The Toronto Argonauts avenged their Labour Day Classic loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with a narrow 17-16 victory at home. The win by the Argos puts them in sole possession of 1st place in the Eastern Division at 3-2.
The two rivals played their second game against each other in five days. And it wasn’t pretty by any stretch. The fortune-favored Argos desperately needed to win this game. And their defense led by defensive coordinator Glen Young and a fantastic pass rush, which produced four sacks on the night and countless pressures, helped the Boatmen edge out an important home victory.
Toronto (3-2) will now head to Saskatchewan to face the Roughriders next Friday Night. Hamilton (2-3) will head back home to take on the Calgary Stampeders a week from today. The Argos and Ti-Cats will next play each other on Monday, October 11th. In their third of four regular-season meetings.
The Argos defense would start this game without star pass rusher Charleston Hughes, who was declared inactive due to a knee injury. However, Toronto’s pass rush came to play early on without him. Eli Harold would sack Dane Evans on Hamilton’s first drive, and the Ti-Cats would end up punting the football away. Chandler Worthy would set things up for the Argos offense with a 19-yard punt return.
Toronto’s first play from scrimmage was an 18-yard run by John White right up the gut of Hamilton’s defense. The Argos would pick up two first downs on the ground and get across midfield. But the drive would stall after an all-out Hamilton blitz forced a Nick Arbuckle incompletion on second down.
The Argos defense would force a quick two and out on Hamilton’s second offensive series to get their offense the football back. Another solid punt return by Chandler Worthy of 11 yards would set up Toronto’s offense at midfield. John White would carry the ball twice for 16 yards to start the Double Blue’s second series.
Three Nick Arbuckle completions, one of them a key first down completion to Kurleigh Gittens, would swiftly get the Argos into the red zone. On second and five from Hamilton’s 10-yard line. Arbuckle would attempt a wheel route into the end zone, but the pass would fall incomplete due to Ti-Cats DB Kameron Kelly’s contact with DJ Foster. Ryan Dinwiddie would successfully challenge the play for pass interference, setting his team up at the 1-yard line. One play, later Nick Arbuckle would score on a QB sneak to give Toronto the early 7-0 lead.
Hamilton would get the football for their third offensive series. The Ti-Cats would drive to midfield as the first quarter came to a close. But on the very first play of the second quarter, Henoc Muamba would intercept a Dane Evans pass down the middle of the field at the Toronto 43.
The Argos offense would capitalize on the Ti-Cats turnover with a rapid three-play 63-yard scoring drive. Capped off by a beautiful 40-yard shovel pass for a touchdown from Nick Arbuckle to DJ Foster. The play was set up beautifully with misdirection on an inside handoff to John White. The Boatmen’s success running up the middle in the early going set the stage for a fantastic display of open field running by Foster. The dazzling play call and score would give Double Blue a 14-0 lead.
Needing to respond, down by two scores. Hamilton’s offense would start their next series on their 24-yard line. Dane Evans would get hot, completing two straight passes to CFL rookies Papi and Tim White for 40 yards. Two plays later, Dane Evans would strike and connect with Papi White for a 39-yard touchdown. A miscommunication in the Argos secondary by rookie DB Josh Hagerty would lead to the Ti-Cats cutting the Boatmen’s lead in half to 14-7.
With their lead cut in half, Toronto would mount a long drive from their 31 all the way down to Hamilton’s 16-yard line. Nick Arbuckle would complete seven passes on the drive to six different receivers. Unfortunately, his last completion of the potential scoring drive would end up in the hands of Hamilton defensive back Tunde Adeleke. The pass intended for Dejon Brissett would ricochet into Adeleke’s hands and would keep Toronto off the scoring board.
The first half would end on a strange series of events in the final minute. It all started with Hamilton driving to midfield after the Arbuckle turnover. But their drive would stall with just over a minute left. Facing a 3rd and 3 at Toronto’s 48, Hamilton would punt the ball away, but an illegal kick out of bounds would give the Argos a shot at points before the end of the second quarter.
The Argos would face a 3rd and short of their own moments later. Instead of opting to go for it on 3rd and inches. Toronto would punt, but Frankie Williams would wisely run up to catch Boris Bede’s punt, causing a no yards penalty on Jeff Richards. The 15-yard penalty would give Hamilton another scoring opportunity, and they nearly cashed in when Josh Hagerty blew another coverage deep down the middle of the field. Dane Evans narrowly missed a streaking Papi White for what would’ve been a touchdown. The near-hit kept the Argos lead at 14-7 going into the second half.
The Argonauts’ offense would open the third quarter with a lengthy 12-play drive, starting at their 12 and driving down to Hamilton’s 19-yard line. But the Boatmen would fail to cash in again in the red zone. This time, settling for a 26-yard field goal by Boris Bede. The kick would give Toronto a ten-point lead.
The Argos defensive line would continue to cause the Ti-Cats offensive line problems. Thanks to the pass rush of players like Shawn Oakman and Eli Harold, Hamilton’s offense would be shut down by Toronto’s defense in the third quarter. Both players would register multiple sacks each in this contest.
To Hamilton’s credit, their defense would also slow down Toronto’s attack on offense. Keeping their team in the game as the game moved into the fourth quarter.
Thanks to some nifty running by Dane Evans, the Ti-Cats offense would finally get things going and drive into Argos territory. But Toronto’s defense would hold in the red zone to force Hamilton to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Michael Domagala. Hamilton’s score would cut the Argos lead to 7.
Up 17-10, The Argos offense would continue its second-half struggles and immediately punt the football back to Hamilton. But the Double Blue’s defense would hold serve once again, thanks to their pass rush. Shawn Oakman would sack Dane Evans and force him out of the game with a rib injury.
Unfortunately, the ineptitude of Toronto’s offense would keep Hamilton within striking distance. David Watford would come on to relieve Dane Evans, but Toronto’s defense would hold until late in the 4th quarter.
With time running out in the game. The Argos would take over on offense up 7 with 2:48 left in the game. Inexplicably, the Argos would attempt to throw the football on two consecutive downs. The decision would prove disastrous as Nick Arbuckle would make an abysmal decision under duress in the pocket. Rather than throw the football away, Arbuckle would loft a pass in the field of play that was picked off near the sidelines by Cariel Brooks.
After the turnover, Hamilton would face a 3rd and 10 at the 50, David Watford would make a clutch throw to Jaleon Acklin for 18 yards. Two players later, Sean Thomas-Erlington would race towards the end zone on a potential game-tying major. But Michael Domagala’s extra point attempt would hit the right uprights, and Toronto would retain the 17-16 lead with 90 seconds left in the game.
After the missed PAT, Hamilton was forced to attempt an onside kick, but it failed. Toronto recovered, and the Ti-Cats were offside on the attempt. The Argos attempted to run the remainder of the clock but couldn’t. They punted the ball back to Hamilton with 25 seconds left. Frankie Williams was able to field the punt and return it out to the 18 from his own end zone. But with only 13 seconds left, Hamilton ran out of time, as Watford did complete two passes to the Toronto 45 yard-line as time expired.
Final Score: Toronto Argonauts 17 Hamilton Tiger-Cats
