Montreal is a city that loves events and Friday night’s CFL game definitely qualified as one.  Former standout slot back and recent retiree Ben Cahoon was going to be honoured at half time and veteran quarterback Anthony Calvillo was one touchdown pass away from breaking the CFL record for most touchdown passes career held by former Argonaut quarterback Damon Allen.  It was set up on this hot, humid night to be one of celebrations and, oh yeah, we were playing our bitter rivals in any sport, Toronto.

The Argonauts have had a tough beginning of the 2011 season as they are starting off with three games in a row on the road.  They find themselves 0-2 after their first two games. Montreal is once again expected to be the Beast of the East and have started 2-0 after victories against B.C. and Saskatchewan.  This was not expected to be a battle between equals or even a close game.  It turned out to be a game that was closer at times than it should have been.

Well, the crowd was going to have to wait a little bit to celebrate as the record for Calvillo does not happen on the Als’ first offensive series.  I’m sure it is on every Alouettes’ players’ minds despite the assertion by team coach Mark Trestman that they weren’t thinking about it.

There was plenty of discussion before the game wondering who would be the receiver to catch the record breaking pass from Calvillo.  It would not be Jamel Richardson (thigh) or Kerry Watkins (sinus surgery), who are his two primary targets, but were out with injuries.  Toronto, a solid defensive team despite their record, is also smart enough to double up on S.J. Green, who by default becomes target number one, so it is up to players like running back Brandon Whitaker, wide receiver Eric Deslauriers (making first start of season) and rookie wide receiver Brandon London to step up and have a big game.

Calvillo, as one would expect, is showing no signs early on that he is nervous.  He is a veteran and looks very calm.  The crowd went wild when on the next offensive series Calvillo hooks up with London on a 19 yard pass that brought the Als down to the Argos 8 yard line.  First and goal Montreal!  Calvillo strikes quickly on the very next play as he finds Deslauriers at the back of the end zone.  Touchdown and record!  395 career touchdowns!  But hold the phone! Argos coach Jim Barker has thrown his challenge flag and is challenging the ruling of a completed pass.  Did Deslauriers have a foot in when he caught the ball?  The crowd (and Calvillo) hold their collective breaths.  After they go to Toronto for the review the ruling stands! Touchdown counts!  6-0 Als and a trip into the record books for Anthony Calvillo.  This was the first touchdown pass allowed by Toronto this season and Deslauriers‘ first since 2007.

On the ensuing kick-off Chad Owens breaks a big return of 89 yards.  He was stopped from getting into the end zone by touchdown saving tackle by Etienne Boulay on the Montreal 14 yard line.  An unnecessary roughness penalty to Montreal put the ball on the 7 yard line.  On the first play Argos quarterback Cleo Lemon keeps the ball and just gets into the right corner of the end zone.  Noel Prefontaine completes the convert and the game is 7-7 at 4:10 of the 1st quarter.

The momentum gained by the Als first touchdown and the record by Calvillo was lost.  Montreal goes two plays and out on the next offensive series.  After stopping the Argos on next series Montreal gives the ball back to them by having 13 men on the field for punt.  The Argos have the ball on the Alouettes 48 yard line.  After moving it to the Als 17 yard line, Lemon almost hooks up with Owens in the end zone, but it is broken up at last moment by Chip Cox.  Prefontaine is successful on a 24 yard field goal and Toronto goes up 10-7 at the beginning of the 2nd quarter.

Montreal’s special teams continue to be a problem for them.  They have allowed long returns and then compound the problem by being assessed penalties on the returns.  This is going to have to be fixed or it will surely come back to haunt them.

On their next offensive series Trestman calls Whitaker’s number a couple of times.  He makes a couple of important runs and catches.  Montreal stalls on the 3 yard line and this is a problem that continues throughout the game.  On several occasions they stalled in the red zone and had to settle for field goals.  The Alouettes dominated the game, but the score stayed rather close, for the most part, because on four occasions they had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns.

The good side of this was that kicker Sean Whyte (this is his first season with the team) showed himself to be reliable.  He went 4-for-4 on field goals of 10, 25, 13, and 22 yards.  Sometimes out of a negative comes a positive.

Going into the lockeroom up 20-10 at halftime, the Alouettes were winning, but the offense and special teams were not playing up to their capabilities.

Halftime saw Ben Cahoon, his wife Kim and their four young daughters come out onto the field for a celebration of his career with the Alouettes.  Cahoon was a model athlete and a talented leader for 13 seasons with the organization.  He was quiet, but spoke through his actions on the field.  His 1,017 career catches is a league record.  Cahoon was the model of consistency as he caught at least one ball in each game he ever played except for one.  He also won 3 Grey Cups with the Alouettes.  He is a player they are going to miss for many reasons.

Calvillo did connect with the always reliable, but under the radar Benjamin Bratton for a 6 yard touchdown play and in the 4th quarter Whitaker scored on a 2 yard run.  But they certainly left points on the field.

Toronto was not going away despite their inconsistency on offense and in the 3rd quarter they made it a real close game after Lemon completed a 53 yard pass and run play to running back Chad Kackert.  This was his first CFL start and he got his first touchdown.  Unfortunately for him, however, this would not be a night to remember.

Due to a pass interference call against the Alouettes, Toronto had the ball on the Montreal 1 yard line and were looking like they were going to make the score close again with just under 3 minutes left in the game.  Tragedy struck again for running back Kackert, as he had already fumbled once in the game, and as backup quarterback (why was he in game?) B.J. Hall handed him the ball he only kept one hand on it and Diamond Ferri laid a hit on Kackert that popped the ball out right into the waiting hands of Chip Cox.  Cox was off to the races unimpeded and 108 yards later he had a touchdown and a share of the CFL fumble return record.

Montreal and their fans could breathe a sigh of relief.  The home team had a 40-17 victory and their perfect record continues.  It was the Als defense that made the big difference in the 2nd half.  With their sacks, interception and forcing two fumbles they did not allow the Argonauts to get back into the game.  And they even scored seven points on their own.

Chip Cox (1 touchdown, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception - Montreal‘s first of the season), Brandon Whitaker (11 catches for 94 yards, 16 rushes for 120 yards - which made him the leading rusher in the CFL), Sean White (4 field goals, 4 converts, 244 yards on 6 punts), and Brandon London (6 catches, 82 yards) all had strong games.  But the same can not be said for every member of the team.  Despite the fact that they are 3-0 there are still things to work on for the Alouettes.

Montreal’s next game is at home against the Saskatchewan Roughriders next Sunday evening.