It’s not an unusual occurrence. An athlete plays a road game against his hometown team, eager to show off in front of friends and family.
When the Toronto Argonauts play the Alouettes at Percival Molson Stadium in Montreal on Friday, five players will do just that; receiver Kevin Mital, offensive lineman Domenico Piazza, linebacker Brian Harelimana, defensive end Jeremiah Ojo, and cornerback L-P Gauthier.
All five were raised in the area, with the latter three playing their U SPORTS ball at Universite de Montreal, Piazza played at McGill and will make his CFL debut on the field where Friday’s game will be played, while Mital played at Laval.
Playing against the Als will be a new experience for Gauthier, who will be making his Argo debut after being selected in the third round, 22nd overall, of this year’s CFL draft. The CEGEP product of Montmorency College was a conference all-star last year, then put on a show at the CFL Combine, running the fastest 40-time at 4.50 seconds.
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He’s excited about his first game as an Argo.
“It’s a pleasure, especially in Montreal,” he told Argonauts.ca. “I’ll have my family and everybody there wearing baby blue, that’s going to be fun.”
Perhaps slightly less amusing has been the challenge of lining up against pro receivers for the first time. Going man-to-man against receivers from Sherbrooke or McGill is a little different than lining up against players like Damonte Coxie every day.
But the 24-year-old cornerback wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’ve had great battles,” said Gauthier, breaking into a broad smile. “Coxie is a phenomenal player. He got me sometimes, but iron sharpens iron and I get better when he challenges me the most. Against the guys from Hamilton (in the two pre-season games) there were some great players, but at some point, it’s just focusing on what I can control, on the fundamentals and on my technique.”
Jeremiah Ojo played his first CFL game in Montreal a year ago. He played his CEGEP at John Abbott College and was the Argos first-round pick in 2025 but never had the chance to strut his stuff on defence, being limited to special teams play.
He’s more confident this season, having gone through a full season, though not accomplishing what he had hoped. He’s used that disappointment as motivation for this year.
“Last year I definitely would have liked to have been in the rotation, but it is what it is. I trust that all’s well that ends well and everything happens in God’s time. It definitely was motivation to prove that I do have the ability to play on the defensive line.”
The Argos are confident that he can, adding free agent Jonathan Kongbo and signing Paris Shand, the team’s second rounder last year. They’ve established one end spot as a Canadian position, with Shand also able to move inside.
All three played well throughout training camp, seamlessly rotating in and out. Kongbo has played the most with the first unit, but neither Ojo nor Shand have looked even slightly out of place in their reps.
Ojo has drawn on the experience of his rookie season and paused for a second when asked what was the most important thing he discovered last year.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned is that the little deposits will always bear fruit. Everything you sow bears fruit. To continue to deposit, even if it’s five minutes a day of film or extra work, it will continue to bear fruit; so continue to sow.”
There is one thing that Ojo learned last year that he’s trying to implement in 2026; finding tickets for a game in his hometown. Each player is given a pair of tickets to road games, and the Montrealers have been scrambling to find enough tickets for friends and family, looking for teammates who can give them theirs.
“It’s hard to compete with Kevin Mital and Brian Harelimana,” said Ojo, bursting out laughing when asked about the hunt for tickets. “They’ve been trying to get everybody’s tickets. Right now, I’ve got at least 14 and I’ll see if I can steal some of their tickets.”
Gauthier, perhaps unaware of the extremely competitive market for teammates tickets, let folks back home fend for themselves.
“Everybody bought their tickets in advance, knowing that the first game was going to be there.”
It will be different for his friends and family, most of whom grew up as Alouettes fans, as did Gauthier, who said that Marc-Antoine Duquoy was his favourite player, but that era of fandom is behind him.
“I’ve got nobody left there (to cheer for) now that’s for sure,” he said with a laugh.
All five players are looking forward to finally playing a regular season game after a long camp and longer off-season. The quintet is hoping to leave after the trip home with some good memories and more importantly, with two points.
*The original story did not include Piazza, whose roster status was unknown to Argonauts.ca at the time of the original posting. It was edited to include him when the depth chart was released on Thursday.