MONTREAL - S.J. Green has spent two years biding his time on the Alouettes practice squad, waiting for a chance to make his mark.
On Thursday night in Montreal's home opener, he did just that.
Green's touchdown catch triggered a 31-point fourth quarter explosion that gave the Alouettes a 50-16 win over the Edmonton Eskimos in front of a sellout crowd of 20,202 at Percival Molson Stadium.
Green, who finished with five catches for 113 yard, was starting in place of Alouettes star slotback Jamel Richardson, out with an injured shoulder.
"It was very frustrating, a very humbling experience for me having to sit and wait two years on the practice squad knowing that I could play and contribute," said Green, who recently turned down a contract from the Toronto Argonauts to remain Montreal's practice roster.
"I waited my turn and made the best of the opportunity I received."
The game marked the first time Montreal (2-0) has scored 50 points since July 24, 2003, and they got them every way possible with two touchdowns through the air, two on the ground, one on a punt return and another on an interception return, to go along with two field goals and two singles.
Kerry Watkins caught nine passes for 119 yards with a touchdown for the Alouettes while Anthony Calvillo had a rushing major and completed 24-of-32 passes for 343 yards and two touchdowns.
Alouettes return man Larry Taylor, who burned the Eskimos (1-1) with two punt return touchdowns in last year's East final, struck again with a 68-yard run back to ice the game in the fourth quarter.
"The game was close up until that fourth quarter, and then all of a sudden there's a special teams touchdown, then we score a touchdown and the defence as well," Calvillo said.
"Things just kind of fell in place in that fourth quarter for us, but it definitely wasn't easy. The score may show it, but it wasn't easy."
The Eskimos offence was unable to mount much of an attack all night, and on two impressive drives of 77 and 93 yards had to settle for Noel Prefontaine field goals.
"From start to finish we didn't play as well as we're capable of playing, and after a while we sucked out there," said Eskimos head coach Richie Hall.
"That's not us. We got our butts kicked."
Eskimos rookie running back Arkee Whitlock, starting in place of the injured Jesse Lumsden, had a debut to forget. In the first half alone, he dropped two easy touchdown catches and lost a fumble, but he scored the Eskimos lone touchdown with only 1:08 to play in regulation and finished with 29 yards on 12 carries.
Hall, however, said Whitlock will get another chance to redeem himself.
"He had an opportunity to make some plays and things just didn't work out for him, but there were some good things that he did out there," Hall said. "You don't give up on a person after one game just like you don't give up on a team after one game."
Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray completed 19-of-33 passes for 280 yards, while Maurice Mann had seven catches for 139 yards for Edmonton.
Defensively for the Alouettes, Keron Williams had a tremendous first half with two sacks and two fumble recoveries.
"It's not just me, it's the whole defence," Williams said of a group that kept Edmonton out of the end zone until the game's final moment.
Up 19-9 going into the fourth quarter, the Alouettes blew it wide open with 31 straight points.
Calvillo found Green from 21 yards out at 1:26 of the fourth, Damon Duval got a 25-yard field goal at 6:35 and Taylor made it 36-9 at 7:14 of the fourth with his punt return touchdown.
The Eskimos got nothing on the ensuing drive and Prefontaine couldn't get his punt away, giving the Alouettes the ball at the Edmonton 27.
Avon Cobourne carried it three straight times, culminating in a one-yard plunge at 13:27 for a 43-9 lead.
Jason Maas then came in to replace Ray, and his second attempt was picked off by Cory Huclack for a 38-yard interception return touchdown at 12:58 to make it 50-9.
Whitlock finally got Edmonton into the end zone on a one-yard plunge at 13:52.
The Als took a 19-6 lead into the locker-room at halftime, but it could have been a lot worse for the Eskimos.
"What happens against good teams is if you don't take care of business early, it comes back to haunt you," Hall said. "That's what happened. We hung in there, we thought we were good at halftime, then we had some chances to do some things and we didn't."
Montreal found the end zone on the game's opening drive, marching 79 yards in six plays capped by a 28-yard touchdown catch by Watkins at 3:32 of the first quarter.
On Edmonton's first offensive play, Ray was hit by John Bowman and fumbled. The ball was recovered by Williams at the Edmonton 11 yard line, but Montreal wound up with only a single when Duval missed a 30-yard field goal try.
Prefontaine made a 22-yard field goal at 10:04 of the first and another from 15 yards at 5:32 of the second, while Duval missed another 40-yarder for the Als that went for a single. He later connected from 11 yards out at 12:41 of the second to make it 12-6 Montreal.
The Eskimos punted the ball to the Alouettes 50 with less than a minute remaining in the half, but Calvillo needed only four plays to go 60 yards, capping the drive himself with a three-yard touchdown run with only four seconds to play to give Montreal at 19-6 lead.
Prefontaine kicked another field goal from 14 yards out to cap a nine-play, 93-yard drive at 4:01 of the third quarter and make it 19-9, but the Eskimos would get no closer than that.
NOTES: Montreal centre Bryan Chiu played his 203rd game as an Alouette, tying Glen Weir for the most in franchise history. Weir will be inducted into the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame this year . . . The two touchdown passes thrown by Calvillo left him two short of tying the late Ron Lancaster for second on the CFL's career list . . . Geoff Molson, who along with brothers Andrew and Justin led a group that placed the winning bid to purchase the Montreal Canadiens, performed the official coin toss . . .The Eskimos host the B.C. Lions next Thursday, while the Alouettes will visit Saskatchewan on July 18.