Extension of Streak the Focus for Tiger-Cats Amidst Celebrations

If Heaven can wait, so can savouring history.

So the Tiger-Cats aren’t spending a single moment thinking about the rarefied atmosphere they’d enter if they can defeat the determined B.C. Lions in Thursday night’s Wall of Honour Game at Hamilton Stadium.

In fact, most of them, including their head coach, didn’t even know that if they can beat the Lions for the second time in 11 days, they will join the only other three Ticats teams who’ve won seven regular-season games in a row.

They’d become the first Cat squad to do it since 1972, Angelo Mosca’s final season, when the Ticats won the Grey Cup and set the franchise record of 10 straight regular season wins. In the 75-year history of the “modern era” Ticats the only other teams to win as many as seven straight were the 1961 and ’63 Cats, who each ran off seven.

We’re just having the mindset of just go win that play, make your play.

And only four other teams since the old Tigers and Wildcats merged in 1950 have boasted as many victories in a row as the six-game streak the current Cats are riding. The last time that happened was the final six games of the magical 15-3 regular season six years ago.

“Really, we’re just trying to add another one in the win column,” said Scott Milanovich who said the historical nature of six-seven-or-more-game win streaks is something to look back on later, not while you’re in them. “I’m happy with the way we’ve found ways to win six weeks in a row.”

It’s not that the Ticats are unaware that they’re on a hot streak, that they’ve shot up the standings after losing their first two games to lead the East Division at 6-2, or that they’ve won three straight road games, the last two in essentially the dying moments, a riveting 37–33 comeback in B.C. and a 28–24 comeback in Edmonton. All of that does, though, fortify a self-belief that has been there since the second half of last season and has multiplied with each verifying victory this term.

Bo Levi Mitchell, coming off a Most Outstanding Player runner-up season and stunningly on pace for the best statistical year of his brilliant career, likens the Cats’ six-game streak to a golf swing: you can hit a bad one but if you keep in the moment, stay locked in on the basics and focus only on the next shot, you can recover for a tap-in putt.

“Sometimes that’s the way you feel when you’re in a run like this,” says the Ticat quarterback. “I can miss a throw, we can miss a tackle, whatever it might be, but we understand that, and we’re not going to panic. And I think the big thing is not having the pressure of, ‘All right, we’ve got to win now.’ We’re just having the mindset of just go win that play, make your play. And I think that those small wins just continue to carry over to why we’re winning games in the fourth quarter.”

The Lions would rather not be reminded of that, thank you. They appeared to have the game in Vancouver sewn up when former Ticat quarterback Jeremiah Masoli scored a short-yardage touchdown to put the Lions up 33-23 with under four minutes to play.

But it took Mitchell only four plays and 58 seconds to make it a three-point game with a 64-yard drive culminating in a 44-yard touchdown bomb to Brendan O’Leary-Orange.

It took him longer, 111 seconds, to take advantage of a B.C. two-and-out and drive the Cats 87 yards in 14 deliberately time-consuming plays for Kiondré Smith’s winning touchdown with just 16 seconds left.

That was the last minute the Lions have played since then, as they finally entered their first bye week right after the game, a lengthy workload which Mitchell, to his credit, implied might have created a fatigue factor for the Lions who were “just trying to make it through.”

“So we know we’re going to get a better team, that’s fresh. They’re ready to go out the gate. And it’s a difficult part of our stretch. But we had, in my mind, a pretty good schedule there in the beginning of the year. So we have B.C. this week coming off the bye. We’ve got Saskatchewan next week coming off a bye.

Two very difficult games. This week, we’ve got to focus on going out and winning with our play.”

While the Lions were off—several of them did work out together though—the Ticats flew to Edmonton and back to harvest another couple of points, then had only one practice this week because of the tight schedule.

With the crammed calendar—four games, three of them away, and 16,000 air kilometres in a 22-day stretch—there are some benefits in preparing for a team they so recently played.

