Redblacks' undisciplined play costs them in loss to Alouettes

OTTAWA - Discipline or lack of it told the story for the Ottawa Redblacks Friday night. Plagued by penalties and missed opportunities, Ottawa came up short in a 39-18 loss to the Montreal Alouettes spoiling its home opener.

For the second straight week the Redblacks took far too many penalties, 11 for 98 yards, and it cost them.

Head coach Bob Dyce said he has ways to deal with the issue.

“I’ve got to do a better job in getting these guys to realize the challenge of penalties stunting us,” said Dyce. “At the end of the day, we always talk about we want to earn everything and when you work hard to earn things you can’t give things away and that was a challenge.”

The Redblacks (0-2-0) also had the challenge of containing a relentless Alouettes (2-0-0) team. Montreal seems to have things figured out in Ottawa with an 11-game win streak dating back to 2018.

“It’s weird in sports, sometimes you have a team’s number or you have a venue’s number or something like that,” said Alouettes head coach Jason Maas. ‘I think we feel really good about playing here, but it’s because of the work we put in.”

Montreal scored on its opening drive, a Jose Maltos 30-yard field goal. Maltos went on to score five more, including a 49-yarder on the final play of the first half.

“That was huge,” Maas said. “That can be a momentum turner … that was a huge statement kick and I thought he had a couple of those in this game.”

Ottawa had the perfect opportunity to take the lead after recovering a Montreal fumble at the 26-yard line. They drove to the one but were stuffed twice and turned the ball over on downs.

“I think that’s a huge stop,” said Maas. “You don’t ever want to concede anything, that’s our motto on defence.”

Lewis Ward hit a 25-yard field goal to make it 6-3, but Montreal responded immediately. QB Davis Alexander, who finished the game 23-for-32 for 344 yards, one touchdown and one interception, connected with Tyler Snead for a 69-yard gain, and a major foul by Robert Priester set up Caleb Evans for a one-yard quarterback sneak.

Priester took a second major foul minutes later, which led to a Montreal first down and finished with a field goal.

“We have a pretty veteran group in this locker room,” said receiver Bralon Addison. “I think for a championship team, which is the team we want to be, corrections on things like penalties has to start internally. 

"We can’t let it get to coaches. It can’t be a thing that the coaches have to talk about week in and week out. It’s something we’ve got to correct.”

Ottawa had a better second half, but Matt Shiltz, who start at quarterback for the injured Dru Brown, was 22-for-32 for 205 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions, struggled at times.

An early interception put Ottawa in good position and it appeared that Redblacks star wideout Eugene Lewis had pulled down a touchdown pass, but he dropped the ball and failed to find the end zone the rest of the night. It put an end to his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown, ending his bid to tie Terry Evanshen’s record of 10 straight games.

“I dropped it, I ain’t gonna lie to you,” said Lewis. “I can’t be mad at nobody and I’m ready to start a new (streak).”

Dustin Crum punched in Ottawa’s first TD of the game and cut the deficit to 19-10. Montreal conceded a rouge on the ensuing kickoff, making it 19-11.

Alexander then set up a 23-yard touchdown pass to James Letcher Jr, but Ottawa fought back again with Shiltz finding Addison late in the third to narrow the gap to 26-18.

Montreal went on to add two more field goals and a Wesley Sutton interception, that he ran back for a 45-yard touchdown, put the game out of reach.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2025.