The Montreal Alouettes made many mistakes in the 112th Grey Cup but the one that set the tone came early in the first quarter and cost the team a touchdown.
Defensive back Kabion Ento, who is in his third season as a starter, jumped an outlet pass from Trevor Harris to A.J. Ouellette and had nothing but open field in front of him. He got his hands on the football but instead of taking it back for a pick-six, the pass fell to the turf as Ento was unable to squeeze it.
“I gotta pick that. That ball hit the palm of my hand and that changed the game — that’s a walk-in touchdown,” Ento told 3DownNation postgame. “We just lost by a touchdown, so I owe it to my team. That’s a play I gotta make, that’s a play they expect me to make. As you can see, when those plays are not made like that, it comes down to a situation like this. I gotta make that play, I gotta pick that off.”
Harris is known for making quick decisions with the football but Montreal’s defence forced him to go through multiple reads for long stretches of the game. The 39-year-old passer, who was named the game’s Most Valuable Player in a 25-17 win, only threw one pass in harm’s way on Sunday and Ento failed to intercept it.
The defensive back was lurking on the play as Harris surveyed the field. He then timed his break on the ball perfectly, anticipating that a pass was going to be thrown to Saskatchewan’s bruising running back in the flat.
“I seen (sic) it as soon as he threw it,” said Ento. “I saw (Harris) going through his progressions and I knew eventually he’d probably have to come back to (Ouellette). I seen (sic) him when he threw the ball. I tried to break on it and like I said, I just gotta do a better job catching the ball.”
Ento indicated the Roughriders didn’t do anything that surprised their defence, but admitted that he and his teammates needed to tackle better. In all, the Alouettes simply weren’t sharp enough to win their second Grey Cup in three years.
“We just didn’t make enough plays today. You want to come back in the locker room and celebrate with your brothers, and we basically didn’t do that today,” said Ento.
“It’s the season finale, the biggest game of the biggest games. There just wasn’t enough plays made, definitely me included, but the love in this locker room don’t change. These are still my brothers.”
The Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the Montreal Alouettes in the 112th Grey Cup at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg by a score of 25-17.
Trevor Harris was named Most Valuable Player after he completed 23-of-27 pass attempts for 302 yards, winning his first Grey Cup as a starter. Samuel Emilus was named Most Valuable Canadian after he made 10 catches for 108 yards, finishing only two receptions shy of tying the Grey Cup record.
