MONTREAL – It was only an exhibition game and the stats won't count, but that won't keep former Angelo State quarterback Josh Neiswander from forever remembering Thursday night. Neiswander, a rookie quarterback with the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League, completed 7-of-13 passes for 88 yards and led the two-time defending Grey Cup Champions on a pair of field goal scoring drives while preserving a 27-15 exhibition win over Winnipeg.

Neiswander, who entered a game with the Alouettes already leading late in the third quarter, completed his very first pass attempt but a holding call negated the play. He completed his next two passes before two incompletions ended the drive. In the fourth quarter, the Winnsboro, Texas, native engineered a five-play, 27-yard drive and a seven-play, 56-yard drive to set up a pair of field goals by Sandro DeAngelis.

Montreal did not play veteran starter Anthony Calvillo and gave all the game reps to its three back-up quarterbacks – Adrian McPherson, Ricky Santos and Neiswander. McPherson started the game and gave way to Santos after giving the Alouettes a lead in the first quarter. The trio combined to go 26-for-44 in the contest and racked up 407 yards through the air, nearly all of the team's 434 total yards on offense. McPherson went 6-for-10 for 112 yards and Santos completed 13-of-21 passes for 207 yards. Both players found the end zone, completing touchdown passes to Bo Bowling and Brandon London.

Neiswander, who re-wrote the record books at Angelo State and graduated with a master's of business administration in December, signed with Montreal after impressing the coaching staff during the team's three-day rookie camp. Montreal will play one more exhibition contest before opening the defense of its back-to-back CFL titles against the BC Lions at home June 30.

Elsewhere in the CFL, former Ram defensive end Calvin Fance is pushing for playing time with the Saskatchewan Roughriders as the team opens its exhibition slate against the Edmonton Eskimos on Friday.

Related Links:
Video Highlights (MontrealAlouettes.com)
Neiswander pass at 2:59 mark of video, a long second down conversion.

Alouettes pick up where they left off (Sports.NationalPost.com) by Herb Zurkowsky
"The Alouettes turned to rookie quarterback Josh Neiswander in the fourth quarter. He connected with London for a 25-yard passing play. That set up a 28-yard field goal by Sandro DeAngelis at 7:51 of the fourth quarter, increasing Montreal's lead to nine points. DeAngelis added a 27-yarder at 12:14, putting the game out of reach."

Alouettes — Trois quarts bien entiers, des demis anéantis (RueFrontenac.com) by Charles Poulin
Rough translation of a quote from Als' head coach Marc Trestman: "Adrian McPherson did a good job throwing the ball, he believes. Ricky, too, although it may have thrown the ball too far or too short on his two interceptions. And Josh was very comfortable. He managed just one pass to Brandon London to convert a second attempt and very long in the fourth quarter."

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