“There’s some familiarity there,” Milanovich agreed, “I don’t know, offensively, if we’re going to see the same game plan from them defensively. But, yeah, it definitely helps a little bit from the familiarity standpoint. Some of the things that are kind of standard, you can kind of get out of the way quicker.”

Nathan Rourke, the Lions’ Oakville-raised, Burlington-trained, quarterback said of the limited practice time, “Sometimes when you’re playing well you stay in that rhythm during a short week, especially when you’re playing at home.”

Meanwhile, Lions head coach Buck Pierce said during his media interviews that the missed-opportunity nature of his team’s loss to the Ticats is something his club can use as a learning tool.

“There’s lots of self-reflection on how we can get better and execute against a very good opponent,” he said.

He added that the margin of games at the CFL level is very slim and that is underscored by the fact that games between these two teams are more often than not decided in the final three minutes. Last year, the Lions came into Hamilton in late July and won 44-28 for the fifth and final game in the Cats’ 0-5 start to the season, but the Cats completed a four-game winning streak at BC a couple of months later with a double-overtime three-point win.

In their current six-game streak, half of which the Cats have won by four points or fewer, Mitchell has thrown for 16 touchdowns against just three interceptions and has used his legs to move the pocket and even to run for a couple of critical long first downs.

With Kenny Lawler regularly double-teamed Mitchell has been patient in finding Kiondré Smith and Tim White.

And, while the Cats have run the ball for an average of 31 yards per game fewer than B.C.’s league-leading 106 yards, Greg Bell has had some important big carries late in games, and Milanovich, the offensive coordinator, continues to commit to calling the run in order to set up play action and also to keep his very strong offensive line pushing forward.

The Lions’ success at the rush—and on first downs, where they lead the league in yards gained—derives from strong play in the trenches, the increased speed of former James Butler to go with his power, and extra motivation of playing against his former team (two touchdowns and 115 yards in the loss to the Ticats) and the running, both scripted and scrambling, of Rourke who is excellent at rolling out to buy time and space for his receivers.

And their offensive line keeps pace with the Ticats’ group of blockers, with the fewest sacks surrendered in the league.

The Lions also have five receivers in the league’s top 20: Keon Hatcher, Stanley Berryhill III, Justin McInnis, Ayden Eberhardt and Jevon Cottoy, so the Ticats’ defence needs to get quick pressure on Rourke, and contain him on the run-pass-option. That, of course, means stopping the run first.

“Butler had what, 115 yards against us last game?” said rookie Ticat middle linebacker Devin Veresuk, whose elevation to the starting job coincided with the start of the six-game winning streak. “As a linebacker I take that as it’s on me. The linebackers’ job is coming down and stopping the run. So that’s something I’ve got to be better on, and us as a group too. That’s what we attack this week and plan on. And when it comes to Nathan Rourke, I mean he’s athletic and he’s quick and he gets the ball out quick.”

Veresuk was one of the Ticats’ five Canadians removed from Friday’s game with injuries but he’ll play against the Lions as will receiver/tight end Keaton Bruggeling. But receiver Tyler Ternowski, special teams player Patrick Burke Jr., and long-snapper Gordon Whyte will be held out.

After linebacker Trevor Hoyte stepped in commendably as emergency long-snapper when  Whyte injured his shoulder in Edmonton, the Ticats signed Canadian centre Simon Chaves, who will handle the chores against B.C. He was a teammate of starting offensive centre Coulter Woodmansey at Guelph, so both men hiking the ball are former Gryphons.

It’s the first time since he made the roster in 2021 that Whyte will miss a game, but he’s been so important to the success of special teams—and Marc Liegghio’s franchise record 33 field goals in a row—that the Ticats need him for the big games later in the year so it’s advisable to be cautious with his return.

Drew Wolitarsky, one of the Cats’ several marquee off-season free agent signings, will dress for his first regular-season game with the Ticats. He missed the final couple of months as a Winnipeg Blue Bomber last year when he broke ribs for a second time, then injured his ankle just after this year’s pre-season, so this will be his first regular-season game for his new team and he’s chomping at the bit to get on the field.

