MONTREAL

Wow! Sure it was only an exhibition game.

Maybe the Montreal Alouettes aren’t the powerhouse they were four or five years ago. Or maybe the Ottawa RedBlacks are going to be better than a lot of skeptics think.

By the way, to whoever played Lady in Red when the RedBlacks ran out onto the field Friday night at Percival Molson Stadium – ladies eh? What about that can of whoopass the Ottawa boys put on your team?

The RedBlacks turned some heads in front of a crowd of a bit more than 18,000, beating the Alouettes 26-10.

When it comes time for the Ottawa football operations folks to whittle down the roster by Saturday’s 10 p.m. deadline – there are a few guys who won’t be worried. Quarterback Henry Burris schooled the Alouettes defenders in the first half. He got great protection from his offensive line and time and time again, he made the right read, finding his second or third option. He connected on 17-of-22 passes for 247 yards – in the first half alone.

“We don’t have a game next week, so we had to make sure we had a good feeling coming out of this,” said Burris. “The coach put us in a great situation to make plays.”

Oh, and running back Chevon Walker, picked up in the expansion draft from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats? All he did was score three first-half touchdowns – the first from three yards out (set up receptions by Dobson Collins (28 yards) and Matt Carter (34 yards), the second set up by Kierrie Johnson’s 36-yard catch and run (a video review ruled he stepped out of bounds on the one-yard-line) and the third on a five-yard catch and run (set up by two catches by Paris Jackson (29 and 13 yards) and another by Marcus Henry (25 yards).

“We came out as a team,” said Walker. “It might be our first year back in the league, but we’re here to compete.”

Delberto Alvarado boomed a 55-yard punt for a single to give the Als a 1-0 first-quarter lead, then later hit on two field goals. Chad Johnson, yep, Chad Freaking Johnson, was in the lineup for Montreal. But he didn’t do much – one catch for 13 yards in the first half.

Justin Palardy booted a 53-yard single early in the third quarter for Ottawa. After a bad punt and no-yards penalty, Montreal settled for a 20-yard field third-quarter field goal. Palardy later unleashed a couple of big punts.

On the final play of the third quarter, the RedBlacks stuffed Montreal on a third-and-one gamble and took over on the Als’ 25-yard line. A couple of runs by D.J. Harper led to a 21-yard field goal by Brett Maher. Montreal gambled on third down again a few minutes later, once again failing, giving Ottawa the ball on its own 47.

The Ottawa players who may have been on the bubble heading into the game did their part. Now it’s up to the coaches. There will be plenty of tough decisions to be made before Saturday’s deadline for submitting a roster.

“Any time at the end of camp, if the decisions are easy, that means you don't have enough good football players,” said RedBlacks coach Rick Campbell. “We're fortunate we have a lot of good football players here and some tough decisions to make.”

“It’s a bad part of the business for coaches. There are a lot of guys who put a lot of work into this. It's a tough day, it's not a fun day. It's part of the reality of the business. As the days go by, it's exciting because you have your team you're going with for the year.”

The roster will consist of 44 active players, two on reserve, 10 on the practice squad, plus any injured players.

“For a lot of guys, it's going to come down to special teams,” said Campbell. “It could be a tiebreaker. That's what tips the scales in a lot of games is special teams.”

Tim.baines@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @timcbaines