Green, Carter catch TD passes as Alouettes romp 50-17 over Lions in East semifinal

MONTREAL - Jonathan Crompton threw touchdown passes to S.J. Green and Duran Carter and the Montreal Defence was a wall as the Alouettes defeated the B.C. Lions 50-17 in the CFL East Division semifinal on Sunday afternoon.

Back-up quarterback Tanner Marsh ran in two TDs. Brandon Rutley and Chris Rainey each ran one in and Jerald Brown scored on a fumble recovery as the Alouettes put up their first playoff win in four tries since their last Grey Cup win in 2010.

Montreal will face the Tiger-Cats in the East final next Sunday in Hamilton.

Shawn Gore and Ernest Jackson had late touchdowns and Paul McCallum had a field goal for the Lions, who finished fourth in the West but crossed over because they had a better record than the East's third-place team, the Toronto Argonauts.

B.C. ended its season with only two wins in it's last eight games. Including one-sided losses to Edmonton and Calgary to end the regular season, they were outscored 120-36 in their final three games.

Montreal is 4-0 all-time against crossover opponents, with three of those wins against the Lions.

B.C. starting quarterback Kevin Glenn went 6 for 18 for only 64 yards with two interceptions before Travis Partridge took over in the third quarter.

There were plenty of empty seats at Percival Molson Stadium as only 15,107 turned out to the 23,500-seat venue on a chilly day with a few snowflakes. There wasn't a lot to see until late in a slow first half marked by dropped passes on both sides, but then Montreal took apart the B.C. defence the rest of the way.

The first quarter saw only Whyte's punt single go up on the board.

The Lions thought they'd thwarted a drive when Adam Bighill intercepted near the goal line, but an illegal contact penalty on Cord Parks instead gave Montreal the ball on the B.C. 10. On the next play, Crompton found Green behind Parks in a corner of the end zone at 9:20 of the second.

Glenn answered with an eight-play drive capped by McCallum's 30 yard field goal.

A roughing call against Ryan Phillips helped keep alive Montreal's return drive and Crompton hit Carter over the middle for a TD at 13:51 for a 15-3 halftime lead.

Montreal opened the second half with a nine-play 79-yard drive on which Brandon Rutley carried four times in a row to the B.C. 2. Marsh ran it in at 5:25.

Bear Woods picked off a Glenn pass and, set up by a 29-yard toss to Green, Rutley ran in from the four at 10:41 to all but put the victory in the bank.

Things got strange when Partridge took over at QB for the Lions' next possession. He threw a short pass to Marc Ianuzzi, who attempted to punt the ball only to see it dribble forward, giving Montreal the ball on the 3. Marsh ran it in two plays later at 13:01

As if things couldn't get worse for B.C., Tim Brown ran a kickoff back to the Montreal 12, only to see Stefan Logan fumble and Brown run it back 102 yards for a TD at 4:01 of the fourth quarter.

Finally, with 2:14 left, partridge found Gore for an 8 yard TD pass and Logan scored the two-point convert. Brown returned a punt to the Montreal eight and Partridge hit Jackson for the TD, but this time, the two-point attempt failed.

Notes — The last time Montreal scored 50 points in game was the opening week of 2010, a 54-51 loss in overtime to Saskatchewan. . . The Alouettes rebounded from a 1-7 start to the season to go 9-2 in their next 11. . . The loss ends the run of three straight years in which a team playing at home won the Grey Cup. The championship game is slated for Nov. 30 in Vancouver.