Comedian Martin Short, right, and Pigskin Pete try to rile up the crowd of 20,587 at Hamilton's Ivor Wynne Stadium on Thursday night. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)Anthony Calvillo became the CFL's second-most prolific passer as the Montreal Alouettes beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-10 in the season opener at Ivor Wynne Stadium on Thursday night.
Calvillo completed a 22-yard pass to Jason Armstead in the third quarter to move past Danny McManus (53,255) into second place behind Damon Allen (72,381) in career passing yardage.
"That guy is a freak of nature," Calvillo said of Allen, who played 23 CFL seasons before retiring May 28.
"He played for so many years, and I honestly believe that number is untouchable. No. 2 is not too shabby."
Calvillo, who played in Hamilton from 1995-97, noted the irony in passing McManus, who replaced him in Hamilton and led the Tiger-Cats to a Grey Cup in 1999.
"I think it is ironic because I passed 50,000 yards here and I moved into second place here," Calvillo said. "But everything changed when I went to Montreal."
Calvillo entered the contest 205 yards shy of McManus and finished 25 of 37 for 293 yards and two touchdowns, both to Kerry Watkins.
Watkins led all receivers with six receptions for 102 yards.
Running back Avon Cobourne rushed 12 times for 102 yards and one touchdown, while kicker Damon Duval had four field goals in support of Mark Trestman's first win as a head coach.
"It is undeniable that this is my first win as a head coach," Trestman said. "But at the end of the day, we have a long season.
"It was a good start. But we have a long, long way to go."
Quarterback Casey Printers completed 15 of 21 pass attempts for 203 yards in a losing cause for the Tiger-Cats.
"We did some things that are uncharacteristic of winners, and we understand that," Printers said. "But no one in this locker room is hanging his head, nobody is going to get down because we understand there is a bigger picture and it is a process and we will be fine.
"We prepared as hard as we could. Guys are working, guys are staying late, guys are doing all the positive things that it takes for a winner to do and I tell you what: We will turn the corner, there is no doubt about it."
Montreal opened the scoring on Duval's 31-yard field goal three minutes into the contest, and Watkins reached back his right shoulder to snare a nine-yard TD pass from Calvillo 9:12 into the first quarter.
Duval put the Alouettes ahead 16-0 with field goals from 20 and 28 yards early in the second quarter, but Nick Setta replied with a 16-yarder with 17 seconds remaining.
Calvillo lofted a 32-yard TD toss to Watkins 11:09 into the third quarter, and Cobourne sped for a three-yard touchdown to put the Alouettes up 30-3 early in the fourth.
Three minutes later, Duval nailed a 39-yard field goal.
Tre Smith rumbled 75 yards for Hamilton's touchdown with 3:53 left.
"It was the furthest thing from my mind that we would go out and perform like we did," Tiger-Cats head coach Charlie Taaffe said. "I wish I had answers.
"It was very very disappointing. I don't think we ever gave ourselves a chance."
With files from the Canadian Press
