Calvillo joins select company

50,000 yards and counting.

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Saturday night saw Anthony Calvillo reach a CFL milestone, becoming only the fourth quarterback to reach the Fifty thousand Plus club for career yardage.

Calvillo, who had been struggling in the fist couple of weeks of the season hit his stride on Saturday night against the Hamilton Tiger Cats. He got a good start for his assault on the record in the early going of the game, pacing the Alouettes down the field for an opening drive score that brought him 55 yards on three completions on three attempts.

He would eventually break the fifty thousand yard barrier later in the first quarter as the Als got out to an early lead that they held through out the game, though the end result became much closer than it really should have been. In the end the Als would prevail, thanks to the talents of their quarterback who led them to the 29-20 victory.

With fourteen seasons in the CFL, Calvillo now joins such legendary names in the CFL as Ron Lancaster who compiled some 50,535 yards, Danny McManus who gaind a good portion of his 53,255 yards in air miles and Damon Allen of the Toronto Argonauts with his pro football-high 72,109 yards and still counting, providing he once again can fight his way back onto the starting roster in Toronto.

Calvillo is one of the last recognizable names of the era of American expansion for the CFL, having broken into the league with the then Las Vegas Posse. When that southern drive for security came up short and the CFL retrenched back above the 49th Calvillo came north, starting his Canadian adventure in Hamilton, spending three years in the Steel city before signing with the Als in 1998.

His relocation to Montreal seems to have worked out well for him, having taken the Als to five Grey Cup appearances in seven years.

With the Als beginning to regain some of their more successful form of past seasons, we can probably expect that this 50,000 mark will become a memory as the season progresses and should he regain his earlier form, there's a very good chance that he'll be adding to the totals for a few more years to come.