Friday Sports: Fajardo Shines As Alouettes Rout RedBlacks

CFL

Cody Fajardo was eager to have a strong start after the Montreal Alouettes waited three weeks to raise their Grey Cup banner.

The Grey Cup MVP and the Alouettes did that and then some on Thursday night.

Fajardo threw three touchdowns and rushed for another while Montreal dominated on defence, and the defending champions crushed the Ottawa Redblacks 47-21 before a sellout crowd of 23,035 fans at Molson Stadium.

“Running out of the tunnel, seeing the crowd and seeing how packed it was, the electricity in the building, we wanted to make a big play early,” Fajardo said. “We went up 14 points real quick, right? And then never really looked back.”

Moments after two fighter jets flew over the venue as a part of a celebratory ceremony, Fajardo ran in a touchdown on the game’s opening drive.

On the ensuing possession, Montreal linebacker Tyrice Beverette picked off Ottawa quarterback Dru Brown on his first passing attempt and ran the ball to the Redblacks’ 10-yard line. 

The interception led to a one-yard TD for backup QB Caleb Evans and a 14-point lead five minutes into the game. By halftime, the Alouettes had forced three turnovers and led by a jaw-dropping 30-1.

Fajardo completed an efficient 28-of-35 passes for 393 yards as Montreal started the season 3-0 for the first time since 2011 after road wins in Winnipeg and Edmonton.

A pair of Canadian receivers were his main targets. Kaion Julien-Grant had a game-high 139 receiving yards while Tyson Philpot added 127 yards and one touchdown.

UP NEXT

Alouettes: Visit the Toronto Argonauts on June 28.

Redblacks: Host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on June 30.

• The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are set to host the BC Lions in CFL action Friday night. Winnipeg is 0-and-2 to start the season after losses to Montreal and Ottawa. Meanwhile, B-C looks to make it two straight wins after defeating Calgary last week. Montreal clobbered visiting Ottawa 47-21 on the night it raised its championship banner yesterday.

CEBL

• The Calgary Surge were winless on the road. The Saskatchewan Rattlers had yet to be beaten at home. Naturally, then, the Surge tipped off a six-game road trip Thursday with a 105-77 victory over the Rattlers at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon. Mathieu Kamba led the Surge with 27 points and seven rebounds, while captain Sean Miller-Moore contributed 26 points and eight assists with fellow guard Corey Davis Jr. nearly matching that production with 25 points and eight dimes of his own.
• A scrambling defensive stand, highlighted by a couple of big steals, saw the Edmonton Stingers (7-2) hang on to inch by the Ottawa BlackJacks (2-6), 92-91, Thursday night at Edmonton EXPO Centre. In a wild sequence of events during Target Score Time with the game tied at 91 and the Target Score set at 92, the BlackJacks had an opportunity to complete a comeback down 83-77 at the start of Target Score Time and win the game.

NHL

The Edmonton Oilers look to inch one step closer to a potential comeback from their initial 0-3 series deficit in the Stanley Cup Final Friday night. Edmonton hosts the Florida Panthers in Game 6 looking to tie the series after winning the last two games. With a victory, the Oilers would head to South Florida for Monday’s Game 7. However a Florida win would clinch the franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup.

MLB

The Toronto Blue Jays are back in action Friday night in Cleveland. Toronto had yesterday off after being on the wrong end of a three-game sweep at the hands of Boston. Before that, the Jays beat Cleveland twice in a row to take two out of three games in that series in Toronto.

WCBL

Moose Jaw 5 Medicine Hat 4
Regina 12 Brooks 5
Saskatoon 5 Weyburn 2
Sylvan Lake 15 Swift Current 10
Lethbridge 17 Edmonton 6

SOCCER

Canada put up quite an effort but eventually fell 2-0 to top-ranked Argentina in its Copa America opener last night in Atlanta. The 48th-ranked Canadians held Lionel Messi (LEE’-oh-nel MESS’-ee) and Argentina scoreless in the opening half, but later conceded goals to Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez in the 49th and 88th minutes of the contest.

(Canadian Press, CEBL)