Hamilton Tiger-Cats squander 11-point lead, lose to Montreal Alouettes – Hamilton | Globalnews.ca
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The Hamilton Tiger-Cats fell to 1-3 at home, and 3-5 overall, following a 27-14 loss Saturday night against the Montreal Alouettes.
Quarterback Cody Fajardo threw for 318 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter as Montreal rallied from a 14-3 deficit in the third quarter to improve to 4-3 and move to within four points of the East Division leading Toronto Argonauts.
Hamilton QB Taylor Powell completed 20 of 31 pass attempts for 202 yards but he was also intercepted twice in his second career start in the Canadian Football League.
After a scoreless first quarter, running back James Butler opened the scoring for Hamilton early in the second frame when he carried the ball across the goal line for a four-yard touchdown. Butler ended the game with nine carries for 51 yards caught a game-high eight passes for 61 yards.
The scoring play came nine plays after defensive back Richard Leonard made his second interception of the first quarter on Fajardo in front of 21,467 fans at Tim Hortons Field.
Montreal found the scoreboard with 2:26 to play in the first half when David Cote converted a 34-yard field goal. It came about four-and-a-half minutes after Montreal’s J.R. Reed picked off Powell at the Al’s 36.
The Cats restored their seven point advantage when Marc Liegghio drilled a 44-yard field goal with 1:43 to play in the first half. Liegghio added another single point on the last play of the half when he missed wide left on a 51-yard field goal attempt. It was his first miss after converting his first 17 field goal attempts of the season.
Hamilton added three more points thanks to a big assist by the defence. Linebacker Simoni Lawrence forced Fajardo to fumble the ball and Tre Crawford recovered it on the Montreal 19. But the Ticats could not turn it into a red zone touchdown and settled for a 13-yard field goal by Liegghio.
The Al’s answered with six points of their own in the third quarter when Cote connected on field goals from 14 and 51 yards.
Montreal continued their dominance in the fourth quarter when a Caleb Evans ran for a one-yard TD and Cote kicked a 33-yard field to give them a 20-14 lead.
The Ticats’ defence made a key stop on 2nd and 9 at the Hamilton 52, but Anthony Federico was penalized for roughing the punter on the next play, and one play later Fajardo threw a 37-yard touchdown to Regis Cibasu to give the Alouettes a 27-14 lead.
Hamilton recorded only one first down in the second half in what was one of their worst showings in a half this season.
The Tiger-Cats return to action on August 17 when they host the winless Edmonton Elks.
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