Alexander sets record as Als take down Stamps for second straight week

CFL.ca Team

CALGARY — The first game of a Saturday doubleheader was also the second half of a home-and-home between the Calgary Stampeders and Montreal Alouettes, in which Montreal came out on top 38-32 at McMahon Stadium.

The win marked Montreal’s third straight win and second straight over the Stampeders, while Alouettes quarterback Davis Alexander made history. The 27-year-old set the record for the most consecutive pass attempts without an interception (324), passing former Saskatchewan Roughriders pivot Darian Durant.

The first half was all Alouettes, and the first quarter can be classified as the Travis Theis quarter. Montreal established the run early, as the 25-year-old rumbled over multiple Calgary defenders in the frame, while also scoring a 16-yard touchdown to help give Montreal an early 8-0 lead.

That score held until the final play of the first frame, when Alexander dropped a ball into the returning Cole Spieker‘s hands in the corner of the end zone to extend the Als’ lead to 15-0.

Montreal’s scoring continued in the second quarter, as Alexander and Tyler Snead connected to extend Montreal’s lead even further. It took all the way to the final minute of the first half for Calgary to break their goose egg on the scoreboard, as Jude McAtamney’s 32-yard kick gave the Stamps their first points of the game as they trailed 22-3 after 30 minutes.

The Stampeders brought that momentum over into the second half, and thanks to a heavy workload from Dedrick Mills, who capped off the nearly six-minute drive with a touchdown, Calgary’s march back into the game began.

A history-making and surgical drive by Alexander and the Alouettes, capped off by Dustin Crum‘s one-yard plunge, restored Montreal’s lead to 29-11 after three quarters. That drive was when Alexander set the record for the most consecutive pass attempts without an interception.

But Calgary came out firing in the fourth.

The Stampeders struck quickly to begin the final frame to cut the lead to 11, then again after an Alouettes field goal to make it a seven-point game, all before forcing a turnover on downs and scoring quickly once again to tie the game at the three-minute warning.

As we’ve seen time and time again, however, a strong Alouettes drive led by Alexander that began at their own five-yard line ended in a touchdown, sealing the deal for Montreal despite a strong comeback attempt by Calgary.

SCORING PLAYS

Travis Theis 16-yard touchdown run (11:18, Q1) | MTL 8, CGY 0
Davis Alexander 18-yard touchdown pass to Cole Spieker (0:00, Q1) | MTL 15, CGY 0
Davis Alexander 25-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Snead (10:46, Q2) | MTL 22, CGY 0
Jude McAtamney 32-year-old field goal (00:26, Q2) | MTL 22, CGY 3
Dedrick Mills three-yard touchdown run (09:25, Q3) | MTL 22, CGY 11
Dustin Crum one-yard touchdown run (02:21, Q3) | MTL 29, CGY 11
Vernon Adams Jr. 15-yard touchdown pass to Erik Brooks (14:47, Q4) | MTL 29, CGY 18
José Maltos Díaz 35-year-old field goal (07:09, Q4) | MTL 32, CGY 18
Vernon Adams Jr. 5-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Philpot (04:48, Q4) | MTL 32, CGY 25
Vernon Adams Jr. 15-yard touchdown pass to Dedrick Mills (03:03, Q4) | MTL 32, CGY 32
Davis Alexander 27-yard touchdown pass to Kaseem Ferdinand (01:04, Q4) | MTL 38, CGY 32

NEXT UP

For the Stampeders, they’ll leave McMahon Stadium and hit the road for the next three weeks. They’ll start their eastern swing by heading to Manitoba to take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, before hitting Ontario to matchup with both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Week 9 and the Toronto Argonauts in Week 10.

For the Alouettes, they’ll return home for Week 8 and play host to the Tiger-Cats before a slight road trip to TD Field to take on the Ottawa REDBLACKS in Week 9.

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