Greg Fulmes/CFL.ca
CALGARY — Marc-Antoine Dequoy and Shawn Lemon knew how important it was for the Montreal Alouettes to take care of business against the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday.
There was a lot on the line when Montreal was suddenly holding on to a three-point lead in the third quarter with the Stamps knocking on the door on third-and-goal from the three, knowing Hamilton was hot on their heels in the standings. Calgary decided to go for it and Dequoy intercepted a pass from Jake Maier to capture all momentum in favour of the visitors.
“We try to have the back of our offence,” said the defensive back to TSN’s Farhan Lalji about being able to get the ball back after an earlier turnover by the Alouettes. “The biggest thing as a defensive unit you can do is have the back of your teammates and that’s what we did.”
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The Alouettes offence took advantage of the takeaways to march down the field and make it a 10-point game late in the third quarter. Lemon – who had an interception of his own earlier in the game – added two sacks in his return to Calgary after two stints with the Stampeders, including one late in the fourth quarter that turned the Stampeders over on downs.
Montreal was dominant on both sides of the line finishing with four sacks, five tackles for loss on defence and zero sacks allowed on offence, an important stat for an offensive line that had allowed the most quarterback takedowns coming into Week 16.
Lemon came one sack shy of registering his 100th career sack but was still happy to be able to put up a big performance on a place that means a lot to him.
“I love playing in front of these fans,” said the defensive lineman to Lalji. “I love the city of Calgary and I felt like I was gonna have a big game coming into it.
“I would have had the 100th sack tonight but Jake (Maier) threw the ball and laughed at me so, we’ll wait,” Lemon added jokingly.
The Alouettes were well aware that they needed to get back to their winning ways to avoid losing ground to the Ticats in the East.
“Definitely this game was important. Hamilton is catching up, they’re playing good football right now,” said Dequoy who also forced a fumble in the second half. “That playoff game at home is super important. It’s one game at a time but we know we’re in a close race.”
The race continues next week when Alouettes travel to Ottawa to face the REDBLACKS on Saturday, September 30 at TD Place.
