THE CANADIAN PRESS/ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
MONTREAL – Despite a valiant effort by the Argos defence, led by LB Zeke Moreno, the Argos could not hold off the Montreal Alouettes Friday night, falling 25-0. Defensive tackle Eric Wilson had a touchdown and tailback Avon Cobourne scored two for the Als.
Linebacker Zeke Moreno led the way for the Argos on defence, finishing with 9 defensive tackles. Moreno and the rest of the Argos linebacking corps generated 22 defensive tackles and 1 forced fumble.
The Alouettes improved to 5-1 while Toronto, reeling from injuries to its receiving corps, fell to 2-4. The Argonauts have scored only 40 points in their last four games.
Their best chance to score came late in the fourth quarter, when backup quarterback Cody Pickett hit Cory Rodgers on the Montreal six-yard line, but could not get it in the end zone on three tries — the last a pass that dropped behind receiver Chad Lucas, giving Montreal a turnover on downs.
The Alouettes sacked starting quarterback Kerry Joseph five times, and Pickett went down once when he took over in the fourth quarter.
Montreal slotback Ben Cahoon caught seven passes for 97 yards in the first half alone to put him past the 12,000 mark in career receiving yards. He also passed former Argonaut Derrell Mitchell for seventh place all-time in that category.
The Alouettes had been held to pair of Damon Duval singles until quarterback Anthony Calvillo closed the first half by completing 13 straight passes to put Montreal ahead 16-0.
Calvillo was 8-for-8 to set up Cobourne’s TD on a one-yard run at 11:01 of the second quarter. He was 5-for-5 on Montreal’s next possession, plus a pass interference call on the Argo’s Willie Middlebrooks gave them the ball on the one.
Backup quarterback Adrian McPherson went into the game, rolled right and found Wilson, who had lined up at fullback, in the end zone for the lineman’s first career TD on the final play of the half.
After a scoreless third quarter, Calvillo hit Kerry Watkins with a 44-yard pass to the Toronto one and Cobourne took it over for his seventh TD of the season.
The first quarter saw each team give the ball away twice, once each on downs, and the only scoring was on Duval’s 70-yard punt into the end zone.
A drive to start the second quarter stalled at the Toronto 18, but Duval’s field goal attempt went wide left for another single.