The Montreal Alouettes have sold out the East Final against the Toronto Argonauts, drawing a capacity crowd of 23,035.
This marks the first time since 2012 that Montreal has hosted the East Division’s championship game. The Alouettes hosted last year’s East Semi-Final but attracted a crowd of only 20,127 fans to Percival Molson Stadium, almost 3,000 fans shy of a sell out.
These teams met in last year’s East Final, which resulted in a shocking 38-17 win for Montreal, who were heavy underdogs at BMO Field. The Alouettes picked Chad Kelly off four times as part of nine total Toronto turnovers, while Montreal needed only 197 yards of net offence to advance to the Grey Cup.
Montreal and Toronto met three times during the regular season with the Alouettes taking the first matchup 30-20 on June 28 at BMO Field. Tyson Philpot and Cole Spieker caught long touchdown passes and Caleb Evans scored on a one-yard plunge, while Montreal’s defence chased Cameron Dukes from the game late as the Argonauts added a touchdown in garbage time from then-backup quarterback Bryan Scott.
The Argonauts avenged the loss two weeks later with a dominant 37-18 win in Montreal. Cody Fajardo was forced to leave the game after the first quarter due to a hamstring injury and Toronto took full advantage, intercepting Caleb Evans twice as Ka’Deem Carey, Cameron Dukes, Daniel Adeboboye, and Deonta McMahon combined for 183 yards and one touchdown along the ground.
Montreal lost the third and final meeting 37-31 on Sept. 28, this time with Chad Kelly under centre for Toronto following his return from suspension. The controversial quarterback threw for 287 yards and one interception in the win, while his team’s defence limited the Alouettes to only 288 yards of net offence. Lirim Hajrullahu accounted for over half of his team’s points, going eight-for-eight on his field goal attempts.
The Montreal Alouettes (12-5-1) will host the Toronto Argonauts (11-8) on Saturday, Nov. 9 with kickoff slated for 3:00 p.m. EST.
