Alouettes grind out win over Lions

The B.C. Lions held the Montreal Alouettes without a touchdown on Friday but still lost at home 16-12.

Kicker Damon Duval made four of six field goal attempts and scored 14 points, putting the Alouettes up to stay with a 20-yard field goal with just over six minutes left. The Lions conceded an early safety for the other two Montreal points.

"If this game went any other way it's on my shoulders," said Duval, referring to the two missed kicks. "It didn't start off well.

"We stuck together. Offence and defence kept pushing. I finally picked things up and got things going in the right direction."

The other hero for Montreal (2-1) was Jerald Brown. The defensive player forced and recovered a Jamal Robertson fumble in the third and intercepted a Casey Printers pass in the final minute to effectively end the Lions' hopes.

"We just hung in there and fought," said Brown, who made a crucial interception last week against Edmonton. "Wins aren't always easy.

"It means something when you come together like this and fight. This means we know how to win. We find ways to win. We expect to win so we just keep playing."

The Alouettes won for the first time in 10 years in B.C., although their high-powered offence has gone two straight visits without scoring a touchdown.

Anthony Calvillo completed 30 of 46 passes for 297 yards for Montreal, which trailed most of the night.

Calvillo was sacked twice and saw his receivers drop some catchable passes, but he got extremely fortunate on the drive that set up to Duval's go-ahead kick. A long pass that should have been intercepted slipped between two Lions and into the arms of S.J. Green for a 48-yard completion deep in B.C. territory.

"We grinded through," said Calvillo. ""Our defence kept us in the game by keeping them out of the end zone. We had enough plays on offence to put us in field goal range."

Screen pass

Printers threw the game's only touchdown, a screen pass to Robertson in the waning seconds of the first half. Printers completed 20 of 40 passes for 253 yards with two interceptions.

"There was a couple of miscommunications that we had," said Printers. "It's just timing that we have to work on.

"We had spurts when we were playing very well and we had spurts when we didn't. It's just part of the growing process."

The Lions (1-2) have now lost both games at Empire Stadium, where they are playing due to renovations at BC Place.

B.C. has scored just 55 points this season, which will be no better than second-worst in the league when the third week is completed.

The Lions rushed just nine times for seven yards in the game, which featured more than 270 total penalty yards.

"We let a game we could have won, should have won, get away," said Lions coach Wally Buono. "We had opportunities to put more points on the board and we didn't do it.

"At times we were not disciplined and at times the execution wasn't exactly what you expected."

Calvillo found Brian Bratton and Jamel Richardson to set up a Duval kick for an early lead.

Montreal threatens

After Montreal conceded a safety, they threatened to score the first touchdown in the final minute of the first, but Dante Marsh knocked away a Calvillo bullet to the end zone.

Duval missed a subsequent field goal attempt, settling for a single.

The Lions were sputtering offensively, with just 40 net yards in the first quarter.

After being intercepted by Montreal's Marc-Olivier Brouillette in the end zone on the previous drive, Printers led the Lions 75 yards for a 9-6 lead late in the half.

Printers completed three passes to veteran Geroy Simon and then dished wide to Robertson for a 14-yard score with six seconds left before the break.

Paul McCallum made a field goal on B.C.'s first drive of the second for a six-point lead. The kick was set up by an impressive play in which Printers avoided a big hit to loft a pass to Derick Armstrong, who made a diving catch that was upheld by video review.

Fumble recovery

Lions offensive lineman Damane Duckett bailed out Robertson by falling on his fumble in the third, but the running back wasn't so fortunate a second time, with Brown of the Alouettes pouncing on the ball later in the drive.

Montreal running back Avon Cobourne ripped off a 15-yard run up the middle to set up Duval's tying field goal early in the fourth, a 41-yarder.

After Duval's go-ahead field goal, he boomed an unreturnable punt into the B.C. end zone for the final point of the game.

Montreal travels to Hamilton for a July 22 game, with the Lions in Toronto the following night.