![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260719-191344-vs-WPG-AR-0026-800x533.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt will be a celebration of Ottawa\u2019s illustrious football history this Friday night when the REDBLACKS host the Alouettes at TD Place.<\/p>\n
The team will be celebrating 150 years of football in the city and welcoming back some of the greatest players ever to take the field in the nation\u2019s capital, including members of the 2016 and 1976 championship teams.<\/p>\n
The 2026 Ottawa football team will be looking to draw on the inspiration from the icons of years gone by, hoping to channel that energy towards picking up the club\u2019s first victory of the season. They lost a heartbreaker in overtime to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
Despite the difficult start, there have been positives for building throughout the season, and now coming off a bye week, Ottawa will line up against the top team in the CFL with lots of inspiration and even more to prove.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s only fitting that on a day where Ottawa is recognizing some of the legends of yesteryear, local kicker Lewis Ward finds his way back in the fold after Brett Lauther landed on the six-game injured list with a quad injury. Ward spent seven seasons with the REDBLACKS between 2018 and 2025, set a professional football record with 69 consecutive field goals and captured the league\u2019s Most Outstanding Rookie and Special Teams Player awards before being let go from the club earlier this year. Ironically, he spent a little bit of time on Montreal\u2019s practice roster earlier this year before landing in Ottawa this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously unfortunate for Brett, you hate to see any guy get injured, but for me it\u2019s about just doing whatever I can help to get the team the first win.\u201d Said Ward.<\/p>\n
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Among the other changes for the REDBLACKS is the debut of rookie American right tackle Julian Pearl, who will make his CFL debut, the return of former second overall pick Nick Mardner and the REDBLACKS debut of newly-acquired Tight End Jevoni Robinson, who arrived from Hamilton in exchange for an eighth-round pick this weekend. Rookie fullback \u00c9meric Boutin will also suit up in his first career CFL contest after starting the season on the six-game injured list. Nationals Daniel Okpoko and King Ambers round out the six additions to the Ottawa lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to get (Jevoni Robinson) involved. We haven\u2019t really had a tight end type body, and that\u2019s what he brings. He\u2019ll add a little bit in terms of the run game and allows us to not have our receivers do some of the dirty work,\u201d said Coach Dinwiddie. \u201cI think Pearl is a great athlete. We\u2019re probably going to have some growing pains, it\u2019s his first game, and Montreal is going to bring a lot of pressure. I think he\u2019s a good player with a bright future and we\u2019ll need his best football tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scouting the opposition<\/p>\n
It was a tale of two halves the last time these two teams matched up in Montreal last month. Ottawa struggled out of the gate, falling behind 21-6 going into the half, but stormed out after the intermission and nearly came all the way back, ultimately falling 37-35.<\/p>\n
Justin Hardy led the way for Ottawa in that one with 119 receiving yards, only outdone by Montreal\u2019s Tyson Philpot, who had 198 yards on the opposite side.<\/p>\n
Montreal comes into this game sitting at 6-1 and tied with Edmonton for first place in the league. Ottawa might be catching them at the perfect time, though. The Al\u2019s are coming off a short week, beating Hamilton 31-18 on Sunday, and are heading into a showdown with the Elks next week.<\/p>\n
Montreal is led by the dynamic duo of quarterback Davis Alexander, who leads the league in passing yards, and Philpot, who leads the league in receiving yards and receptions.<\/p>\n
On the defensive end, Mustafa Johnson currently sits one sack off the league\u2019s leaders (four tied with five), and the Al\u2019s should get a boost to the secondary with premier defensive back Kabion Ento slotting back into the starting field corner spot.<\/p>\n
In their words<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know it\u2019s going to be a physical brand of football that they are going to bring to us\u2026 We have to make sure we handle that pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head Coach and General Manager Ryan Dinwiddie on what to expect from Montreal this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing opportunity for me to pick up where I left off. It\u2019s a great organization, and the team has let me in seamlessly. I know a few guys, Greg Bell and Ayden Eberhardt, from my playing days, so, so far it\u2019s been a great transition and I\u2019m hoping to be an asset to this organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jevoni Robinson on his first few days in Ottawa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely understand that it\u2019s an 18-game season, so it\u2019s not like everything\u2019s out the window or anything like that. It\u2019s definitely a tough spot to be in, but you know, it\u2019s the CFL so a lot can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ayden Eberhardt on the team\u2019s positive approach at this point of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It will be a celebration of Ottawa\u2019s illustrious football history this Friday night when the REDBLACKS host the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-838606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838606","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=838606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}