Alouettes throttle Argos, keep playoff hopes alive

Kevin Glenn and the Montreal Alouettes started fast and left the Toronto Argonauts reeling Friday night.

Glenn threw three TD passes, his first capping a 71-yard game-opening drive, leading Montreal to a convincing 34-2 win over Toronto at Tim Hortons Field.

Glenn was impressive in just his second start for Montreal (6-10), which snapped a four-game losing streak to remain in contention for the final West Division playoff spot with Winnipeg and B.C. Glenn had three interceptions in last weekend's 23-11 loss to Hamilton but was 27-of-35 passing for 294 yards before giving way to Anthony Boone in the fourth quarter.

Time, Glenn said, was a major reason for his turnaround. Montreal, which took a commanding 25-2 half-time lead, obtained the veteran quarterback from Saskatchewan at the CFL trade deadline Oct, 14.

Positive atmosphere

"You get another couple of days familiarity with the players, with the receivers, with the offence and you just get into a groove," Glenn said. "I think the positive atmosphere on the sidelines was another key thing.

"Everybody was up on the sidelines, the offence was cheering the defence on, the defence was cheering the offence on."

Glenn and the Als were sharp right from the start, his six-yard scoring strike to Tyrell Sutton capping an impressive eight-play march to open the contest.

"If you can take the opening drive 80 yards and score, especially a touchdown, that's starting pretty fast," Glenn said. "It was one of those things we talked about, if we get the ball first we want to come out and show what we're about.

"That was a big drive to open the game line that, it was big for us."

Montreal coach/GM Jim Popp agreed.

"The four losses we had we gave up a touchdown in three of those and then a field goal," he said. "We were playing (from) behind and as the stats show we only scored 15 points total in the first half of those four games.

"It makes a huge difference if you can start positively, especially on the road."

Just 3,741 spectators attended the contest, relocated from Rogers Centre because of the baseball playoffs. Once again, all the spectators sat in the East stands as TV cameras shot the action from the West section.

Only 3,401 watched the Calgary Stampeders dispatch Toronto 27-15 last weekend at Tim Hortons Field.