Bo Levi Mitchell makes history as Ticats complete East sweep and march West

You win some and you…oh wait, they haven’t lost any in over a month.

The Tiger-Cats got another dominant effort from their defence, some great contain work on special teams and thoughtfully patient poise from Bo Levi Mitchell and his offence to win their fourth straight game and erase—particularly from the collective minds of Ticat Nation—the memories of an 0-2 start to the season. The last time they lost was June 14 in the home opener against Saskatchewan.

Mitchell took what he was given, then took what he wanted as he threw for 327 yards and yet another touchdown to Kenny Lawler—oh, merely his sixth in the last three games—to move past Tracy Ham into 10^th on the all-time CFL career passing yardage list in the Ticats 30-15 win over the game, but injury-riddled, Ottawa Redblacks Sunday night, hard by the Rideau Canal. No. 9 Doug Flutie is next in Mitchell’s sights.

This is important too: the Cats are in first place. Same record as the 4-2 Alouettes, but their June win over Montréal keeps them there. And if you don’t think that’s a sweet feeling, you should have been around the Ticats’ roaring, chanting-laced, locker room Sunday night. It was an unusual combination of raucously enjoying the moment and anticipating Monday’s day off, while already pondering the next task, which is a Friday flight to Vancouver for  Sunday’s date with the BC Lions, the first of four games against the West in 22 days, only one of them at home.

Head coach Scott Milanovich said this week that he’s no longer dividing the season into thirds—when you have Grey Cup aspirations it’s the ending that counts—but we’ll do it for him. This is where the Ticats wanted to be after their first tour through the Eastern Conference. They’ve won all four, beaten all three of the other Eastern sides, already own the tie-breaker over Ottawa, should the Redblacks find a way to right their lineup-depleted ship through the second two-thirds, and have put six points distance between themselves and the 1-6 Redblacks and 1-5 Argos.

“It’s been huge,” said soft-spoken defensive halfback Destin Talbert, who had two of the Ticats’ three interceptions (Stavros Katsantonis had the other, on a brilliant route-jump). “Any win is great, so having four right now and getting a good start through these first six games was really good. I’m glad we could do that for the whole city.

“Every game, you’re just looking to go one-and-zero in that game. It’s a tough stretch coming up but we’re just going to approach each game the same way.”

The Redblacks lost a couple of defensive linemen—including all-star Lorenzo Mauldin twice—and their starting quarterback Dru Brown during the game. Backup Dustin Crum came in and ejected some life into the offence, completing his first 10 passes, but the Ticats defence kept stiffening, and held Ottawa to five Lewis Ward field goals, and exactly zero touchdowns.

 “It’s so fun to play football when your defence plays the way that they’re playing right now and have every game,” said Mitchell, who threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Lawler, and almost had another when tight end Jevoni Robinson made a good catch and was brought down at the one-yard line, from where Ante Litre plunged over in the fourth quarter.

“Every time I looked down at the iPad at what their defence is doing and I’d look up and Destin’s there, spinning around and making an interception. It was just a helluva performance for those guys. It’s just inspiring the offence, and we’re not having to be overly-aggressive.

“We’re trying to take what’s there and be smart. But we have big-play potential. So when they are there we take them.”

Mitchell hit Tim White eight times for 85 yards, a lot of those because Lawler had attracted defensive attention like a magnet on iron filings. He did throw his second interception of the year when all-star Adarius Pickett ball-hawked him on the first play of the fourth quarter and was heading toward the end zone when somehow Lawler ran him down and tackled him, saving four points after the defence held Ottawa to a field goal and a 20-15 Hamilton lead with lots of time remaining.

“He was just flying,” Mitchell marvelled of the multi-talented Lawler.

His teammates saluted their hall-of-fame-bound quarterback for reaching the CFL’s all-time top 10.

“How amazing is that?” said White, who was particularly efficient in combining with Mitchell on pivotal second-down completions. “It just shows the consistency of who he is, coming out there and getting into the top 10. I’m just glad to be a part of it and I’m sure all the guys in the room are glad to be part of it.

“Tonight, we stayed patient, seeing how the defence was going to play things and attacking that way. We were efficient, moving the chains down the field and put points on the board when we needed to.”

When they needed to was the series immediately after the Pickett interception. And they did it. Mitchell chewed up over five minutes of valuable clock time, hit Kiondré Smith, Lawler, White twice, Robinson and Augustine before Litre’s short touchdown capped the 70-yard drive that made it a two-score game.

The Ticats had lost big left tackle Jordan Murray to an injury and had to shift left guard Brandon Revenberg to tackle and insert sixth lineman Nate Dumoulin-Duguay into Revenberg’s spot. Then, they often ran Augustine, who had 18 carries for 85 yards overall, right behind that left side.

