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After a roughing the passer call on Ottawa, Bede booted a 26-yard field goal and the Als led 11-6 with 9:54 remaining in the first half.

The Redblacks got a good drive going with a nine-yard catch by Marco Dubois, a nine-yard run by Crockett, a 13-yard catch by Dedmon and a six-yard catch by Jacob Scarfone. But it was stopped there with the Als choosing to take a holding penalty rather than put the Redblacks in a third-and-four situation. It worked and the Redblacks were forced to punt.

A Jose Maltos field goal made it 11-9 for Montreal with 2:08 left in the first half.

Getting into the game at QB for Montreal, Vernon Adams took his team to the end zone in two plays — both completions to Quan Bray, first for 48 yards, then 27 yards and a touchdown. All of a sudden, it was 18-9 for the Als, with 1:34 left in the first half.

Arndt found Dubois for a 30-yard gain, then Ryan Lankford for 12 yards. The drive was squashed on the next play when former Ottawa Gee-Gees defensive back Ty Cranston came up with an interception on a tipped ball.

Arndt wound up completing 16 of 23 passes for 184 yards.

“I was a little frustrated with some of the stuff we left out there, I’m hard on myself so I’m crushing myself on the little things I wish I’d picked up,” said Arndt. “But it was fun going out there and playing ball, I really enjoyed myself.”

Adams went to work with his feet. Evading a couple of tackles deep in his own end, he scampered for 17 yards, then ran for another 18 yards to push the Als to the Ottawa 42-yard line. The Als chose to punt rather than boot the field goal, getting a single as the ball bounced sideways out of the end zone.