{"id":257395,"date":"2025-11-02T20:47:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T20:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/257395\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T20:47:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T20:47:21","slug":"3-players-that-stood-out-in-montreals-eastern-semi-final-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/257395\/","title":{"rendered":"3 players that stood out in Montreal’s Eastern Semi-Final victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Montreal Alouettes\u2019 Eastern Semi-Final win had plenty of big performers on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n

Defensively, Darnell Sankey<\/a>\u2018s game-sealing interception and Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund<\/a>\u2018s two forced fumbles and fumble recovery made a difference.<\/p>\n

But it was the Alouettes offence, led by quarterback Davis Alexander<\/a>, that stole the show.<\/p>\n

Here are three players that stood out in Montreal\u2019s Semi-Final win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n

\"20232025 GREY CUP PLAYOFFS
\u00bb Alouettes defeat Bombers, punch ticket to Eastern Final<\/a>
\u00bb 3 stats that defined Montreal\u2019s Eastern Semi-Final win<\/a>
\u00bb Game Tracker: Eastern Semi-Final by the numbers<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

DAVIS ALEXANDER | QUARTERBACK<\/p>\n

There were plenty of moments during the Eastern Semi-Final when Davis Alexander<\/a> didn\u2019t look like a quarterback making his first CFL playoff start.<\/p>\n

The biggest, in this writer\u2019s opinion, was a drive in the third quarter, after Winnipeg had rattled off three consecutive touchdowns. It only took six minutes for the momentum to completely swing in the Bombers\u2019 direction, with the visitors taking a two-point lead.<\/p>\n

The poise and confidence of Alexander were on full display on the following series. It was a crucial moment for the young quarterback, facing a veteran Winnipeg team that had just scored on three straight drives.<\/p>\n

Leading up to that point, Alexander had thrown an interception that led to a Winnipeg touchdown that cut his team\u2019s lead to five. The next Als drive featured a fumble that led to the go-ahead major score. None of that shook the Alouettes\u2019 quarterback.<\/p>\n

He pushed the ball deep, as he had been doing all game, and led Montreal to a scoring drive of their own. That touchdown gave Montreal back their lead that they never gave up again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gonna bet on myself every single time,\u201d said Alexander. \u201cI\u2019m never gonna be scared of the moment. That\u2019s what we preach in this locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander finished hitting a season-high 384 yards to go along with two touchdowns, one through the air and one on the ground, and one interception.<\/p>\n

STEVIE SCOTT III | RUNNING BACK<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Heading into the Eastern Semi-Final, the talk about the running game was mostly geared towards the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. With Brady Oliveira running the rock, how could it not?<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s not a slight to Stevie Scott III, who started becoming a regular in the Als\u2019 backfield in Week 10. It was more that Winnipeg\u2019s offensive identity has been through the legs of Oliveira for the last number of years.<\/p>\n

Scott III must have heard the chatter and decided that he was going to be the better of the two backs in the Eastern Semi. Scott III tallied 18 carries for 133 yards and two touchdowns, including a sensational major score where he kept his legs turning, carrying a number of players with him into the end zone. Oliveira had just eight carries for 38 yards in the contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s Derrick Henry of the CFL, to be honest with you,\u201d Alexander said of his running back. \u201cHe runs just like him. He\u2019s a monster. He\u2019s turned into a monster, and his confidence is only growing and growing and growing, kind of like the rest of our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

TYSON PHILPOT | RECEIVER<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tyson Philpot<\/a> was the star of the first half for the Montreal Alouettes, helping them get out to a commanding lead in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

The game\u2019s opening touchdown came on a Philpot jet sweep from the one-yard line into the end zone to put the Als up 10-0. His second was on Montreal\u2019s very next possession, hauling in a 45-yard touchdown strike and Montreal led 17-0.<\/p>\n

The Canadian receiver, who has shown us that he doesn\u2019t think big moments are ever too big (remember his game-winning touchdown in the 110th Grey Cup?), was Alexander\u2019s favourite target on the day. He finished the game hauling in 10 of the game-high 11 passes thrown in his direction for 135 yards, averaging 13.5 yards per catch.<\/p>\n

Much like Alexander did, Philpot also shook off a mistake, putting his fumble behind him and moving forward to help his team to victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Montreal Alouettes\u2019 Eastern Semi-Final win had plenty of big performers on both sides of the ball. Defensively,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-257395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}