Argonauts hold on for season-opening home victory over Alouettes

TORONTO — McLeod Bethel-Thompson hit newcomer Brandon Banks with a second-half TD strike as the Toronto Argonauts held on for a season-opening 20-19 home win over the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday night.

Bethel-Thompson's 15-yard pass to Banks at 2:35 of the third quarter put Toronto ahead 18-6. Banks' catch ended a five-play, 72-yard drive to open the second half.

Montreal (0-2) had a chance for the win but David Cote missed a 21-yard field goal with 11 seconds that went for a single. It tarnished a stellar 10-play, 63-yard drive engineered by Alouettes quarterback Trevor Harris that included a 25-yard completion to Eugene Lewis on a third-and-10 gamble.

Dominique Davis's one-yard TD run at 9:14 pulled Montreal to within 20-18 but the two-point convert was unsuccessful. Owner Gary Stern, who earlier this week predicted his team would "kill" Toronto, watched the game from field level near the Alouettes' bench.

Toronto had an opportunity to put the game out of reach but Boris Bede missed field goals of 32 yards and 45 yards at 1:50 and 5:31, respectively, in the fourth. The singles pushed Toronto's lead to 20-12.

Andrew Harris ran for 87 yards 18 carries (4.8-yard average) and had three catches for 23 yards in his Toronto debut. The 35-year-old Winnipeg native helped the Blue Bombers win Grey Cup titles in 2019 and '21.

Toronto continued its mastery of Montreal at BMO Field, improving to 6-1 versus the Alouettes since moving to the facility. By comparison, the Argos are 0-6 in La Belle Province over the same span.

Toronto was 6-1 at home last year en route to finishing atop the East Division with a 9-5 record. The .857 win percentage was the club's best since 1997 when it went 9-0 at home en route to a second straight