They’ve lost dramatically, more than once, and now the Tiger-Cats have finally won that way.
The Cats turned the tables on their own disappointing start to the 2024 season by doing unto others—namely, the Toronto Argonauts—what had too often been done to them, with a 27-24 victory Saturday night. It was another gripping display of CFL rivalry entertainment but the 22,910 patrons who were witness to the Ticats’ first win of the current campaign were likely emotionally drained by the time the final curtain dropped.
“I don’t know if relief is the right word,” head coach Scott Milanovich said, although several of players said it was. “I feel happy for them. I told them before the game that everyone in the organization is really working their tail off, doing the right things to try to get this thing turned in the right direction. And they deserved to be rewarded for it. Even the way it ended…it might have made it sweeter. I’m proud of them.”
It was Milanovich’s first win as Ticat head coach and, of course, the Ticats’ first win of the season when a loss would have teetered on the disastrous. This was far more than two points in the standings and a satisfying win, at home, against the opponent which matters most.
With Ottawa winning Friday night to go to 4-2, the Argos would have joined them with a win at Tim Hortons Field. And the Alouettes are already at 5-1.
That would have been a lot of – perhaps too much –ground to make up in the dozen remaining games. There’s still vast difficult acreage to cover, but the Ticats are now 1-0 in that journey.
The Ticats, who’d fallen behind badly in three of their five losses, got an early jump and led wire-to-wire with some big definitive plays, mostly stout defence, tighter coverage secondary, and by forcing turnovers and not breaking when they eventually bent. Toronto had a chance to tie or even win the game in the dying seconds but Hamilton held firm. For the first month-and-a-half of the season, that’s how we’ve been obliged to summarize Tiger-Cat opponents.
“We were desperate for a win, so it feels good to have that,” said Ticat defensive Destin Talbert, who delivered one of the two statement plays in this important victory. “We’re desperate to keep winning. That’s why we want the desperation to keep winning.
“It’s painful losing every week. You come out prepared, so losing hurts. So it feels long: with this win, we’ll make some quick adjustments and prepare for next week (in Edmonton, against the still-winless Elks.)
With the Ticats up 10-0, Toronto quarterback Cameron Dukes rolled right but was brought down by middle linebacker Kyle Wilson, aided by defensive end Nick Usher and the ball popped out. Talbert scooped it up and ran 31 yards into the end zone igniting the crowd and the Ticat bench. He and Dukes himself were among the only people on the field—besides the officiating crew—who knew the ball was loose and live.
Even Talbert didn’t see the actual fumble:
“I was thinking, ‘Maybe I’ll pull him back.’ I see the ball rolling and say ‘Wait a minute! I think I’ll take that and go do something fun.
“Every score is big. Every play is big, especially here in the CFL; you start realizing how much the little details start coming in. They came close to us at the end of the game when we think we’re separated, so every play matters a lot. Big play, but a lot of big plays throughout the game.”
Maybe even bigger was the first one, which set the tone: on the Argos’ opening possession, all-purpose Ante Litre – who is celebrating his mother’s birthday today — created his own gap lane and roared in to block a punt, with the ball ending up on the Argo nine-yard line. One play later James Butler had scooted around the right side and into the end zone.
“You can’t have enough guys like Ante on your team, they’re winners, do whatever you ask,” Milanovich said. “I saw him on a number of special teams, if he didn’t make the tackle, it would still be a problem. Get the guy’s feet. Make him go lateral. We’re really glad to have him.”
Hamilton led 17-0 in the second quarter, 17-7 at the half and 27-11 in the middle of the final quarter before the Argos rallied for a pair of touchdowns only a couple of minutes apart. And for a little spice, they even had a shot to go into overtime, or even win, with a questionable pass interference call against Jamal Peters with a few seconds left. But the Ticats caught a break, in that was ruled non-intentional and was only a 10-yard penalty rather than the 30 yards deeper it would have been for pure pass interference.
The Ticats forced Dukes out of the game with constant pressure from the defensive line. But backup Nick Arbuckle marched his club 99 yards in just under four minutes to turn joy into jitters for Ticat Nation and set up the dramatic final three minutes. On the next Ticat series, Janarion Grant found a wide seam and scored his second return touchdown in two games, 96 yards worth.
