It wasn't pretty. It wasn't a typical Grey Cup barn-burner until the final minutes. And it definitely didn't leave the hugely pro-Saskatchewan crowd calling for more.

But it was a thing of beauty to the Montreal Alouettes, who beat the Riders 21-18 on Sunday night at Commonwealth Stadium to win the 98th Grey Cup.

It was Montreal's second straight win and the third in eight trips for quarterback Anthony Calvillo, who had already cemented his future place in the Hall of Fame over his long career and used this occasion to chase away a few demons.

If he had lost this one, he would have been 2-6 in cup games.

"We decided early on we weren't going to be the defending champions nor would we be in a position to repeat as a team," Montreal head coach Marc Trestman said.

"The guys bought into it, they truly believed that they had to earn it on their own merit. We went up against the best that the league had for us and were able to find our way through adversity much of the time."

The Alouettes are the first team to win back-to-back titles since Doug Flutie's Toronto Argonauts did it in 1996 and 1997.

Saskatchewan, wanting to make up for losing last year's game on the final play because of a too-many-men penalty, is 3-15 all time in Grey Cups.

"We weren't able to move the ball consistently on offence and we weren't able to get them stopped consistently with our defence," said Roughriders head coach Ken Miller, " but I'm really proud of my players."

"We battled a really good Montreal team."

Avon Cobourne scored two touchdowns, one in the first quarter and the clincher in the fourth — the latter set up by a 37-yard pass from Calvillo to Jamel Richardson down to the Riders' two-yard line.

Saskatchewan quarterback Darian Durant is 0-2 as a starter in the CFL championship. On Sunday, he was unable to move his offence at all in the second half until late in the game when the defence held and the Riders got the ball at the opposition 32.

Two plays later, Durant hit Marc Parenteau in the end zone to close the gap to three points with the successful kick.

With three minutes to go, Calvillo hit Kerry Carter with a 30-yard pass and the Als had first down on the Riders 41. That drive would stall and Damon Duval missed a 40-yard field goal to keep it a three-point game.

Last-chance drive

The Riders took over on their own 16 with 90 seconds left and started to move it, but took a holding penalty, and then Durant, after a tremendous fight to avoid a sack, tossed the ball up to get it out of bounds. It was picked off by Billy Parker, and the game, after a replay confirmed the play, was done.

"He [Durant] didn't want to take a sack in that situation and we really didn't want him to take a sack in that situation," Miller said. "They got the interception and it was a tough play in that situation."

For the first time since 1972, the Grey Cup was tied heading into the fourth quarter. On that occasion Hamilton eventually beat the Riders on a last-second field goal.

This time, it only took the Als about a minute to go ahead as Duval put one through from 42 yards for a 14-11 lead.

Punchless 1st half

Much of the first half left the crowd wondering where the promised offence went as the Riders went to the dressing room with an 11-8 lead.

Montreal started quickly, led by Calvillo, and it was Cobourne who ran a three-yard effort in to open the scoring and give the Als a 7-0 lead with the kick, early in the first.

After the third Riders punt of the opening quarter, Montreal moved again but this time Saskatchewan's defence held and Duval came in for a 31-yard field goal.

The Montreal kicker had struggled late in the season and he missed this one, settling for a single and an 8-0 Montreal lead.

The Rider offence finally caught fire as Durant moved them smartly into scoring range before sending a second-down toss to the back of the end zone for Chris Getzlaf.

Chip Cox was called for interference — not surprising as the Als led the league in that category this year — and Saskatchewan set up from the one. Wes Cates ran it in from there to make it 8-7 Montreal with the convert.

Durant finished the half 11 of 19 for 143 yards, while Calvillo was 11 of 18 for 116 yards, most of that in the opening 15 minutes.

Calvillo, who had been frustrated for much of the first half, put together a nearly seven-minute drive in the third quarter that showed fans why he's so respected as a quarterback.

There were dump passes, tosses thrown away to avoid sacks, some nice balls into the flats that were helped by a successful third-down fake punt, putting the Alouettes first-and-goal on the Saskatchewan 10.

But a big sack by the Riders' Keith Shologan and an incomplete pass left Montreal with a Duval field goal to show for their hard work as the game was tied up 11-11, heading for the fourth.

"Every game takes on its own unusual storylines and could go many different ways," Trestman said.

"We played the game as it came to us and tried to do the things that we prepared to do. Credit has to go Ken and his staff and his defensive staff did a heck of a job, they had a great plan.

"We just were able to sustain and get enough big plays to try and keep the ball out of their offence's hands."

With files from The Canadian Press