HAMILTON (CP) — Bryan Crawford’s one-yard touchdown run at 6:57 of the fourth quarter rallied Toronto to a nail-biting 34-31 Labour Day win over the arch-rival Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Crawford’s run gave Toronto some breathing room after Mike Vanderjagt’s 50-yard field goal earlier in the quarter put the Argos ahead 27-26 before a loud Ivor Wynne Stadium gathering of 25,911.
The Argos needed it, as Hamilton made it interesting with 2:31 remaining when Nick Setta’s 43-yard field goal cut Toronto’s lead to 34-31. That came after Vanderjagt conceded a safety with 5:05 remaining. But the Ticats’ aspirations for the comeback win died with fullback Jeff Piercy was stopped cold on a third-down gamble at the Toronto 44-yard line with 28 seconds remaining.
It was a peculiar call, given Hamilton running back Jesse Lumsden had run for a game-high 104 yards, Terry Caulley added 68 yards on 10 carries and quarterback Casey Printers had 68 yards on seven carries. But Ticats coach Charlie Taaffe defended the call, saying Piercy had been effective in short-yardage situations before and Hamilton didn’t have time to get backup Richie Williams in for Printers, who was nursing a thumb injury, for a quarterback sneak.
“It’s been a very consistent play for us and Jeff has made it every time he has run it prior to that last play,” Taaffe said, adding Hamilton surrendered “too many big returns in the kicking game and then too many big plays . . . with their offence against our defence.”
Toronto (4-5) recorded its first win in three tries this season with Hamilton (2-7) to remain second in the East Division standings, four points behind first-place Montreal (6-3). The Ticats are tied for last with Winnipeg.
Toronto improved to 17-3-1 in its last 21 games against Hamilton and earned its third straight Labour Day victory. The Ticats still lead the Labour Day series 27-12-1.
After watching Hamilton run for more than 400 yards combined in their two previous meetings, Toronto showed several different looks on defence. The Argos pretty much scrapped their heralded 3-4 alignment and went with four- and five-man fronts and sometimes put a defensive back up on the line as well . The changes left the unit with two or sometimes one natural linebacker, resulting in limited playing time for veteran linebackers Michael Fletcher and Mike O’Shea. Fletcher got on the field with a four-man front, while O’Shea saw limited playing time when the club went to its 3-4 setup but remained on special teams.
Toronto also went with a different look in its secondary. Veteran defensive back Kenny Wheaton moved to safety in place of the departed Orlondo Steinauer, while CFL rookie Jason Shivers took Wheaton’s spot at defensive back. Ken Heatley, another newcomer, started at the other defensive back position.
But when asked about all the changes worked out, Stubler had a predictable response.
“We scored three points more than they did,” he said. “The mark of a team is how many points you can score as opposed to how many you can hold them to.
“The last quarter and a half we played well on defence.”
The Ticats didn’t have many problems adjusting to Toronto new look on defence, running for 259 yards and putting up 416 total yards. Printers magically eluded an all-out Argos blitz and scampered 26 yards — thanks to a nice downfield block by receiver Pat Woodcock — for his second TD of the game at 7:36 of the third to put Hamilton ahead 26-21.
But Toronto’s much-maligned offence wasn’t chopped liver, either. Quarterback Kerry Joseph was 18-of-33 passing for 399 yards and a touchdown and had a team-high 49 yards rushing. Arland Bruce III had a game-high 10 catches for 149 yards and a TD while Dominique Dorsey had two receptions for 105 yards and finished with 265 all-purpose yards.
Stubler said the absence of Bishop on the sidelines helped further emphasize that the Argos remain Joseph’s team.
“Absolutely,” he said. “For the past three years we’ve played great defence and haven’t played in the Grey Cup.
“We need to find a way to score points and play good defence too.”
Joseph, though, disagreed with his head coach.
“I just wanted to come out and be the leader I can be by playing on the field,” he said. “It’s not my team, it’s our team.
“We played together and when we do that we can be tough to beat. That chapter is closed. Nothing has changed for me and I want to be the player I can be to help this team.”
Jamal Robertson had Toronto’s other touchdown. Vanderjagt booted three converts, four field goals and a single.
Chris Bauman had Hamilton’s other touchdown. Setta added three converts and a field goal. The other points came on two safeties.