OTTAWA — The Montreal Alouettes tied with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for first place in the East Division and extended their winning streak to five games with a 39-28 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday.
With just one game left in the regular season, the Alouettes have a chance to earn a bye into the first round of the playoffs if they can finish at the top of their division.
The Redblacks (4-13) suffered their second straight loss to the Alouettes (10-7) following a 30-10 loss in Montreal on Monday.
The Alouettes started quarterback Davis Alexander, who extended his career-record CFL opening streak to 11 straight wins. In this one, Alexander completed 21 of 31 passes for 328 yards.
On the other side of the ball, the Redblacks nodded to stringer Tyree Adams while starter Dustin Crum left the game with a head injury.
Prior to this game, Adams had not produced anything other than performances since suffering a torn ACL late in the 2023 season. Prior to that, he completed 31 of 49 passes for 412 yards in 2022 and 2023.
In the proverbial game, Adams emerged as a scoring threat, completing 27 of 44 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns. He also made three interceptions in key moments.
Ottawa was unable to contain the Alouettes' attack out of the gate, falling to a 13-0 deficit, while Alexander completed five of seven attempts for 171 yards in the first quarter alone.
Even after a fumbled tackle took Alexander out of the game on one of the first plays of the game, he returned to the field on the very next drive, where he completed a 23-yard pass for Montreal's first touchdown and broke into the game on running back Stevie Scott III eight minutes into the game.
Just four minutes later, Alexander threw a 44-yard pass to wide receiver Austin Mack to bring the Alouettes within two yards of scoring. After the rush, Montreal's poor conversion did not bring much consolation to the hosts.
Midway through the second quarter, Adams got Ottawa on the board with just his second career touchdown, finding receiver Eugene Lewis behind Montreal's end zone.
Montreal's 49-yard field goal by kicker Jose Maltos Diaz three minutes later gave the Alouettes some breathing room. Then Montreal defenseman Najee Murray's interception at the goal line ruined one of Adams' best shots of the game.
An Ottawa field goal pulled the Redblacks back within six points, as close as they would get in the remaining two quarters.
Montreal put Ottawa in a chokehold in the third quarter, starting with two consecutive field goals in the first half of the frame.
With just over a minute remaining, Montreal linebacker Tyreece Beverett's 38-yard interception return allowed the Alouettes to throw a 22-yard pass to Mack on the very next play to go up 29-10.
Even though Adams led Ottawa's offense to an 18-point lead in the final quarter, it was not enough to catch the Alouettes and their dominant lead through three frames.
NEXT
Redblacks: Visit the Ticats on Friday in the regular season finale.
Alouette: Travel to Winnipeg to face the Blue Bombers next Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2025.
