Hall of Famers inspire as Ticats chase third straight win against improved and hungry Elks

This is the CFL—where the main constant is change—so it’s hardly earth-shattering news that the landscape has altered over the past month-and-a-half. Of course it has: the league is just like that dog’s-age mythology; seven years for every one year of a traditional life span.

Seven weeks ago at Commonwealth Stadium, the Ticats yanked a 28-24 victory away from the Edmonton Elks to drop the Alberta side to 1-6 and apparently postpone Edmonton’s hope for a playoff spot for yet another year. But in the dog-math CFL, here come the Elks into Hamilton Stadium Saturday night, still trailing the Western Conference, but only a game out of a playoff spot, with a 5-8 record.

They’re 4-2 since Bo Levi Mitchell’s late-game touchdown pass to Tim White gave the Ticats a comeback win, their sixth in a row at that point. And arguably the Elks could be 5-1 since then, as the Argos improbably beat them 31-30 on another last-play field goal—sound familiar, Labour Day attendees?—in a game Edmonton probably should have won, but did not. They thought they had that Civic Holiday weekend game against the Cats won too, but Stavros Katsantonis made an interception to set up the winning touchdown drive and the Cats’ defence stuffed a 3rd-and-long in their own territory to seal the victory.

“We felt like we gifted them one last time we played here, so let’s go on the road and try and steal one,” Elks’ quarterback Cody Fajardo—he’d been 6-1 in his career against the Cats prior to that loss—said in Edmonton this week. “We know they’re a great football team but we know we match up well against them and we know that we’re playing good football against them. I think this team has become light years better since the first time we played Hamilton.”

That is an analysis with which the Ticats do not disagree.

“They’ve got a head of steam behind them,” said Ticats defensive back DaShaun Amos, who had a critical interception in last Friday’s emotional 32-21 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

“They’ve made some changes. They’ve adapted. They’ve grown together. I think they’re a way better team than the last time we saw them. And even when we saw them back then we knew that they were very talented and they were just figuring it out.

“I think they’re further along in that; they’re getting to that peak of who they are as a team. In all three phases. They’re going to bring challenges. Everybody knows about the two-headed monster they have in the backfield with (Javon) Leake and (Justin) Rankin. So, they’re going to come ready.

“Cody Fajardo is a great leader. He’s a competitor. He’s going to play all four quarters. So, we just have to come with our A-game, play every snap, one at a time. And play a physical game.”

The Ticats lost three in a row after beating the Elks: in overtime to B.C. at Hamilton Stadium, in Saskatchewan when fatigue and injuries caught up to them; and at home to the Argos on Labour Day. But they shrugged off that trough and have now won twice in a row, playing complementary football to win in Montréal and open up a four-point lead atop the East, and in the emotional Team Ted Game last Friday against Winnipeg to maintain it.

The Ticats, who have a 5-2 road record, second-best in the league behind Saskatchewan’s 5-1, are an even-.500 at home and would like to improve on that 3-3 mark Saturday, especially with three of their remaining five regular-season games at Hamilton Stadium.

But all three losses—the 28-23 home opener against the Riders and to B.C. and Toronto—were games they could have and maybe should have won. They scored 94 points in those three games but they also gave up 104, destructive arithmetic which needs immediate correcting.

This game will feature the two teams which have allowed the most yards, with Edmonton ranked last, surrendering an average of 378 yards of opponents’ offence per game, but that’s only six more than Hamilton has conceded.

The difference is in the big-play aspect at which Hamilton’s defence has excelled; Hamilton ranks second in the CFL in both interceptions (17) and pass knockdowns (52) and that combination of 69 pass disruptions is tops in the league, and they’re also the leaders in fumble recoveries with nine. Edmonton has a league-low seven interceptions, has knocked down 29 passes and has recovered just four fumbles.

The Ticats are also the leaders in turnover ratio, forcing nine more than they’ve given up.

But Fajardo gets rid of the ball quickly and has the highest quarterback efficiency ranking in the league and since replacing Tre Ford a week before they played Hamilton, has added potency to the offence. They have the highest pass completion rate in the CFL, have five receivers with gains of at least 30 yards and four pass-catchers who’ve gone over 500 yards this year, and Fajardo has not thrown an interception in his last 96 pass attempts.

