CFL

• Alouettes host Roughriders in clash of 4-1 teams

  Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - A rematch of the season opener and last year's Grey Cup title game takes center stage this week, as the Montreal Alouettes entertain the Saskatchewan Roughriders at McGill Stadium on Friday night.

  Saskatchewan, which is tied with Calgary atop the standings in the Western Division at 4-1, may have won the first game of 2010 over the Als with a thrilling 54-51 overtime final, but the fact remains that Montreal is the one that is still defending its trophy from last season when it captured the league title with a narrow 28-27 final.

  The Roughriders, still just sixth in the current power rankings in the CFL, have scored no less than 20 points in every game this season and toppled Hamilton last weekend by a final of 37-24. However, the final score for Saskatchewan might be a bit misleading given that the team secured all but 14 of those points from the kicking of Luca Congi. The kicker knocked through all seven of his field goal attempts, his longest being a 42-yard effort, as he tied a career mark for most field goals in a single game and came up one shy of the CFL record. On Tuesday Congi was named the CFL Special Teams Player of the Week.

  From a traditional offensive standpoint, Darian Durant converted 21-of-35 passes for 270 yards. Running back Wes Cates not only carried the ball 13 times for 66 yards and two scores, but he also caught five balls for 75 yards in the home victory for the Roughriders. The pass defense for Saskatchewan was caught off guard by Arland Bruce III who tied a league record with 16 receptions and produced 272 yards and two touchdowns as a result.

  As for the Als last week, they won their fourth in a row as they stomped all over the Toronto Argonauts at home, 41-10. It was the largest margin of victory for Montreal so far this season and made its scoring differential through five games that much greater as it settled in atop the Eastern Division all by itself. The victory was the seventh in a row over Toronto and the 11th straight at home for Montreal as well.

  Anthony Calvillo, the league's reigning two-time MVP, had another sensational outing as he missed on just six of his 36 pass attempts, putting up 394 yards and two touchdowns. Both Kerry Watkins and Avon Cobourne finished with more than 100 yards receiving, but it was slotback Jamel Richardson who scored twice through the air, catching a TD pass from both Calvillo and backup Ricky Santos.

  Cobourne, who had a number of spectacular catch and runs, also logged a game- high 115 yards and a pair of TDs on the ground, marking the first time since August 15, 2008 that he has registered at least 100 yards both on the ground and through the air in the same game.

  Except for a stretch when the Montreal offense was sputtering and having trouble getting the ball into the end zone, even though the team was still winning games, Calvillo has been the leader of this dominating group that seems to be picking up steam as the year rolls along. Thanks to his near- perfect effort last week, Calvillo is again on the verge of 70 percent accuracy on his throws for the season and has the second-best efficiency rating (108.0) thanks to a league-best 1,606 passing yards and 10 TDs, against a mere two interceptions on almost 200 attempts.

  In 13 games against Saskatchewan, dating back to the 2004 season, Calvillo has thrown for 26 touchdowns and more than 3,800 yards, posting a total of 16 TDs and just three interceptions over the last six meetings. However, for someone who rarely is pressured in the pocket, Calvillo has been sacked four times in each of the last two games against the Roughriders and once back in 2007 he was taken down a total of eight times and tossed three INTs in a single encounter.

  Not to be lost in all of the numbers being put up by Cobourne and Calvillo, 13-year vet Ben Cahoon caught four balls for 45 yards against Toronto last week, giving the BYU product 970 catches for his illustrious career. The reception total means he is now third all-time in CFL history, trailing only Darren Flutie (972) and Terry Vaughn (1,006) and with Calvillo at the helm you can almost bank on Cahoon being atop that list by season's end.

  Durant had a huge game versus Montreal in the opener this year, throwing for five touchdowns and 481 yards, but to expect him to have another game as big as that is asking quite a lot. Having Cates coming out of the backfield takes some of the pressure off Durant, seeing as how the running back is second in the league with his 466 yards and has a league-best five TDs through as many games. Cates has already tied his TD total on the ground from all of last year and will be giving his career-best rushing total of 1,229 yards in 2008 a real run.

  Even though the Roughriders won the first meeting between these two teams this season, the fact remains that Montreal is still in charge of the overall, regular-season series with a 33-27-1 advantage.

  08/04 11:13:00 ET