A dreadful second quarter doomed the Calgary Stampeders on Thanksgiving Monday as they dropped a 46-19 decision to the Montreal Alouettes at Molson Stadium.
The result comes a week after the Stamps’ convincing win over the Alouettes at McMahon Stadium as the division leaders split the home-and-home series.
The Calgary offence struggled in the first half and turnovers were one of the principal reasons the Alouettes were able to put 24 second-quarter points on the scoreboard, including two touchdowns in the final minute before halftime.
Calgary committed five turnovers in the contest.
“The turnovers really put us in a hole,” said Stampeders head coach and general manager John Hufnagel. “Montreal came out, they played hard. We were able to stop them and hold them to some field goals and keep it under control (for a while) but when we got into scoring position and turned the ball over, we couldn’t get the momentum back. It was a tough first half.”
The loss costs the Stamps a chance to extend their lead over the Saskatchewan Roughriders at the top of the West Division. Calgary (10-4) leads the Riders by two points heading into Sunday’s showdown at Regina.
Meanwhile, the Alouettes tie the Stampeders for the best record in the CFL and lead Toronto and Hamilton by six points in the East Division.
A 43-yard interception return by Montreal’s Ramon Guzman in the fourth minute of the third quarter gave the Als an insurmountable 40-4 lead.
Calgary’s offence came to life later in the third quarter as Romby Bryant (36 yards) and Arjei Franklin (39 yards) were on the receiving end of Henry Burris touchdown passes but it was much too little, much too late.
Along with the victory, the Alouettes picked up a Canadian Football League record as Ben Cahoon surpassed ex-Stampeder Terry Vaughn’s record of 1,006 career receptions.
Brian Bratton had a pair of touchdown receptions for the Alouettes while Avon Cobourne added a rushing major. Colt David, filling in for the injured Damon Duval, kicked six field goals for Montreal.
Rob Maver had a 24-yard field goal for the Stamps.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
PASSING
Cgy: Burris 16-30-219-2-2; Mtl: Calvillo 28-38-395-2-0, McPherson 1-2-6-0-0
RUSHING
Cgy: Cornish 2-41, Burris 2-31, Reynolds 8-21, Murphy 1-18, Tate 2-16; Mtl: Cobourne 10-60-1, Diedrick 4-25, Hawkins 1-15, Calvillo 2-10, McPherson 1-6
RECEIVING
Cgy: Lewis 6-84, Franklin 3-58-1, Bryant 2-36-1, Reynolds 2-14, Rambo 1-14, Cornish 1-8, Arthur 1-5; Mtl: Richardson 4-126, Hawkins 6-86, Green 4-49, Cahoon 4-49, Cobourne 6-37, Bratton 3-27-2, Carter 2-27
NOTABLES
Cgy: Simpson 7 TKL, Raymond 6 TKL, Jackson 5 TKL, Murphy 4-94 KOR 2-5 PR; Mtl: David 6-6 FG 22 PTS, Stewart 2 TKL 2 SK 1 FF, Guzman 3 TKL 1 INT 1 TD, Dix 2 TKL 1 INT