A historic performance from rookie return man DeVonte Dedmon led the Ottawa REDBLACKS to a 30-27 overtime win over the Montreal Alouettes on Friday Night Football.
Dedmon set a franchise record with 377 return yards and a pair of touchdowns in the win for the REDBLACKS (3-4), while QB Dominique Davis and the offence surged late to claim a key win over Montreal (3-3) at Percival Molson Stadium.
The Als raced to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, translating a pair of Ottawa turnovers into a Boris Bede field goal and 13-yard Vernon Adams Jr. rush touchdown.
The REDBLACKS needed a response, and received one immediately from Dedmon: The rookie raced Bede’s kickoff 111 yards back to the house for an Ottawa touchdown. Brendan Gillanders then bounced outside for the two-point convert, cutting the Montreal lead to two.
The slugfest continued, as the Alouettes capped an eight-play, 69-yard drive with an Adams Jr. touchdown plunge from the one-yard line. Bede’s convert gave the hosts a 17-8 lead.
After a sleepy second quarter, Dedmon jolted the game to life with an extraordinary 95-yard punt return TD; the William & Mary product bounced off tackles, juked out various Alouettes and raced to the end zone to make it a three-point game at the half.
Defence fostered offence early in the second half, when Mike Wakefield tipped, then intercepted an Adams Jr. pass and set the Ottawa offence up at Montreal’s six-yard line.
Davis promptly found Sinopoli in the end zone, and a Lewis Ward convert gave the REDBLACKS their first lead of the night, 21-17.
Seven straight points from Bede — a 30-yard field goal, a single and another field goal from 45 out — gave the hosts a 24-21 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
Once there, Bede and Ward traded field goals and Montreal nursed a three-point lead with mere minutes to play.
After a critical stop by the Ottawa defence, Davis and co. drove 71 yards to set up a last-gasp, 30-yard Ward field-goal attempt: The uOttawa product drilled it to force overtime.
In the extra frame, the REDBLACKS moved the chains well but were limited to a 14-yard Ward field goal on the opening possession.
The defence then came up with a game-winning stop, as Jerod Fernandez stripped Als running back Will Stanback and De’Andre Montgomery came away with the football — sealing a wild win for the REDBLACKS.
Ottawa will now head west for a date with the Edmonton Eskimos (4-2) on the Week 9 edition of Friday Night Football. Kickoff is slated for 10 p.m. ET at Commonwealth Stadium.
GAME NOTES
Dedmon became the first player in Ottawa football history to return two kicks for touchdowns in the same game…Als QB Vernon Adams Jr. left the game in the third quarter and did not return…Davis finished 20-of-33 for 164 yards with a touchdown and 2 INTs.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“It’s big to get a win on the road, especially against Montreal. Little unorthodox…We went up-tempo and got it done.
“(Dedmon) was a big difference in the ballgame. That was a determined guy, it’s not only talent. It’s a guy that…that second one was awesome because he wasn’t going down. He was getting to the end zone, and that’s contagious.” — HC Rick Campbell
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
SCORING SUMMARY
Q1
MTL — FG Bede — 9:38
MTL — Adams Jr. (Bede conv.) — 5:34
OTT — Dedmon KR TD (Gillanders 2-pt. conv.) — 4:49
MTL — Adams Jr. (Bede conv.) — 0:22
Q2
OTT — Dedmon KR TD (2-pt conv. failed) — 1:08
Q3
OTT — Davis to Sinopoli (Ward conv) — 13:21
MTL — FG Bede — 8:03
MTL — Bede single — 7:44
MTL — FG Bede — 3:02
Q4
MTL — FG Bede — 10:15
OTT — FG Ward — 6:48
OTT — FG Ward — 0:02
OT
OTT — FG Ward — 0:00
GAME GALLERY
