MONTREAL — For the second straight week, the Montreal Alouettes erased a deficit before pulling away late, defeating the Toronto Argonauts 37-30 to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
After surrendering the lead early in the second half, the Alouettes responded with 20 unanswered points, using a balanced effort from their offence, defence and special teams to seize control.
Davis Alexander and Tyson Philpot wasted little time reconnecting on Friday night at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, but Chad Kelly and the Toronto offence answered right back in an entertaining back-and-forth affair.
The Argonauts responded late in the first half when Kelly engineered a lightning-fast 58-second touchdown drive, capping the possession with a scoring strike to David Ungerer III to pull Toronto even.
Toronto came out firing after halftime, as Kelly found Canadian receiver Kevin Mital on a deep touchdown pass to reclaim the lead. The teams once again exchanged field goals before Montreal answered with one of its most impressive drives of the night.
Alexander completed all six of his pass attempts on the march, including a 27-yard connection with Jerreth Sterns, to move the Alouettes deep into Toronto territory. Dustin Crum finished the drive with a one-yard quarterback sneak, putting Montreal back in front 24-23 early in the fourth quarter.
The Alouettes added a massive special teams play in the closing minutes. With under three minutes remaining, Micah Awe broke through to block a Toronto punt, and Arthur Hamlin recovered the loose ball in the end zone for a touchdown. The ensuing convert was unsuccessful, extending Montreal’s lead to 30-23.
Montreal put the game away moments later by staying aggressive offensively. Alexander hit Philpot on a crossing route, and the receiver raced 56 yards for his second touchdown of the night, stretching the Alouettes’ lead to 37-23 and capping another outstanding performance from the quarterback-receiver tandem.
Toronto found the end zone one final time in the closing moments of the game, as Chad Kelly connected with Tyler Kahmann for a late touchdown pass, but the score proved to be little more than a consolation as Montreal secured the victory.
Alexander finished the night with another stellar performance, completing 30 of his 42 pass attempts for 441 yards and two touchdowns while improving to 13-0 as a regular season starter.
Philpot was Alexander’s favourite target throughout the night, finishing with 193 receiving yards and two touchdowns on a dominant performance. Jerreth Sterns also topped the century mark, adding 114 receiving yards to give Montreal a pair of 100-yard pass-catchers.
Kelly, who was returning from an injury suffered in the 2024 Eastern Final, also put together an impressive outing despite the loss, throwing for 445 yards while recording three touchdown passes and one interception in Toronto’s first game of the season.
RELATED
» Depth Charts: TOR | MTL
» Game Notes: Argonauts at Alouettes
» Game Tracker: Toronto at Montreal by the numbers
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SCORING PLAYS
- Davis Alexander 45-yard touchdown pass to Tyson Philpot (13:25, Q1) | MTL 7, TOR 0
- Lirim Hajrullahu 26-yard field goal (08:45, Q1) | MTL 7, TOR 3
- José Maltos Díaz 40-yard field goal (01:07, Q1) | MTL 10, TOR 3
- Lirim Hajrullahu 12-yard field goal (05:25, Q2) | MTL 10, TOR 6
- José Maltos Díaz 22-yard field goal (02:16, Q2) | MTL 13, TOR 6
- Chad Kelly 10-yard touchdown pass to David Ungerer III (01:18, Q2) | MTL 13, TOR 13
- Joseph Zema 64-yard punt single (00:43, Q2) | MTL 14, TOR 13
- Chad Kelly 63-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Mital (13:58, Q3) | TOR 20, MTL 14
- José Maltos Díaz 33-yard field goal (02:13, Q3) | TOR 20, MTL 17
- Lirim Hajrullahu 31-yard field goal (14:50, Q4) | TOR 23, MTL 17
- Dustin Crum one-yard touchdown run (10:31, Q4) | MTL 24, TOR 23
- Arthur Hamlin blocked punt touchdown return, point after unsuccessful (02:49, Q4) | MTL 30, TOR 23
- Davis Alexander 56-yard touchdown pass to Tyson Philpot (01:13, Q4) | MTL 37 | TOR 23
- Chad Kelly nine-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Kahmann (00:05, Q4) | MTL 37 | TOR 30
NEXT UP
Toronto now heads to Ottawa to face the REDBLACKS on Saturday, June 20, in Week 3 action. Argos and REDBLACKS haven’t faced each other since August 9, 2025, when Ottawa came away with a 46-42 win.
Montreal will now head to Edmonton to face the Elks also on Saturday, June 20. The last time these two teams met was August 8, 2025, when a Cody Fajardo-led squad took down Caleb Evans and the Alouettes 23-22.
