MONTREAL — After a slower first half, the Montreal Alouettes offence came out flying for a second-half comeback at Percival Molson Stadium on Sunday night.
In his first start since an injury in Week 6, Cody Fajardo led his team on a 15-point run starting on the first drive of the third quarter.
The Als defence did the rest by keeping the Elks out of the end zone and ultimately scoreless through the second half for a 21-17 win to close out Week 12.
Montreal remains atop the standings at 10-1 on the season, while Edmonton drops to 3-8.
Here are CFL.ca’s three key stats in the Alouettes win over the Elks.
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336 – PASSING YARDS
Fajardo’s night was a tale of two halves. The veteran quarterback completed nine of 14 passes for 109 yards and one interception in the first half. That turnover that did not lead to points for the Elks.
However, Fajardo was fired up in the second half as he connected with receiver Cole Spieker on two touchdown passes. The pivot ended the game with 22 of 34 completions for 336 yards and those two majors.
Spieker led the game with five receptions for 107 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 21.4 yards per catch and added 37 yards after the catch. Charleston Rambo was close behind with three receptions for 95 yards, including the longest of the game at 50 yards.
3 – MONTREAL FIELD GOALS
While the Als air attack stole the show, kicker Jose Maltos garnered nine key points for Montreal — including the team’s only points of the first half.
Maltos made good on all three of his field goal attempts, his longest being 28 yards.
Conversely, Elks kicker Boris Bede was one for two on the night. A missed 41-yard attempt would have brought the team within one point of Montreal in the fourth quarter. Edmonton’s offence also tallied two majors in the first half.
-2 – ELKS 3rd QUARTER OFFENCE
Edmonton’s scoreless second half began with Montreal’s defence keeping the then-leading Elks to -2 net offence yards in the third quarter.
Alouettes linebacker Tyrice Beverette led the game with 10 defensive tackles, while teammate Darnell Sankey was right behind him with eight. Linebacker Geoffrey Cantin-Arku sacked Bethel-Thompson twice in the game, including for a loss of eight yards the first time.
The Als finished with 398 yards of net offence on 53 plays, averaging 7.5 yards per play. The Elks put together 329 yards of net offence on 62 plays, averaging 5.3 yards per play.