Thursday, June 9, 2005

Renegades knock off Alouettes 27-16

Slick third quarter anchored by Ottawa QB Kerry Joseph sparks Ottawa to road win

Ottawa's Sean Bennett hauls in a 40-yard pass from Kerry Joseph during the 3rd quarter of play Thursday night in Montreal. The Renegades won 27-16 in the first pre-season game of 2005. Photo by Scott Grant/IMAGE Communications

MONTREAL-- Ottawa Renegades quarterback Kerry Joseph sat on the sidelines the entire first half and observed the Montreal Alouettes' defence.

Then Joseph came in to start the second half and used what he learned to lead the Renegades to 21 third-quarter points and a 27-16 win over the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL pre-season opener for both teams Thursday night.

"I wanted to be able to come out and put more pressure on their defence," said Joseph. "You could kind of see, with it being the pre-season, that they were kind of settling into the same coverages. Standing on the sidelines, you could see what they were doing defensively."

After starter Anthony Calvillo played in Montreal's first series, Ted White played quarterback most of the first half for Montreal and threw two interceptions - both deep in Ottawa territory - and committed a fumble as the Alouettes offence stalled in front of a sellout crowd of 20,202 at Percival Molson Stadium.

Als coach Don Matthews, however, was pleased with what he saw from his backup, considering Montreal generated very little offence in the second half after White went to the bench.

"Ted had a couple of miscues," Matthews said of White, who completed 12 of 19 passes for 176 yards in the first half. "But he ran 37 plays. He had good tempo, he was running a lot of plays, there were some very good things that he did out there."

Montreal committed seven turnovers in the game, compared to three by Ottawa.

"When you're playing a lot of guys, they're more apt to happen because guys are still working on their timing and their combinations," Ottawa coach Joe Paopao said. "They self-destructed with some turnovers, but when Calvillo's in there it'll be a different story."

Joseph and Renegades star running back Josh Ranek sat the entire first half but came out to play after the break, and the difference showed.


Alouettes return man Ezra Landry fumbled the ensuing kickoff, leading to a seven-yard touchdown run by Cory Hathaway at 14:38 of the third for a 27-10 Ottawa lead.

Montreal kickers David Duval and Tim Duncan - who are competing for the starting job with the Als this season after they traded Matt Kellett to Ottawa - each added a field goal in the fourth quarter to make it 27-16 Ottawa.

After a sloppy first half by both teams the Alouettes led 10-6 at the break.

Calvillo only played Montreal's first possession, enough time to get his first pass attempt to Montreal's biggest acquisition of the off-season, receiver Terry Vaughn. Calvillo's short pass was knocked down for an incompletion.

White replaced Calvillo for Montreal's next series and completed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Stala at 6:40 of the first quarter to put the Als up 7-0.

White could have put Montreal up by two touchdowns with just under four minutes to play in the quarter, but he underthrew a wide-open Vaughn in the end zone and it was picked off by Ottawa's Bo Lewis.

White threw another interception around the Ottawa 20-yard line, this time underthrowing a wide open Ben Cahoon, and Cory Banks ran it back 55 yards to the Montreal 36.

That set up a 38-yard Pat Fleming field goal at 14:14 to make it 7-3 Montreal.

The second quarter had a missed field goal by either club before Duncan connected from 23 yards at the 12:56 mark. Fleming responded for Ottawa at 14:14 with a 41-yard field goal to make it 10-6 Montreal.

The Ottawa quarterback combination of Brad Banks and Paul Peterson combined to go 4-for-11 for 93 yards and an interception in the first half.