EDMONTON – The game wasn’t fancy, but it was entertaining and the Alouettes beat the Elks 35-21 on Saturday in Edmonton.
Although this fourth straight victory brings some satisfaction to the Montreal club, interest in this game waned after the Hamilton Tiger-Cats suffered a decisive defeat the previous day.
“I’m happy and proud of this group,” head coach Jason Maas responded at the end of the game, despite the slow start of his players, who trailed 14-3 after the first quarter. You can give up, but you have to keep working and we see that with our team. They stayed focused and decided to compete. There’s nothing more special than getting back up from a deficit, especially since the result didn’t matter in the overall standings. That says a lot about this group.”
Even before this game against the Elks, the Alouettes were assured that they would finish second in the Eastern Section of the Canadian Football League and therefore play a playoff game at home on November 4th.
Lacking a challenge, the defensive rigor sometimes suffered on one side or the other at Commonwealth Stadium, where several fans now appear to be impatiently awaiting the Oct. 29 Heritage Classic between the Oilers and Calgary Flames.
In the Alouettes’ win, James Letcher Jr. dealt the Elks a hard blow just before halftime. He took advantage of a missed field goal to return the ball 125 yards for a touchdown. That meant the Alouettes led 26-21 at the end of the first half.
“I joked with my teammates that as long as I saw green, I would run on the green,” commented Letcher Jr. When I saw the shot miss, I just caught the ball and followed my teammates.”
Let the season end!
It’s time for the end of the Canadian Football League regular season for the Elks (4-13) and Alouettes (10-7), but for different reasons. Should the Edmonton club inevitably miss the playoffs, the Montreal team is already in the lead in the Eastern Section semifinals.
The cliché is that the Alouettes, who qualified through the front door, now want to move into the playoffs with wind in their sails. However, there is only one regular season game left, October 28th at Percival Molson Stadium against the Ti-Cats. The same two teams will then face off in the Eastern semifinals.
Head coach Jason Maas will use a week off to determine his game plan for the game on October 28th. It’s a safe bet that neither the Alouettes nor the Tiger-Cats will betray their playbook. The two teams could also use this game to have several reserve players play.
- For the Elks, Eugene Lewis used this game to pass the 5,000-yard mark through the air in the Canadian Football League. Lewis had 4,347 yards in 67 games with the Alouettes from 2017 to 2022.
- Quebec’s Pier-Olivier Lestage was ejected from the game for spitting on an opponent.