Alouettes fullback David Dallaire takes advantage of rare chance to shine

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It was only one play in the game, but it spoke volumes about the camaraderie that exists on the Alouettes.

Last Friday at Hamilton, fullback David Dallaire scored his first CFL touchdown in his 26th regular-season game on a 39-yard pass from quarterback Caleb Evans.

While finding the end zone — after being stopped at the Toronto two-yard line earlier this season — was rewarding, Dallaire says the reaction of his teammates was more gratifying; many of them racing to the end zone to congratulate him.

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“To feel that love coming from all the team in the end zone was phenomenal,” the 25-year-old from St-Georges, Que., said. “I have no words to describe it. Playing fullback is a dirty job. We never really get the chance to know that your teammates like you. To see that reaction was amazing. It really touched my heart.

“I’m not disappointed that it took me so long to score a touchdown. It’s part of the process. The coaches need to have faith in me.”

Fullbacks in the CFL rarely get the opportunity to shine offensively, their role primarily limited to blocking assignments or catching short swing passes out of the backfield. But Als general manager Danny Maciocia thought so highly of the 6-foot-3, 229-pound Dallaire that he selected him in the second round (13th overall) of the 2023 Canadian college draft. Maciocia said he contemplated taking the Université Laval player in the opening round, but hoped he would still be available several picks later. His gamble paid off.

Dallaire was a middle linebacker at CEGEP before transitioning to offence at Laval. While he caught a touchdown pass in the Rouge et Or’s Vanier Cup victory against Saskatchewan in 2022, success at the CFL level has been slower. Dallaire has a modest seven catches for 73 yards in his career and had one carry last season for three yards.

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“It meant a lot honestly to be picked by them,” Dallaire admitted. “I’m a big family guy. To be able to play close to home, my family can come to Montreal for every game. It means a lot to represent my province.”

Dallaire is one of seven siblings — he has four brothers and two sisters — and said he learned the importance of remaining humble at an early age.

“You don’t have an ego in a big family,” he said. “If you do, you get crushed.”

Dallaire’s touchdown came at 9:20 of the third quarter, capping a six-play, 103-yard drive and gave Montreal a commanding 27-8 lead.

It came one play after starting quarterback Davis Alexander was injured following a helmet-to-helmet hit from Tiger-Cats nose-tackle Casey Sayles. Although the impact of the collision knocked Alexander’s helmet off, he said it was his lower back and hip — not his head — that hurt from the way he landed.

Alexander was replaced by Evans, who ran a play-action, lofting the ball to Dallaire over linebacker Trevor Hoyte. It was a brilliant call by head coach Jason Maas, totally catching the Ticats flat-footed.

“At the end of the day, we practise a lot of plays throughout the week,” Maas said. “That play was executed in practice at a very high level. That’s one of the reasons we put the play in. It was just a comfort level. Obviously it worked out in our favour. Dallaire made a great catch and Caleb made an outstanding throw. Obviously it was a big play in the game. Watching the sidelines you could tell how much it meant to everybody for Dallaire to score, the connection.

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“That’s one of the biggest things we talked about this year and what we wanted from the beginning of our season to the end. You could tell the guys care about David, the way he handles himself as a pro. He comes to work every single day, does a lot of the dirty work and doesn’t get a lot of the fame by catching a ball like that. And it was his first one, which is awesome. It speaks volumes about the connection, culture and character on our team.”

Maas denied any message was sent to the Ticats, the play coming immediately following Sayles’s cheap-shot. He received a 25-yard penalty for spearing/roughing the passer.

“At the end of the day, quarterbacks get hit in this league,” Maas said. “Obviously whenever they’re out of the pocket there’s a chance that big hits will happen. Watching Sayles over the years I know he’s not a dirty player. He ran right through our quarterback. To be quite honest, Davis rolled out of the pocket, threw it and probably expected to get hit. It put a licking on him. There was no intent, I don’t believe, on (Sayles’s) part and there certainly wasn’t anything on our part to get back at them. We were just trying to make a play and win a game.”

hzurkowsky@postmedia.com

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