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June 16, 2017

REDBLACKS drop preseason finale in Montreal

With many of their veterans remaining back in the nation’s capital, the REDBLACKS fell 38-5 to the Alouettes Thursday night in Montreal to close out their preseason.

While the score line wasn’t flattering, the final preseason test provides the coaching and management staff with the necessary visuals to aid their decisions in setting the final roster heading into their home opener next Friday at TD Place.

A fumble on the opening kickoff grant the Alouettes good field position that they turned into a field goal to claim the early 3-0 lead. Following a pair of three-and-outs, the Als grew their lead to 10-0 and held a 16-0 advantage after the opening quarter that featured four Ottawa turnovers.

Darian Durant and Vernon Adams Jr. looked strong under centre in the first half for Montreal and when their respective nights were done, the pair had through for over 220 yards and three touchdowns.

Campbell: Some guys that played tonight can help us this season


Danny Collins proved to be one of the bright spots on the nights for Ottawa going 7/13 and throwing for over 100 yards. Dominique Rhymes also stood out on offences netting 93 yards of offence on five receptions.

Brett Maher returned to the REDBLACKS line-up after being signed over the weekend and broke the scoring drought for Ottawa late in the third quarter.

Defensively, Keelan Johnson and Javier Arenas each recorded seven tackles while Kevin Brown had four to go along with an interception.

While the coaches and management will spend the next 24-48 hours setting their roster, the focus will quickly shift to next Friday’s home opener at TD Place featuring a rematch of last year’s Grey Cup with the Calgary Stampeders, who come to town to tangle with the REDBLACKS and RNation.

Bring on the regular season!

WHAT THEY SAID

“We have some big decisions to make, but there were some good individual performances tonight and we some some guys that proved that they can help us this year.” – Rick Campbell

“The defence got worn down tonight because we couldn’t stay on offence. We have lots to film to look at, but make no mistake tonight’s result will have no bearing on our mindset heading into Calgary. We’re excited for that game. The guys will be amped up and we’ll have our fans behind us.” – Rick Campbell

“We had a lot of young guys out there tonight and of course it wasn’t the result that we wanted, but we’ll take away the positives, look at the tapes and make ourselves better.” – Keelan Johnson

STATS

BOX SCORE – Click here

PLAY-BY-PLAY – Click here

ATTENDANCE – 12,533