MONTREAL — Brandon Banks showed once again that he is the master game-breaker in the CFL.
The slippery Hamilton kick returner broke open a turgid game with an 86-yard punt return touchdown to send the Tigers-Cats to 31-7 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Friday night.
"My job is to go out and make big plays and change the field and I was able to do that," said Banks, who scored on a kick return for a second straight game to help Hamilton (2-2) end a two-game losing run.
"It’s big, especially on the road and in the division. We didn’t like the way we played the last two weeks. It was a big step to come in here to win."
The Tiger-Cats led 5-4 at the half in a game ruled by defence, mistakes and lots of penalty flags.
But 3:47 into the second half, Banks fielded a Boris Bede punt and went straight up the middle for the touchdown. He credited his blockers and said he was barely touched.
C.J. Gable ran in a touchdown and Brett Maher added five field goals. Bede had two boots and a single for Montreal (1-2) before 20,098 at Percival Molson Stadium.
The East Division is collectively 8-0 on the road this season.
Montreal’s Rakeem Cato struggled at times in his first start of the season in place of injured Kevin Glenn, but it didn’t help that receivers S.J. Green and Kenny Stafford and running back Tyrell Sutton were out with injuries. Rookie Vernon Adams Jr. took over in the fourth quarter.
Cato’s numbers were almost identical to Hamilton’s Jeremiah Masoli, who had a fourth start in place of Zach Collaros. Collaros is off the injured list but wasn’t dressed. Cato completed 18-of-25 passes for 203 yards while Masoli went 19-of-27 passing for 208 yards.
The Hamilton defence posted eight quarterback sacks.
"We didn’t protect very well, we didn’t run the ball," said Montreal coach and general manager Jim Popp. "I thought Rakeem did OK.
"He got a lot of pressure and that disrupted things. To take that pressure off, you have to run the ball and we didn’t do that."
Running back Brandon Rutley gained only 29 yards on 10 carries.
A 40-yard Cato toss to Duron Carter helped set up Bede’s 42-yard field goal 10:57 into the game and he added a single on a missed 43-yard attempt in the second quarter. Bede’s fourth missed kick in three games matched his total for all of 2015, when he was 36 for 40.
Popp tried to challenge an unreviewable play and took a delay of game penalty that contributed to Bede conceding a safety with 50 seconds left in the half. Masoli moved the ball enough for Maher to kick a 56-yard field goal as time expired to put Hamilton ahead.
Finally, a touchdown came 3:47 into the second half when Banks scored.
Bede got a second chance after missing a boot from 41 yards due to an offside call and then was good from 36 at 9:44.
Adrian Tracy stripped the ball from Cato and Larry Dean recovered near midfield. A 29-yard play to Gable and a pair of Montreal penalties put the ball on the nine, where Gable ran it in on a carry up the middle at 12:10.
Maher tacked on boots of 39, 10, 42 and 44 yards in the fourth, the last two after Montreal turned the ball over on downs.
The Ticats play next Saturday at Edmonton. Montreal won’t play until July 25 in Toronto, but then play again four days later at home against Saskatchewan.
The French national anthem, as well as O Canada, was played before the game in solidarity with the people of Nice, France, who were hit by a terrorist attack this week.
