It wasn’t always pretty, but the Toronto Argonauts found their footing late and led the Montreal Alouettes 21-16 at halftime in the Eastern final.

Chad Kelly struggled early, but rallied the team for a touchdown in the final seconds of the first half. The drive ended with a long sideline touchdown pass to Damonte Coxie.

Kelly finished the first half having completed six of 13 passes for 94 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

It was the defense and special teams that kept the Argonauts around early, as they benefited from a Janarion Grant punt return and a Benjie Franklin interception for touchdowns. Montreal coughed up four turnovers in the first half.

Cody Fajardo totaled 106 yards and a touchdown to lead the Alouettes.

Kaion Julien-Grant holds the Alouettes’ only touchdown.

Desperately needing a spark as the offense played flat during the first half, Grant burst onto the scene late in the second quarter, recovering a punt and returning it 71 yards to cut the lead Argos deficit at 16-14.

Montreal native Sean Thomas-Erlington exploded during the long play of the game for the Alouettes, completing a 38-yard run up the middle midway through the second quarter.

Two plays later, Fajardo found Julien-Grant in the back of the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown, giving the Alouettes their first lead of the game, 13-7.

Darnell Sankey jumped a short throw from Kelly on the second play of their sequence after the Alouettes’ touchdown – their second interception of the game. Montreal turned the interception into another Jose Maltos basket; his first of the game gave Montreal a 16-7 lead.

The Argonauts followed up their touchdown drive with a two-and-out pick-six as the offense struggled to make significant progress against the Alouettes’ top-ranked defense.

The defenses dominated the game in the first quarter, and Montreal got their second point on the board by opening the second quarter with a second Jose Maltos field goal – this from 36 yards out.

Trailing for the first time, the Alouettes found their footing offensively late in the first quarter. Walter Fletcher had a few long runs and a loose pass in the end zone required a 38-yard field goal from Maltos to reduce the Alouettes’ deficit to 7-3.

The third turnover of the game by the Alouettes was a gold medal for the Argonauts: Franklin intercepted a deflected pass from Fajardo and caught it 23 yards for the first touchdown of the game.

Walter Fletcher exploded up the middle for a 20-plus yard gain on Montreal’s second drive of the game, but Mark Milton hit the ball from behind and the Argonauts recovered to turn the possession over, with both teams looking for their first score.

This game is a rematch of last year’s Eastern final, where the Alouettes beat the Argonauts 38-17 en route to the Gray Cup.

After throwing four interceptions in last year’s loss, Kelly started this one on the wrong foot, throwing a deep pass with no apparent target that was intercepted by Najee Murray of the Alouettes during Toronto’s first drive.

Makai Polk recovered the interception by forcing a fumble on the return that the Argonauts recovered.

The winner of this game will travel to Vancouver to play in the 111th Gray Cup next week.

You can watch the second half LIVE on TSN1/4/5, TSN.ca and the TSN app.