MONTREAL - Ben Cahoon and Danny Desriveaux shared a slotback position and both came away with a bit of glory for the Montreal Alouettes.
Each was on the receiving end of one of Anthony Calvillo's four touchdown passes as the Alouettes downed the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 38-24 on Friday night, handing rookie coach Marc Trestman and his high-tempo offence a second win in as many CFL games. Cahoon's three-yard catch late in the first quarter was the 55th of his 11-year career, passing'70s great Peter Dalla Riva for the team record.
And Desriveaux posted his first career 100-yard receiving game, grabbing eight passes for 105 yards and his second career TD.
Cahoon missed last week's season-opening 33-10 win in Hamilton with a leg injury and was used sparingly while second-year slotback Desriveaux got most of the work. He got the record TD on only his second play in the game.
"It's a fluke thing how it worked out," said Cahoon. "It was a play that wasn't really in the game plan.
"It's cool, but this game was about much more than that. It was about Jamel Richardson making great catches and Danny Desriveaux playing great, the offensive line doing a great job and Anthony playing his heart out."
Richardson made a spectacular one-handed catch behind Anthony Malbrough to cap Montreal's first drive, while Kerry Watkins also had a TD catch and Avon Cobourne ran one in for Montreal to build a 31-7 halftime lead.
Charles Roberts was limited to 11 yards on six carries for 0-2 Winnipeg, but scored on a three-yard run, while Derick Armstrong made a 29-yard TD catch and Jovan Johnson picked off a Calvillo pass and ran it back 79 yards for a touchdown.
The Bombers, who beat Montreal in all four of their meetings last year, now face consecutive games against the talented B.C. Lions beginning next Friday night at home.
"We'll approach it like any other game," said Bombers quarterback Kevin Glenn, who rebounded from a rough first half to complete 26 passes for 313 yards. "These two games are behind us.
"We're not out of it. It's only two games. But we need to get something going really fast."
How much Cahoon will play against Calgary on Thursday at Percival Molson Stadium remains up in the air, but Trestman may find time and space for both in his offence.
"It was good to see Ben back in there," said Trestman. "Danny is a very unselfish player.
"He stepped up and did good things again. Danny can play any position on our team now."
Desriveaux, who caught six passes last week in Cahoon's spot and now leads the team in catches, said: "It'll be tough to sleep. I visualize a lot and every one I thought of happened in the game. For me to get 100 yards in Montreal and my first TD, it's a real high."
It was also a big night for Calvillo, who has been on fire since returning to the team. He missed the end of last season to be with his wife Alexia, who was battling cancer. She and their daughter were among the crowd of 20,202 watching as he completed 34 of 44 passes for 372 yards.
Calvillo used to call his own plays, but Trestman, a former NFL offensive co-ordinator, has taken that over. In two games, Calvillo has passed for 665 yards and six TDs.
"Just being back on the field is special," Calvillo said. "We came up with a lot of new stuff this year and it takes a while for the defences to adjust.
"They did a good job in the second half. They shut us down a bit. So we needed to make some plays in the fourth quarter."
Johnson's interception made it a 10-point game going into the fourth.
A nine-yard Alexis Serna field goal cut the lead to seven, but Calvillo answered with a long drive on which he made two long scrambles, capped by Cobourne's one-yard TD run with 4:55 to go.
The Alouettes marched 60 yards on eight plays on their opening drive capped up former Saskatchewan Roughrider Richardson's 11-yard catch.
Serna, punting in place of injured Duncan O'Mahony, dropped a snap for a second week in a row and Montreal took over on the Winnipeg-. Two plays later, Cahoon had his record catch and a standing ovation.
Watkins caught an'-yard pass to make it 21-0 only 2:20 into the second quarter, but momentum may have turned on their next possession when the Bombers stopped them on third down and less than a yard at midfield. The call stood up to a challenge for what Montreal thought was a stingy spot of the ball.
The Winnipeg line had stuffed Montreal on third-and-one three times last season, but while Glenn got the Bombers close, the officials gave them a mean spot for third-and-two at the 10 and the threat ended when Glenn overthrew Arjei Franklin in the end zone.
Montreal drove back for Desriveaux's three-yard TD catch with 2:04 left in the half, but the Winnipeg offence finally found life and Roberts scored from the three at-:38.
Damon Duval booted a 42-yard field goal to end the half.
Notes - The Bombers are missing three regulars from their offensive line: Dominic Picard (ankle), Obby Khan (colitis) and Matt Sheridan (groin). Slotback Milt Stegall (knee) missed a second straight game. . . The Alouettes were without back-up quarterback Marcus Brady (shoulder), safety Mathieu Proulx (hamstring), slotback Elijah Thurmon (knee) and linemen Alain Kashama (knee) and Kai Ellis (knee). . . Former Montreal safety Etienne Boulay, who is to attend the New York Jets camp, said he will be back if he doesn't make the NFL club.
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