{"id":271203,"date":"2025-11-09T02:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T02:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/271203\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T02:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T02:32:10","slug":"3-takeaways-from-montreals-eastern-final-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/271203\/","title":{"rendered":"3 takeaways from Montreal&#8217;s Eastern Final victory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With a trip to the 112th Grey Cup on the line on Saturday afternoon, the Montreal Alouettes found a way.<\/p>\n<p>A game-winning field goal, a coincidence, and some pretty great defence got the job done for Montreal, as they defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Eastern Final.<\/p>\n<p>Here are three takeaways from the game that sent the Alouettes to Winnipeg.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1871344 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Playoff-Logo-Final-800x600.png\"   alt=\"2023 CFL PLAYOFFS\" width=\"187\" height=\"140\" data-uw-rm-alt-original=\"\" data-uw-rm-alt=\"CT\"\/><\/p>\n<p>2025 GREY CUP PLAYOFFS<br \/>\u00bb <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/2025\/11\/08\/montreal-punches-ticket-to-112th-grey-cup-with-eastern-final-win\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Walk-off field goal sends Montreal to 112th Grey Cup<\/a><br \/>\u00bb <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/2025\/11\/08\/3-stats-that-defined-montreals-win-over-hamilton-in-the-eastern-final\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">3 stats that defined Montreal\u2019s Eastern Final win over Hamilton<\/a><br \/>\u00bb <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/games\/6579\/hamilton-tiger-cats-vs-montreal-alouettes\/#\/preview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Stats: Montreal at Hamilton by the numbers<\/a><br role=\"presentation\"\/>\u00bb\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/plus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"PR\" data-uw-original-href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/plus\" aria-label=\"Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally - open in a new tab\" data-uw-rm-ext-link=\"\" data-uw-original->Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>IT WAS A DREAM FOR THE ALS KICKER<\/p>\n<p>In a defensive battle that featured 10 total punts, six field goals, and just one offensive touchdown per team, it was fitting that the Eastern Final ended with a play on special teams.<\/p>\n<p>Jos\u00e9 Maltos D\u00ecaz, who was good on all four of his field goal attempts in the contest, lined up for the game-winning boot with the wind blowing in his face as the clock ticked down, almost expiring. It was then that he knew all the hours of practice he had put in were about to come to a head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just needed to be focused,\u201d he said after his team was awarded the East Division trophy. \u201cIt\u2019s how I practice during the week, I always kick against the wind to know what to do, like today, because the wind was in front of my face. I just needed to aim good, have my target and follow through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Standing 45 yards away, he watched the ball sail through the uprights. \u201cFor me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was like a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMONTREAL VS. THE WORLD\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a hostile environment, with a sold-out Hamilton Stadium crowd behind their Tiger-Cats, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/players\/davis-alexander\/165844\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-ga-category=\"Clicks - Article\" data-ga-action=\"article-player-link\" data-ga-opt-label=\"Davis Alexander\">Davis Alexander<\/a> felt a bit like a movie he had watched the night before the biggest game of his season so far.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI watched the movie 300 last night,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cThat\u2019s like a million soldiers versus 300. That\u2019s kind of what it felt like tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What was even more fitting, you could call it coincidence or maybe divine intervention, but with the clock ticking down to under two minutes, Alexander looked up at the video board at Hamilton Stadium and saw a clip from that same movie he had watched the night before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started literally laughing, smiling,\u201d said a beaming Alexander after the game. \u201cAnd all I could think about was, (it) had to have been my freaking dad upstairs talking to me, saying, \u2018you\u2019re built for this. This is the way you want it. Montreal versus the world.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alexander then hit the field and moved the chains down the field to put Maltos D\u00ecaz into position to kick the game-winning field goal to send his team to the 112th Grey Cup.<\/p>\n<p>DEFENCE WON THE DAY<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was a low-scoring affair between the Ticats and Als, especially in the first half. There were just three field goals kicked between the two teams, with Montreal leading 6-3 at the break.<\/p>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t because the offences weren\u2019t playing well. Not at all. Both teams\u2019 defences were locked in, not allowing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/players\/bo-levi-mitchell\/158222\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-ga-category=\"Clicks - Article\" data-ga-action=\"article-player-link\" data-ga-opt-label=\"Bo Levi Mitchell\">Bo Levi Mitchell<\/a>, or Alexander for that matter, to generate much or score any touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur defence competes like hell on every single play,\u201d said Maas. \u201cThey don\u2019t concede anything. They give great effort, great toughness, and they have all the ability. And when they put it together each and every week, I\u2019m never surprised by results.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/?post_type=player&amp;p=1167908165394000\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-ga-category=\"Clicks - Article\" data-ga-action=\"article-player-link\" data-ga-opt-label=\"Darnell Sankey\">Darnell Sankey<\/a> tallied a team-high 10 tackles in the game, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfl.ca\/players\/wesley-sutton\/165688\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-ga-category=\"Clicks - Article\" data-ga-action=\"article-player-link\" data-ga-opt-label=\"Wesley Sutton\">Wesley Sutton<\/a> had an interception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a trip to the 112th Grey Cup on the line on Saturday afternoon, the Montreal Alouettes found&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-271203","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\/271203","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=271203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}