“I think if you’re 5-0 at that point, you’re probably pretty confident,” Mitchell conceded. “When you’re 0-and-5 it’s pretty tense. To make it that close in front of the fans again it just feels dangerous. Grant is an amazing returner. They had kept him bottled up all night.”
Without regular safety Stavros Katsantonis, who was a game-time scratch because of a leg injury (replaced by rookie Robert Panabaker) the defence played well until tiring visibly. Toronto receivers and running back Ka’Deem Carey were able to slip numerous tackles in the fourth quarter. But the Ticat defence had spent nine minutes more on the field in the first half than Toronto’s defence did as Hamilton’s offence took time to find itself.
“I wasn’t good enough in the first half,” said Mitchell who, despite some misthrows in the opening 30 minutes ended up 20-for-29 for 270 yards with a touchdown and an interception which deflected off Luther Hakunavanhu.
“As an offence, we ran the ball well, but small things, me missing passes, details on routes, things like that. I take that on myself to run the offence and when we’re running the ball well enough to go second-and-four, I have to get the ball to a receiver and keep the defence off the field. When they’re playing that well, give them time to watch the film see what works, and allow them to talk and communicate and get their breath so they can come back. We move the ball down there, it gives them that much more confidence.”
Defensive coordinator Mark Washington, who is usually on the sidelines, called plays in this one from the spotter’s booth through defensive line coach Glen Young.
Among the many positives in this game for the Ticats was the work of punter Nik Constantinou. He averaged 52.1 yards per punt, 38.8 net, and although the punt Grant returned was too low, his left-footed spin kept the premier returner struggling to field the ball cleanly most of the night. The punt after the return touchdown was a thing of beauty and Grant dropped it. He was fortunate to recover, but the field position left the Cats able to prevent a game-tying drive.
“He’s not good, he’s an elite punter,” Milanovich said. “He’s a weapon. He has all the tricks in his arsenal. He can do the squibs, he can go across the field, he can drive it deep. The left-footed punter always causes problems for a returner because the ball spins the other way.”
The Ticats have now reached the one-third point of the season the traditional demarcation point for teams to assess what they have and who they are before entering the final two-thirds. They’re still only 1-5 but now own the first game of the tie-breaker, which is the overall result of the three games the teams will play this year. The next head-to-head is Labour Day.
So last night’s victory was critical. There’s still a long way to go and the Cats are trying to buck some big historic numbers here. The CFL reported early in the week that of the 40 teams which have opened the season at 0-5, only four have ever made the playoffs, and three of those four did not fall to 0-6. Only one 0-6 team in either division has ever made the playoffs so the Ticats avoided that and they avoided becoming the seventh Ticat team to start the season with six straight losses.
“Relief’s a great word,” Mitchell said. “We’ve been battling, so getting that win was important. Not only against Toronto but it makes us 1-1 in the East. I know we’re 1-5; it’s not pretty. Guys can celebrate tonight and still realize what the situation is. There’s some good things that happened tonight, offence, defence and special teams.”
CATS CLAUSES: Tim White had five catches for 66 yards for the Ticats … Steven Dunbar Jr. had 3 for 55 and James Butler had 50 rushing yards and caught four passes for 53 yards most of that on a key 47-yard screen down the sideline in which Bo Levi Mitchell credited other receivers for their blocking … returner “Smoke” Harris had 173 return yards including an 18-yard kickoff return, a 24-yard missed field goal return and a 38-yard punt return … Kyle Wilson had eight defensive tackles … DeWayne Hendrix and DQ Thomas had the Ticat sacks … Marc Liegghio was good on both his field goal attempts … for the Argos, Cameron Dukes was 20-for-27 for 180 yards and Nick Arbuckle 8-for-14 for 118 yards and a TD and interception (Kenneth George) … Ka’Deem Carey rushed for 66 yards on 11 carries … Damonte Coxie caught five passes for 87 yards and a touchdown … Jake Ceresna and Derek Parish registered the Argo sacks.
