Gades win Canadian Football League home opener
There was nothing wrong with Matt Kellett's vision Friday night against his old team.
Facing Montreal for the first time in the regular season, the former Alouette kicked the tying field goal in the fourth quarter then booted a 14-yarder in overtime to lift the Ottawa Renegades to a come-from-behind 39-36 victory.
The Alouettes, who blew a 23-point lead going into the final quarter, dealt Kellett to the Renegades at the CFL draft after he developed vision problems last season in Montreal.
"It's nice to get that under my belt," Kellett said from an upbeat Ottawa locker-room.
Related Info
Als/Renegades
The Renegades beat Montreal for the first time in six games. Their last regular-season win over the Alouettes came Aug. 29, 2003.
"I have no hard feelings against those guys, they treated me very well," Kellett said of his former employers. "(But) I might look back on it and smile in a few hours."
The Alouettes led 33-10 going into the fourth quarter, then the Renegades staged a furious comeback with quarterback Kerry Joseph running for a pair of touchdowns and throwing for another.
"They kept going, they kept tugging at it and tugging at it, and kept at it," Alouettes defensive end Anwar Stewart said. "Next thing you know, it was 33-30."
Then Kellett connected from 32 yards out on the final play of the fourth quarter to force the extra session where he and Alouettes rookie Damon Duval exchanged field goals.
Duval eventually missed for the first time in six attempts on the night when his 35-yarder into the wind sailed well wide and Kellett stepped up and made his chip shot to decide matters.
With the Glieberman family, which once owned the old Rough Riders franchise in the nation's capital, again in charge and trying to usher in a new era in the Renegades' fourth season in the CFL, it was a much-needed win for Ottawa.
The Canada Day bash, before a regular-season franchise-low Frank Clair Stadium crowd of 18,899, resulted in just the third Renegades' victory over Montreal in 10 all-time attempts and evened their record at 1-1 on the season.
"It was a big win for us. We need to get started a little quicker, but it was an accomplishment because we kept fighting," said Joseph, who ran for three TDs overall, from two, one and five yards out. He also connected with Frank Cutolo for the receiver's first TD in an Ottawa uniform.
Joseph finished 23 of 36 passing for 302 yards with the TD and one interception.
Anthony Calvillo, who completed 29 of 50 passes for 399 yards and two interceptions, ran for a TD and hooked up with Ben Cahoon for another and Duval hit five field goals for Montreal (1-1).
"We should have killed those guys and we let them (back) in," Stewart said.
The game was played in memory of legendary Rough Riders head coach and general manager Frank Clair, who passed away in April at the age of 87. He was honoured with a pre-game ceremony attended by members of his family, former Ottawa players and league commissioner Tom Wright.
The Renegades then went out and turned in a shaky start.
They were dogged by mistakes and ineffectiveness, on and off the field.
The scoreboard repeatedly went on and off throughout the night, sideline advertising boards blew away in the wind, and at least one fan was hauled off by police after taking the game's Mardi Gras promotion apparently too far. In the promotion, women were encouraged to collect as many beads as possible from male spectators in an attempt to win a cash prize.
The Renegades took the lead through a 41-yard field goal from Kellett on the opening drive of the game, but the Alouettes responded with one of their own - a 13-yarder by Duval.
Calvillo then hit Cahoon with a nine-yard pass just before the end of the first quarter and Montreal led 10-3.
That grew to 17-3 early in the second quarter when Calvillo kept the ball and ran it in from three yards out.
After a pair of Duval field goals, from 49 and 40 yards respectively, made it a 20-point game, the Renegades drove the ball to the Montreal two-yard line only for their drive to stall with seconds remaining in the half.
When Renegades head coach Joe Paopao sent out the field-goal unit, the crowd jeered the decision so loudly that he called a time-out and sent Joseph back out to successfully scamper into the end zone on third down and it was 23-10 at the half.
The lead grew to 33-10 before Joseph began to take the game into his own hands and ran for a pair of TDs in the fourth quarter.
"We finally got things going. The defence, especially, they did a good job of getting us the ball," Joseph said.
When he found former B.C. Lion Cutolo with a 17-yard TD pass with less than three minutes to go, Ottawa was back in the game at 33-30.
"You have a team down like that, you've got to step on their throats and we didn't do that," said Alouettes slotback Terry Vaughn, who caught 11 passes for 160 yards.
Notes: Ottawa travels to B.C. to play the Lions next Friday. ... Montreal plays host to the Edmonton Eskimos that same night. ... CFL commissioner Tom Wright on the Glieberman's riskee Mardi Gras promotion: "If you're asking me where (it) ranks on my list of promotions, it probably wouldn't make the top 10."