“Again, next man up,” said Augustine, who is turning into a very important free agency acquisition. “I don’t care if it’s a backup, third-string, or whatever, I feel we’re going to get those yards when needed, especially during the last three minutes.

“I credit it to the offensive line. All those guys up front. And it always comes back to coach putting us in the right position.”

The veteran Revenberg, who has become the best lineman in recent Cat history, has played tackle before, “so we prepare for it and we’re ready. It worked out well. The boys were fired up, Nate stepped up to the plate when he needed to and it was a great win. We’re happy in the moment but the job’s not done. So, enjoy it for the night, then get back to work.”

Augustine’s big night and the near-major by Robinson highlight a couple of commitments Milanovich has made publicly, and to which he’s sticking to: creating the threat of a tight-end (Robinson) package and a commitment to attempting the run, which over time opens up all kinds of other offensive options. The Ticats carried the ball 22 times Sunday night, knowing the Redblacks’ diminished defensive front would be vulnerable.

The Ticats incurred six costly penalties in the first half for 70 yards—a big factor in the closeness of the score—but cleaned that up like a janitorial company with only one penalty in the second half.

“I thought we were resilient,” Milanovich said. “We talked at halftime and I felt like we had let them stay in the game. We had a 10-point lead and made some mistakes that I think kept it from growing.

“But that’s football. And they (Ottawa) get paid too. They’ve got talent. We wanted to come out and win the first part of the third quarter. I felt like if we did that, we win the game. That’s what happened.

“I thought the difference in the game, really, was we were able to run the ball well and put them in some situations that were different and gave us some opportunities to throw the football.”

It is a bit mesmerizing how quickly the secondary has come together with last week’s return of Stubblefield to the SAM linebacker spot, to solidify the unit. Since the second half of the home win against Ottawa, they’ve been aggressive and sticking to receivers like Crazy Glue.

Down by 12 with six minutes to go, Ottawa tried a little razzle-dazzle when Crum threw a long lateral pass to receiver Justin Hardy, who then unleashed a long throw, but Talbert had sniffed it out and made his second interception.

Mitchell returned to the field and immediately hit reserve receiver Keaton Bruggeling for a 30-yard bomb which pulled them out of trouble. It was the first Ticat catch for Bruggeling, who is a former Redblack.

The defensive secondary, helped by some pressure up front, was again very aggressive, with three interceptions—Katsantonis and the two from Talbert—and some blanketing plays from Jonathan Moxey, Stubblefield, Jamal Peters and Dashaun Amos, who’d taken a costly 25-yard penalty for the hit which drove Brown from the game. Amos had four tackles, including a high-energy tackle for a loss.

The win was on everyone’s mind but so was Mitchell’s ascension into the CFL’s upper passing-yardage echelon.

“I think what’s important, studying the history, is when you pass a guy everybody deserves congratulations,” Mitchell said. “There’s a lot that goes into it. It’s making sure you look back at the guys like Tracy Ham and what that guy did. What Doug Flutie did, and trying to chase him now, just continue to look back at the legends that played the game.

“There’s been so many great quarterbacks… so many great players, in general. But just to be on that list and be a part of 10 of the top guys of all time is very, very special.”

The Ticats won four straight games in the second-half of last season but they were chasing their record at the time; now they’re getting out in front of it with four wins already under their belt.

“I think we’re just building confidence right now,” said Mitchell who said the two Cats’ early losses were against the CFL’s top two teams.

“And we look forward to getting the next team.”

The Lions, in Vancouver, next Sunday.

CATS CLAUSES: Marc Liegghio’s 3-for-3 night continued his perfect field goal season, and his success string has reached 30 straight without a miss, in the top seven streaks in CFL history … LB Ray Wilborn led the Ticats with seven defensive tackles … DE TyJuan Garbutt had the Ticats’ sack … LB Kyler Fisher had two special teams tackles and two on defence … the Ticats have won all four games since No. 2 overall draft choice Devin Veresuk was installed as starting MLB … Tim White’s team-leading 89 yards on eight receptions included five catches on second down … Kiondré Smith’s three catches for 81 yards included a  63-yarder … once again 10 different Ticats caught passes … the Ticats won the turnover battle 4-1 … Hamilton was 13/24 in converting second downs, Ottawa, 6-for-19 … Hamilton mounted 412 net yards of offence, Ottawa 316 … Redblacks’ Kalil Pimpleton amassed 166 combined yards on punt and kickoff returns and five pass receptions … Ottawa QB Dru Brown was 6-for-8 for 66 yards and an interception and replacement Dustin Crum was 16-for-22 for 149 yards, and also an interception … Ottawa RB Daniel Adoboboye ran for 54 yards and caught another 20 yards worth of passes … Geno Lewis had a quiet night with just one catch … Justin Hardy had seven catches for 47 Ottawa yards and also threw an interception … Redblacks sacks went to Bryce Carter and Michael Wakefield …  attendance was 15,054.