, and work with them through rehearsals.
Fajardo and Mayala will have another opportunity to perfect their chemistry in Hamilton on Friday night as receivers Tyson Philpot, Greg Ellingson and Reggie White Jr. are still on the Alouettes’ injury list. It’s not just the Tiger-Cats who are struggling with crippled players, although Mitchell’s injury remains the one that could have the biggest impact on the outcome.