Facing Montreal for the first time in the regular season, the former Alouette kicked the tying field goal in the fourth quarter then booted a 14-yarder in overtime to lift the Ottawa Renegades to a come-from-behind 39-36 victory.
The Alouettes, who blew a 23-point lead going into the final quarter, dealt Kellett to the Renegades at the CFL draft after he developed vision problems last season in Montreal.
"It's nice to get that under my belt," Kellett said from an upbeat Ottawa locker-room.
Related Info
Als/Renegades
The Renegades beat Montreal for the first time in six games. Their last regular-season win over the Alouettes came Aug. 29, 2003.
"I have no hard feelings against those guys, they treated me very well," Kellett said of his former employers. "(But) I might look back on it and smile in a few hours."
The Alouettes led 33-10 going into the fourth quarter, then the Renegades staged a furious comeback with quarterback Kerry Joseph running for a pair of touchdowns and throwing for another.
"They kept going, they kept tugging at it and tugging at it, and kept at it," Alouettes defensive end Anwar Stewart said. "Next thing you know, it was 33-30."
Then Kellett connected from 32 yards out on the final play of the fourth quarter to force the extra session where he and Alouettes rookie Damon Duval exchanged field goals.
Duval eventually missed for the first time in six attempts on the night when his 35-yarder into the wind sailed well wide and Kellett stepped up and made his chip shot to decide matters.
With the Glieberman family, which once owned the old Rough Riders franchise in the nation's capital, again in charge and trying to usher in a new era in the Renegades' fourth season in the CFL, it was a much-needed win for Ottawa.
The Canada Day bash, before a regular-season franchise-low Frank Clair Stadium crowd of 18,899, resulted in just the third Renegades' victory over Montreal in 10 all-time attempts and evened their record at 1-1 on the season.
"It was a big win for us. We need to get started a little quicker, but it was an accomplishment because we kept fighting," said Joseph, who ran for three TDs overall, from two, one and five yards out. He also connected with Frank Cutolo for the receiver's first TD in an Ottawa uniform.
Joseph finished 23 of 36 passing for 302 yards with the TD and one interception.
Anthony Calvillo, who completed 29 of 50 passes for 399 yards and two interceptions, ran for a TD and hooked up with Ben Cahoon for another and Duval hit five field goals for Montreal (1-1).
"We should have killed those guys and we let them (back) in," Stewart said.
The game was played in memory of legendary Rough Riders head coach and general manager Frank Clair, who passed away in April at the age of 87. He was honoured with a pre-game ceremony attended by members of his family, former Ottawa players and league commissioner Tom Wright.
The Renegades then went out and turned in a shaky start.
They were dogged by mistakes and ineffectiveness, on and off the field.
The scoreboard repeatedly went on and off throughout the night, sideline advertising boards blew away in the wind, and at least one fan was hauled off by police after taking the game's Mardi Gras promotion apparently too far. In the promotion, women were encouraged to collect as many beads as possible from male spectators in an attempt to win a cash prize.
The Renegades took the lead through a 41-yard field goal from Kellett on the opening drive of the game, but the Alouettes responded with one of their own - a 13-yarder by Duval.
Calvillo then hit Cahoon with a nine-yard pass just before the end of the first quarter and Montreal led 10-3.
That grew to 17-3 early in the second quarter when Calvillo kept the ball and ran it in from three yards out.
After a pair of Duval field goals, from 49 and 40 yards respectively, made it a 20-point game, the Renegades drove the ball to the Montreal two-yard line only for their drive to stall with seconds remaining in the half.
When Renegades head coach Joe Paopao sent out the field-goal unit, the crowd jeered the decision so loudly that he called a time-out and sent Joseph back out to successfully scamper into the end zone on third down and it was 23-10 at the half.
The lead grew to 33-10 before Joseph began to take the game into his own hands and ran for a pair of TDs in the fourth quarter.
"We finally got things going. The defence, especially, they did a good job of getting us the ball," Joseph said.
When he found former B.C. Lion Cutolo with a 17-yard TD pass with less than three minutes to go, Ottawa was back in the game at 33-30.
"You have a team down like that, you've got to step on their throats and we didn't do that," said Alouettes slotback Terry Vaughn, who caught 11 passes for 160 yards.
Notes: Ottawa travels to B.C. to play the Lions next Friday. ... Montreal plays host to the Edmonton Eskimos that same night. ... CFL commissioner Tom Wright on the Glieberman's riskee Mardi Gras promotion: "If you're asking me where (it) ranks on my list of promotions, it probably wouldn't make the top 10."
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