MONTREAL – He isn’t a household name just yet – some across the Canadian Football League are still butchering the pronunciation of his last name – but Chris Streveler has now authored a second chapter to what has already become a spectacular coming-out party.

Streveler – the straight-from-college rookie at the controls of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers offence with Matt Nichols injured – was simply sensational in his second start Friday night, helping lead the visitors to a lopsided 56-10 victory over the Montreal Alouettes in front of 19,498 at Molson Stadium that was the epitome of a complete beat down.

Operating a brilliant gameplan by offensive coordinator Paul LaPolice, Streveler finished the night by completing 22 of 28 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing 10 times for 98 yards on a night the Bombers racked up 588 yards of offence.

But the personal numbers were the last thing on Streveler’s mind, post-game.

“We’re here to win,” Streveler. “After last week people want to talk about how you did individually and I don’t really care about that. I don’t care if Darvin (Adams) is throwing three touchdown passes, (Andrew) Harris is running for touchdowns… I don’t really care how we get it done as long as we’re putting points on the board.”

“Winning is the most important thing. I don’t care about stats. I don’t care about anything like that. I just want us to be effective offensively moving the ball and winning and putting points up.”

Streveler will grab a lot of the headlines, and rightfully so, but this was an across-the-board dominant performance by the Bombers that saw major contributions from the offence, defence and special teams against a downtrodden Alouettes squad that has now lost 13 straight dating back to last season.

Winnipeg is now 1-1, the Als are 0-2.

The defence, which is getting more comfortable running Richie Hall’s system after welcoming some new faces last week, limited Montreal to just 10 first downs and 128 yards total offence as the Als ran just 41 plays offensively. By comparison, Winnipeg had 71 offensive snaps. They also registered three sacks and forced three turnovers.

The special teams, meanwhile, chipped in with a punt block by rookie Rashaun Simonise that set up a TD, while Justin Medlock was a perfect 4-for-4 in the field-goal department.

“That was great tonight,” said Bombers left tackle Stanley Bryant. “The offensive line played great, the offence in general… just the whole team. Offensive and defensive line came out aggressively. We want to win the bully game, like we say every game. We did that tonight and you saw the results.

“We’ve got a lot of great guys on this team, a lot of veteran guys like Darvin and Dress (Weston Dressler) who are making Streveler comfortable back there. He was more confident than last week. He knows what he’s seeing in the defence and makes plays with his arm. And then when he doesn’t make plays with his arm, he’s doing it with his legs.

“He’s a dual-threat quarterback.”

Two of Streveler’s three passes – Darvin Adams also connected with Harris on a special play pass that covered 26 yards for a score – went to his old University of Minnesota teammate, Drew Wolitarsky.

Wolitarsky’s performance, FYI, came with his parents in the crowd.

“One for mom, one for dad tonight,” said Wolitarsky, whose mother was born in Montreal, while his father – born in Texas – also spent of number of years in the city. “This morning we went to old town, visited some old stomping grounds. It was cool being with them and seeing the full circle of life. It was a special moment for all of us tonight.”

Asked about Streveler’s performance, Wolitarsky grinned.

“He’s a tough guy,” he said. “You saw it tonight. He knows how to run a huddle. He gets beat up, he gets hit hard and he just gets right up and gives you that look like, ‘I’m not done, we’re going to keep going.’

“We got amped up tonight and we laid it on them, to be honest.”

THE BIG STAT

56: Points for by the Bombers, the most scored since a 63-31 shootout victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on September 8^th, 2001.

TAKE NOTE

Andrew Harris took a shot on his right knee by Alouette DB Jermaine Robinson late in the third quarter and exited the game on his own steam, not before jawing at the Montreal defence and bench for the hit. Harris didn’t leave the sideline and was riding the bike after the hit. He did not speak to the game afterward, but it’s believed he should be OK.

Harris was busy through the first 45 minutes with 15 carries for 58 yards and six catches for 68 yards and the TD catch on the throw by Adams.

FYI

The Bombers two inactives were OL Manase Foketi and DE Craig Roh. The Roh decision meant rookie DT Brandin Bryant made his CFL debut against the Als…  Faith Ekakitie is on the Alouettes 46-man roster, but did not dress against his old club. Veteran DE John Bowman was also a scratch… Adarius Bowman did not have a catch in his first game back as a Bomber last week, but hooked up with Streveler for his first completion of the night. Bowman finished with five catches for 38 yards… The Alouettes scored early in the second, but were held pointless in the first quarter; their fourth consecutive frame without scoring… Anthony Gaitor was injured in the fourth quarter after intercepting a pass and then fumbling. With his injury, Moe Leggett – dressing for the first time this season – came into the game and played defensive halfback… Rashaun Simonise caught his first pass as a pro against one of the best corners in the league in Tommie Campbell in the fourth quarter when he hauled in a 53-yard pass from Bryan Bennett… Daniel Petermann, the club’s second choice in the 2018 CFL Draft after Simonise, also pulled in his first catch as a pro.

MILESTONE WATCH

• Justin Medlock’s four field goals and six converts gave him 18 points on the night and pushed him past the 1,200 mark on all-time points.
• Weston Dressler finished with two catches for 24 yards and now trails No. 22-ranked Jock Climie by only 30 yards on the CFL’s all-time receiving yardage list. He is just 148 yards from moving into the CFL’s Top 20 in career receiving yards

NUMBERS GAME

308: Total yards in offence for the Bombers in the first half.

6: TD passes for Streveler in his first two starts as a pro.

1: TD passes thrown by Robert Marve, Brian Brohm, Dominique Davis and Dan Lefevour, combined, over six starts over a stretch from 2014-17.

13: Montreal’s losing streak.

NOTABLE:

Streveler fell just shy of 100 yards rushing. The last CFL QB to rush for 100 yards in a game was B.C.’s Travis Lulay, who had 105 in a game on July 15, 2015

The last Bombers QB to rush for over 100 yards was Buck Pierce, on July 9, 2010.

THE COACH SAYS:

“He’s shown, once again, that he’s got the ability to learn on basically a daily basis, and possibly, a play-by-play, series-by-series basis. He’s coming to the sideline and learning something new and if he keeps that up – as I said before – he’ll be a lot of fun to watch. He knows he’s got some work to do and some things we know he can work on. He’s executing at a really high level.” – Head coach Mike O’Shea on QB Chris Streveler.

NEXT: The Bombers are on the road against next Friday, June 29^th in Hamilton. Winnipeg is next at home on Saturday, July 7^th vs. B.C.