May 9th seems like forever ago.
That’s when rookie camp opened for the Toronto Argonauts. Confidence was easy to find throughout camp; there was a feeling that the roster was good enough to finish first in the East and compete for a Grey Cup.
This Saturday the Argos have a chance to wrap up first place in the East with a win over the Alouettes in Montreal. If that fails, they’ll have another chance to do that when the two teams meet again at BMO Field one week later.
If history means anything, it won’t be easy.
Since the Argos moved back to the Exhibition grounds in 2016, this series has provided a ridiculous amount of home-field advantage. In six trips to Percival Molson Stadium since ’16 the Argos are 0-6, outscored 188-92 in the process. Conversely, the Argos are 6-0 at BMO, outscoring the Als 177-110.
The Argos did lose a “home” game to the Als in 2019, but that was in the Touchdown Atlantic game played in Moncton, so the record at their usual home remains perfect.
Saturday’s contest is like a playoff game, but without the usual finality of football’s post-season; this is more like a best-of-three series with the Argos leading 1-0. There’s room for error, but nobody in Double Blue wants to see it go to a deciding game.
“It’s a game with playoff implications,” Head Coach Ryan Dinwiddie told Argonauts.ca. “We don’t want to wait ‘til the next week, so we want to go and try to get this one done. It’s a very important game. We want the guys to be focused. This is the time of year where we’ve got to be locked in.”
Dinwiddie has been on both sides of this matchup, beginning his coaching career with the Als 2013-15. He’s fully aware of the consequences of this week’s match-up.
“Home field advantage is why this game is so big,” he said. “We want to secure home field and win the East. Win one and get the chance to win one at home (to get to the Grey Cup), so we’ve got to be road warriors this week.”
Like his head coach, middle linebacker Henoc Muamba is an Alouette alumnus, spending three seasons on the southern slope of Mount Royal. He knows it can be a tough place to play for visitors, because they’re playing more than just the current roster of Als.
“People don’t realize how tough it is to play there, especially when they’re having a good season,” Muamba told Argonauts.ca. “They’ve got good support; they’ve got a good crowd and there’s a lot of pride out there. I think the history comes into play; everybody knows how good, historically speaking, the Als have been. I remember being there and that’s what we’d talk about, that we had to bring it back to what it used to be.”
Depending on one’s age, it’s impossible to walk into Molson Stadium and not think of players gone by; of Sam Etcheverry to “Prince Hal” Patterson, of Anthony Calvillo to Ben Cahoon.
That is, unless you’re Declan Cross.
Following the recent retirement of Jake Reinhart, the Argo fullback is now the longest tenured Argo player. Cross has been a Boatman since 2016, the season this home-and-home streak of domination began.
He doesn’t buy into streaks, or history, or ghosts.
“I think it’s one of those weird things more than anything,” the Oakville native theorized to Argonauts.ca. “The only factor I can think of is the fans getting into it and getting fired up and creating some noise.”
Going on the road hasn’t been overly troublesome for the Argos this season. They’re 5-3 away from BMO Field,
“When we’re on the road as a team we’re spending more time together,” said Cross. “We have a pretty tight team here and when we’re on the road we spend all our time together; it’s like that feeling of brotherhood and camaraderie gets amplified.”
That esprit de corps will come in handy in Montreal as the Argos try to not only end the losing streak at Molson Stadium, but more importantly clinch their second-consecutive East Division title, and the right to host the Eastern Final at BMO Field on November 13.