HAMILTON — After seemingly doing everything in their power to lose the CFL season opener in the first half on Thursday, the Montreal Alouettes showed the rest of the league why they figure to be a strong Grey Cup contender again this season.
Ten penalties in 30 minutes of football? No problem. A 14-point deficit in the third quarter? Game’s not over yet.
Just like in last year’s East final on this very same field, the Als walked off the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with a Jose Maltos Diaz field goal. This one was a chip shot from 17 yards in overtime, capping a 30-27 opening-night stunner at Hamilton Stadium.
“They compete and they compete on every play. They’re very connected and they believe. That’s what I love about them,” Alouettes head coach Jason Maas said outside the jubilant dressing room afterward.
“Obviously, any time you play a football game, anything can happen. But if you play hard, you play together and if you play for one another, good things usually happen. I’ll tell you what, it doesn’t matter if we’re up or down, they just keep playing and keep competing.”
It helps when you have a quarterback like Davis Alexander, who seemingly can’t lose in the regular season. Alexander improved to 12-0 for his career as a starter in regular-season play after throwing for 336 yards and two touchdowns.
Hobbled by a hamstring injury last season, Alexander missed 11 games and also was clearly not healthy in a rough Grey Cup loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
He looked far better on Thursday, helping the Alouettes overcome injuries to three starters on offence (receiver Cole Spieker, centre Justin Lawrence and running back Travis Theis).
“He’s a winner,” said receiver Tyler Snead, who was excellent himself, finishing with nine catches for 163 yards and a touchdown. “He goes out there and finds a way to get the job done always. We believe in him and he believes in us.”
But this was not simply the Alexander show.
The defence came up huge, especially Robert Kennedy III. With the Ticats leading 24-10 in the third quarter and threatening to put the game out of reach, Kennedy read Hamilton star quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell perfectly, stepping in front of a pass and then racing the other way for a 54-yard pick-six that changed everything.
Then in overtime, with Hamilton having the ball first, Kennedy punched the ball out of Ticats receiver Keric Wheatfall’s hands, allowing teammate Kabion Ento to recover.
Three plays later, Maltos Diaz sealed the deal.
“Defence is unbelievable,” said Alexander, draped in a Quebec flag given to him by an Alouettes fan after the game.
“We get to face them every single week in practice. They’re a resilient group, too. They never gave in, never flinched.”
It was a special night for Kennedy, who started his CFL career in Hamilton in 2024, even if he doesn’t want you to know that. After he was cut by the Los Angeles Chargers, he was signed to the Ticats practice squad. He lasted just over two weeks before he was released.
“I actually don’t even tell people I was here when I speak about my journey,” said Kennedy, who signed with the Als at the start of 2025 and then inked a contract extension last month.
“I was not myself at all. I was a completely different person at the time, dealing with depression and a bunch of stuff after I got cut from the NFL. They didn’t even see the best of me, but today they clearly did. I actually appreciated them for everything they did because if that didn’t happen, a big fire probably wouldn’t have been lit under me.”
Kennedy, like his entire team, thrived under pressure on Thursday.
After the Als’ mistake-filled first half, it was the Ticats making the big mistake (the pick-six) and the big penalty (a face mask on a punt late in the fourth quarter, preventing them from pinning Montreal deep). The Als, meanwhile, took just one penalty in the second half.
Maltos Diaz made a 29-yard field goal on the final play of regulation, setting up some Montreal magic in overtime.
The Ticats have now lost six consecutive season openers. They’re expected to battle it out with the Als for first in the East again this year. If they want to flip the script, they’ll need to be a little bit more like the Als when push comes to shove.
“We’re the most resilient team in the league, I would say,” Kennedy III said. “We can be getting blown out or we can be blowing somebody out, we’ll never stop, never let off the pedal at all. It’s very natural to us.”
