ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
HAMILTON – One of North America’s oldest rivalries was renewed Monday afternoon, as the Toronto Argonauts paid a Labour Day visit to Hamilton’s brand new stadium – Tim Horton’s field – to take on the Tiger-Cats.
Toronto has won 24 of the last 39 head-to-head matchups, however Hamilton has won 29 of the last 43 Labour Day battles against the double blue.
Both teams came in hungry for a win, with the East Division-leading Argos (3-6) looking to break a two-game losing streak against a 1-6 Ticat squad that’s coming off a bye.
Quarterback Ricky Ray entered the game only 90 yards shy of breaking the 50,000 career passing yard total. It wasn’t going to be easy, however, as receivers Chad Owens, Andre Durie, Spencer Watt and John Chiles were all sidelined by injuries.
The game began with a turnover, as WR/KR Trent Guy fumbled the initial kickoff to give the Ticats the ball on Toronto’s 26-yard-line. They opened the scoring with a field goal from Justin Medlock to put Hamilton up 3-0 1:25 into the game.
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Related: Argos 12, Ticats 13 |
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VIDEO: Ray Finds Barnes for 50,000 Yards |
While the Argos were unable to generate much momentum on their opening drive, K/P Swayze Waters absolutely crushed an 80-yard punt into Hamilton’s endzone for the single point. 3-1 Tiger-Cats at 11:36 in the 1st quarter.
Ticats quarterback Zach Collaros returned to the lineup after a 6-game absence from a concussion suffered in week one. He made his presence felt on the next drive when he connected with WR Bakari Grant for the first touchdown of the game midway through the 1st quarter. Medlock made the conversion to extend the Hamilton lead to 10-1.
Following a 46-yard yard Waters punt to bury the Ticats at their own one-yard line, DL Cleyon Laing tackled RB Mossis Madu in the endzone for the safety to cut the lead to 10-3 with 2 minutes left in the opening quarter.
The Argos were still unable to garner much of anything on offence, but Waters continued his outstanding quarter with a 60-yard punt to once again plant the Ticats on their own 1-yard line. 10-3 Ticats heading into the second Q.
With only 13 total yards on offence after one quarter, the Argos did little to improve on that throughout the 2nd quarter, racking up numerous 2-and-outs. Hamilton’s attack was doing little in the 2nd as well before putting together a 45-yard drive resulting in a 23-yard Medlock field goal. 13-3 Hamilton with 2:43 left in the half.
In hopes of going into the break with some momentum, Ricky Ray completed a 33-yard pass to WR Natey Adjei, which along with a late hit penalty brought Toronto into scoring position. The Argos capitalized on the opportunity shortly after with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Guy. Waters hit the conversion to cut the lead to 13-10 going into halftime.
Toronto’s 89 total yards at the half was a significant drop-off from Hamilton’s 209, but the score remained close. Ray went into the 3rd only needing 26 yards to hit the 50K mark. Collaros had a strong first half returning from injury, completing 14 of 18 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown.
Waters’ 4 punts averaged for a remarkable 55.1 yards.
Toronto’s defence came out strong in the 3rd quarter, beginning the half by forcing Hamilton to concede a safety at 12:26. 13-12 ‘Cats.
The kick return team, however, continued to be troublesome as WR LaVon Brazill fumbled the ensuing kickoff return to give Hamilton the ball at midfield. The defence bailed them out as DB Vincent Agnew sacked Collaros for a big loss on 2nd down to give the Argos the ball back.
Neither team put much together on offence in the 3rd quarter, as the score remained 13-12 heading into the 4th.
Both offences couldn’t muster much in the fourth quarter as well as both teams continued to stall withing the 20s.
The Ticats were able to attempt a field goal, but only from 50+ yards out and the attempt fell short of the uprights.
Just when it looked like the Ticats would punch in a major, back-up QB Jeremiah Masoli fumbled on the goal line, allowing the Argos to recover and keep points off the board.
Coming down to the final minute, the Ticats looked to run out the clock. However with 27 seconds left they could not secure the football and fumbled giving the Argos one last shot to steal the game.
Unfortunatley, the Argos were unable to mount a drive and lose the first game at new Tim Hortons Field with a 13-12 final. The Argos head into the bye with only a 1-game lead in the CFL’s East Division.