Sportspinion: Alouettes beat the Roughriders for Grey Cup again

By Mike Smith

As the Canadian version of the Super Bowl was played this past Sunday, many Canadian football fans were glued to their TVs enjoying a couple of brewskis with the boys or spending time with family and friends. Either way, the teams battling for the coveted Championship ring did not disappoint.

The Montreal Alouettes and the Saskatchewan Roughriders were successful in punching their tickets to Edmonton. Both teams seemed to come out conservative, neither wanted to make an early mistake. The first minutes of the Grey cup had some people bored but it heated up very quickly and the fast-paced nature of the CFL. The first quarter ended with the Als holding a one point, 8-7 lead. Both defences were doing their jobs and keeping the opposition’s offence off the field.

The Als’ Anthony Calvillo and the Riders’ Darian Durant both displayed their ability to throw the ball, hitting most of their targets in the first half. It was this factor that decided the winner.

Calvillo tossed 42 balls for his receivers, 29 were caught for 336 yards passing on the night. Durant only threw 31, completing 18 for an unsatisfactory 215 yards passing. Durant is known for being an excellent scrambling quarterback but his ability to use his run game was limited by the Als defence who used their pass rush to keep him inside the pocket, not allowing him to slip out and run for some gains.

After the end of the first half, the Riders were leading the highly-favoured Als 11-8. While Bachman and Turner were rocking out for the fans in the halftime show, Als head coach Mark Trestman must have said something to get the boys from Montreal going, as they came out in the second half and just dominated. The defence held the Riders to no points in the third quarter. They marched down the field many times, but were only able to put a three-pointer through the uprights. Going into the final quarter of the 2010 season, it was 11-11. The next 15 minutes were well fought by both sides, but the Als came out on top because they were able to punch one into the end zone.

The Riders came back with a couple good possessions, but did not get any points to show for them. With about a minute to go, it seemed the Riders were going to engineer a miraculous drive and win the game with seconds left. Durant deserves loads of respect for his effort late in the game. He was swarmed by about five Alouettes defensive players. He must have escaped about three grapples from the Als and broke free to throw the ball away and save the loss of yards. All of that greatness displayed only for the fateful toss to be picked off while trying to avoid a sack by Als defensive back Billy Parker.

Some short runs by the Montreal offence, then a quick quarterback kneel sealed the deal for the Montreal Alouettes. They are the first team to repeat Grey Cup triumphs back-to-back since the Toronto Argonauts in the ’96 and ’97 seasons.

Another year of glory for the Als, another year of just barely coming up short for the Roughriders. Already, some Als players are calling for a threepeat, while all of the Riders are saying they are going to be back next year.