MONTREAL - The numbers keep shooting upward for the soaring Montreal Alouettes.

Jamel Richardson tied a team record with three touchdown catches as the Alouettes struck back hard at the last-place Hamilton Tiger-Cats with a 42-11 CFL victory on Monday afternoon.

Just over a week after a shocking 44-38 loss in Hamilton, the Alouettes piled up 558 yards of net offence - including 127 yards on the ground by back-up tailback Dahrran Diedrick and 164 yards in pass receptions by veteran Ben Cahoon - in a one-sided rematch on an overcast afternoon before 20,202 at sold-out Percival Molson Stadium.

"We wanted to make sure we played our kind of football," said quarterback Anthony Calvillo, whose 10-5 team had already clinched first place in the CFL East Division. "In these last weeks, we're going to try to play at a high level.

"We don't know what kind of team we have yet, but we have three more games to figure it out. We want to peak at the right time."

With the loss, the 3-12 Ticats are officially eliminated from the playoffs for the seventh time in eight years.

Rookie quarterback Quinton Porter, who threw five TD passes last week, had none this time, although he ran in a touchdown. His team was held to only 14 first downs and 206 yards on offence.

Coach Marcel Bellefeuille, who replaced the fired Charlie Taaffe last month but couldn't turn the Ticats around, said making the playoffs "was a goal we still had in mind four weeks ago when I took over this position.

"We were serious about it. When an opportunity like that goes, you're emotionally hurt. My gut tells me we were in the game in the middle of the second quarter but we had a couple of things go against us. With our youth and inexperience, we didn't respond to it and it just snowballed on us."

Cahoon also caught a touchdown pass and Calvillo ran one in himself. Porter ran in a TD for Hamilton while Nick Setta kicked a field goal and a single for Hamilton.

The CFL's highest scoring team has been breaking records this season.

Calvillo completed 33 passes for 371 yards to give him a league-leading 5,101 for the season. It is the fifth time in his career, but the first time in three years, he has topped 5,000 yards in a season. Doug Flutie is the all-time leader with six 5,000-yard campaigns. Calvillo's three TD passes gave him 38 for the season, one more than his own team record of 37 set in 2003. Last week, he set a CFL record with 44 completions in one game.

Also last week, Cahoon passed Saskatchewan great Ray Elgaard for most career catches by a Canadian receiver. This time, he added 13 more, which tied the team record for catches in one game set in 1986 by James Hood against Calgary. Cahoon also passed the 1,000-yard mark for the seventh season in a row and the eighth time in his 11-year career.

Richardson has 13 TD catches this season, one short of Jeremaine Copeland's team record set in 2003. His three in one game - two from Calvillo and one from third-stringer Adrian McPherson - tied a record shared with eight others, including Cahoon in 2004.

" I didn't know about the record, I was just trying to play the game and keep winning," said Richardson, a former Roughrider who signed with Montreal in March.

Between them, Cahoon and Richardson accounted for 25 of Montreal's 34 catches. Kerry Watkins returned from injury but caught only two.

"I'm not in charge of how many times my number gets called," sad Cahoon. "It's just the way it worked out.

"We don't have a problem spreading the ball around. They can't just focus on two guys."

Perhaps the most remarkable performance belonged to Diedrick, who went in at tailback after Avon Cobourne sprained his left ankle in the first quarter. Cobourne missed three games last month with a sore right ankle.

Diedrick, of Scarborough, Ont., carried 15 times for 127 yards, by far his best CFL game. In three previous seasons, he had a total of 142 rushing yards on 30 tries.

"I just have to be ready," he said. "I don't get many reps in practice, but I get mental reps. Whenever Avon runs, I've got to watch.

"You prove things at practice by your work ethic and how hard you go. In a game, it just shows things to the family and the fans."

He impressed Marc Trestman, although the coach hasn't decided yet whether Diedrick or back-up Mike Imoh will start Saturday at Toronto.

"Dahrran is a big part of what we do, both in our two-back sets and our special teams, but as you saw, he was ready to go," said Trestman. "He was assignment-perfect and he's a physical, punishing runner."

Montreal scored on its first possession as Calvillo hit Richardson with a 10-yard pass 4:58 into the game. Hamilton marched back on its next set as Porter ran in from the seven yards to tie the game at 7:59.

It was all downhill from there for the Ticats, who lost running back Kenton Keith with a bad cut on and arm and had tailback Jesse Lumsden leave and later return with a shoulder problem.

After Damon Duval missed a 42-yard field goal attempt for a single, Khalil Carter, making his first start at defensive back for Montreal, intercepted Porter and returned it to the 25-yard line. On the next play, Richardson got behind Geoff Tisdale for the TD catch.

Setta's eight-yard field goal cut Montreal's lead to 15-10, but Duval got it back on a 23-yard boot.

With 15 seconds left in the half, McPherson tossed to Richardson for a 25-10 half-time lead.

Calvillo had a three-yard TD run early in the second half, then found Cahoon with a three-yard touchdown pass. Montreal was in deep again late in the fourth, but McPherson fumbled and Chris Thompson recovered on the one.

No. 2 quarterback Marcus Brady also saw playing time late in the game.

NOTES - Former Alouettes star Mike Pringle was honoured before the game for his induction last month into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Pringle, who now runs an auto transmission shop in Atlanta, is the CFL's all-time rushing leader with 16,425 yards over 13 seasons, including a record 2,065 in 1998. The 41-year-old retired with Edmonton in 2004. "I probably had another one or two years when I could have performed at a high level, but it was time to go," he said, before adding with a grin "when I was inducted into the Hall of Fame I thought, now I really have to stay retired." . . . The Alouettes have scored 30 or more points in 12 straight games. . . A McGill University statement said that former Ticat offensive lineman Paul Gohier, a McGill alumnus, died of cancer on Sunday. He was 52. Gohier, drafted by the BC. Lions in 1980, played for Hamilton in 1983.

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