It’s appropriate that Wolitarsky makes his regular-season debut in the Wall of Honour Game, which supports international charity World Vision. He volunteered to spend time working with World Vision in Africa this off-season as one of the CFL’s ambassadors and is strongly committed to the cause.

Thursday is also Shai Rally Day at Hamilton Stadium when Hamilton-raised Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the best basketball player in the world, will be celebrated before and during the game.

And, it is also the annual Wall of Honour Game when Ticat and CFL legend Miles Gorrell will receive the highest tribute the franchise can award: his name and number joining the select 26 players and three builders whose names are on the facing of the west wall of the stadium.

Mitchell believes that will have deep cachet with, and a motivational impact upon, current players.

“As an older guy in this league and on this team you hope to be in that situation one day,” Mitchell said Wednesday. “So you really try to appreciate the people that have put so much time and effort, blood, sweat and tears into this game. They were showing us his stats and there’s like 300-something (321) games. Something insane.

“He has a very storied history with Hamilton; playing for us, leaving and coming back. You just really appreciate those people when you look back at what this game used to be. And it was even more violent than it is today. And I know he was protecting quarterbacks.”

Meanwhile, as Gorrell’s descendants on the offensive line try to protect their own quarterback, particularly from linebacker Michael Awe, who leads the league in tackles by a mile, the Cats endeavour to continue a historic winning streak that has only amplified its collective self-belief.

“I think it is just the team coming together and realizing how good we can be,” Veresuk says, “Fixing the mistakes that we had in the first two weeks, and just building, building.”

CATS CLAUSES: Ticats DB Destin Talbert’s 7 pass knockdowns are tied for the CFL lead … BC Lions Robert Carter Jr., who made a brilliant one-handed pick off a perfect Bo Levi Mitchell pass two weeks ago in Vancouver, has 5 knockdowns … the Tiger-Cats’ victory in Edmonton last week was the first time this year that Marc Liegghio wasn’t called upon for a field goal attempt. Five times he’s gone 3-for-3 … this game features two kickers with still-alive success streaks which already rank among the all-time top 10 of consecutive field goals made: Liegghio is up to 33, fourth all-time, with the Lions’ Sean Whyte’s 30 straight tied for sixth… the league’s two top-targeted receivers are also in the game: the Lions’ Keon Hatcher and Ticats Kenny Lawler have each been thrown toward 64 times, with Lawler catching 39 of them for 701 yards and Hatcher 40 for 691 yards. Lawler leads the league with 8 touchdowns, all on receptions.… Thursday also matches the top two second-down offences in the league with B.C. No. 1, converting 55 percent of its second down chances and Hamilton 51 per cent …  WR Kiondré Smith, who’s caught a stunning 21 passes for 372 yards the past two games, was named to the CFL weekly Honour Roll as the receiver with the highest Pro Football Focus (PFF) marks in last week’s slate of games … Mario Kendricks leads the team with 4 sacks as part of the three-man DT rotation …the Ticats signed RB Kevin Brown to the practice roster. He played three games and had a touchdown for Toronto this season and had 522 rushing yards and 138 reception yards in Edmonton last year after rushing for 1141 yards the previous season … the Ticats released veteran DB Branden Dozier who started the first four games at strong side linebacker before Reggie Stubblefield, a major free agent acquisition, returned from 400 days of injury recovery to assume that role… Lions RB James Butler, the former Ticat, has 3 of the CFL’s 100-yard rushing games and is averaging a career-high 5.5 yards per carry … Lions LB Micah Awe is on pace for 137 tackles, the most since Soloman Elimimian set the league record of 144 eight years ago … Lions WR Stanley Berryhill III has 5 TD receptions … Hamilton native Isaiah Messam has been placed on the six-game injured list … BC LB Patrice Rene leads the CFL with 13 special tackles.