Argos end long drought against Alouettes

Chad Owens and the Toronto Argonauts showed they're for real.

Owens caught two touchdown passes while Ryan Christian returned a kickoff a club-record 110 yards for another as the surprising Argos stunned the Montreal Alouettes 37-22 Saturday at Rogers Centre.

And after dropping a 41-10 decision to the Als in Montreal on July 29, Owens said the upstart Argos (5-2) — who had just three wins last year — came through with a statement game against the defending Grey Cup champions.

"Definitely," said Owens. "It was a big day for us. We needed it, especially the way we performed in Montreal.

"I tried to be that fire, I tried to be the energy to keep everybody up. Offence, defence and special teams, we put it together."

Christian, a first-year player from Texas Christian, electrified the season-high Rogers Centre gathering of 22,311 at 2:08 of the second quarter, a play after Montreal had pulled to within 14-7.

Christian broke the Argos' record of 109 yards set by Terry Greer in 1981 and capped the play by somersaulting into the end zone.

But it was Owens, who was acquired from Montreal before the season, who cemented the victory. He hauled in a 40-yard TD toss from quarterback Cleo Lemon at the eight-minute mark of the fourth to put Toronto ahead 38-22 when Montreal seemed to be gaining some momentum.

Owens haunts old team

"There was no trepidation or thinking Chad would haunt us," Montreal coach Marc Trestman said. "Chad is a good player and we hold him in high regard.

"We knew when we lost him we lost a good player."

Owens finished with six catches for 163 yards and the two TDs, the Argos' first 100-yard receiver of the season. The only blemish on the Hawaii native's performance was being flagged for excessive celebration following his second touchdown grab.

Toronto emerged victorious despite losing offensive lineman Cedric Gagne-Marcoux (calf), receiver Jeremaine Copeland (elbow) and cornerback Willie Middlebrooks (unspecified). Copeland, who was injured after fumbling on a 50-yard catch during the Argos' first drive, was given the game ball as his teammates felt the reception set the tone.

Lemon recorded his first three-TD game for Toronto, which wore dark blue retro 1970s jerseys and the A symbol on their helmets. He finished 13-of-19 passing for 269 yards.

With its first win over the Alouettes in eight attempts dating back to Oct. 20, 2007, Toronto moved into a first-place tie with Montreal (5-2) atop the East Division standings. And after having to rally for their first four wins of the year, the Argos — who had only three wins all of last year — had to hold on for this one after storming out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead.

Montreal made it interesting in the third after Lemon's 18-yard TD strike to Andre Durie at 3:32 put Toronto ahead 31-14.

Quarterback Anthony Calvillo, playing after dislocating a finger on his passing hand last week, found a wide-open S.J. Green on a 49-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 31-21 at 7:42.

Errant field goal

Calvillo also took Montreal on a 70-yard, 11-play drive to the Toronto 31-yard line but the Als could only muster a single on Duval's errant 39-yard field goal attempt to pull to within 31-22 at 5:25 of the fourth.

Calvillo finished 37-of-50 passing for 443 yards and three TDs for the defending Grey Cup champions, who also had three turnovers.

"Everyone is talking about what a surprise they [Argos] are," Calvillo said. "But they're not a surprise to us.

"Looking at the tapes, they're playing excellent football and came in at 4-2 for a reason."

Kerry Watkins and Jamel Richardson scored Montreal's other touchdowns. Damon Duval booted the converts, a field goal and single.

Owens, Durie and Cory Boyd also scored touchdowns for Toronto. Shaw added the converts and a field goal.

Owens opened the scoring with an exciting 63-yard TD pass from Lemon at 6:55 of the first. Then Boyd bulldozed his way into the end zone on a one-yard scoring run at 10:05, two plays after he surprised the Alouettes defence by hitting Lemon on a cross-field halfback option pass that went for 13 yards and put Toronto on Montreal's eight-yard line.

However, Lemon hit just one receiver in the opening half, finding Owens on three tosses for 77 yards. His other completion was to Jeremaine Copeland, who fumbled after a 50-yard completion and promptly left the game with an unspecified injury.

Montreal slotback Ben Cahoon moved past Darren Flutie (972) into second in all-time receptions with an 11-yard catch in the second quarter.