And Rankin’s 204 rushing yards against a good Calgary defence two weeks ago was the second-highest total in Edmonton history.

But the Elks do surrender a lot of sacks, seeing their pivots go down 40 times, more than double the number of sacks Hamilton’s offensive line has allowed.

Bo Levi Mitchell has thrown for well short of 300 yards in three of the last four games but for the most part has looked in complete control, he has run for his first touchdown in a decade, and is judiciously taking what the defence is giving him: the short pass, the delayed crossing patterns by Tim White and surging Kiondré Smith, the occasional over-the-top to Kenny Lawler, and the rush game. Over the past two games, running back Greg Bell has 293 yards overland on 42 carries, nine of them for 10 yards or more. Many of those rushes came when everyone in the stadium knew he’d be getting the ball, but Bell has still accumulated the first back-to-back 100-yard games of his pro career. He’s been a factor on the short flare and swing passes out of the backfield as well.

The Ticats will face a challenge in defending Edmonton’s suddenly-stellar running game—because they have such good and deep Canadian content they can employ both Leake and Rankin on the game-day roster—and also the Elks’ special teams.

“Honestly, they’re very good at it, they’re very good in all their returns,” says linebacker Brian Cole II who leads Hamilton with 14 special teams tackles, five off the league lead. “Obviously they’ve got good returners, so they want to give them a chance. I feel like they kind of remind us of us. They run hard and they run fast. And they block hard, and they want to give their returner a chance, just like we do. So that’s pretty much it. Because that’s what Special Teams really is. It’s hard work, it’s effort.”

In that regard, the Ticats got some huge positive news this week with the return of breakout returner Isaiah Wooden Sr., to the roster.

Wooden, who had already scored three return touchdowns this year, two on kickoffs, one on a punt, and was leading the league in all-purpose yards, before he hurt his shoulder in the loss to B.C. in early August. Despite missing four games he’s still fifth in combined yardage, 500 behind CFL-leading Leake. And he’s still ranked No. 1 in kickoff and punt return yardage.

The Ticats’ only other roster change sees the return of weak-side linebacker Ray Wilborn to the lineup after an injury to Kyler Fisher, who recorded 38 tackles in the four games since he took over as starter.

This is the annual Hall of Fame Game, a Hamilton institution: the Canadian Football Hall of Fame was awarded to the city on then-Mayor Lloyd Jackson’s invitation in 1963 and opened downtown beside city hall in 1972 before moving into Tim Hortons Field in 2016.

This year’s class, which will be inducted Friday night and re-honoured during Saturday night’s game, comprises players Bryan Chiu (offensive lineman); Jeremaine Copeland (wide receiver); Scott Flagel (defensive back); Darryl Hall (linebacker); Jovan Olafioye (offensive lineman); and builders Glen Johnson (former CFL referee and league executive) and Frank McCrystal (CJFL and CIS, now U Sports, coach).

It is also the second game since the loss of Ticats General Manager Ted Goveia to esophageal cancer last Friday, the morning of the already-planned Team Ted Game which celebrated Goveia’s four decades of contribution to Canadian football at every level of the game, coast to coast.

Head coach Scott Milanovich said this week—and you really have to admire the integrity in this—that he would not use Goveia’s loss “as a rallying cry because I think it’s disrespectful. Like I said after the (Team Ted) game, I know these coaches, players, staff, everybody, has got him in mind. And everybody’s going to give their very best for him.”

Bo Levi Mitchell said that performing for the Hall of Fame class does have an uplifting effect on the current players.

“Absolutely,” he said Friday. “Just playing in front of those guys, obviously recognizing what they’ve done in their careers. I remember playing in this game one year and I had a terrible first half. It was the Hall of Fame Game and I looked up where they were sitting, and my thought process was I’m playing in front of these guys and that’s the place I want to be one day, right? I need to step up what I’m doing, stop playing scared. Just go out there and play fearless and have a great day. You know, we ended up playing great that game. I think we still lost the game, but it was one of those eye-opening moments.

“You’re playing in front of the great ones.”

CATS CLAUSES: Ticats CB Jamal Peters’ next defensive tackle will be the 200th of his career … DT Julian Howsare has four sacks in the last five games and now leads the Ticats with six, just one short of his career high … With the CFL’s annual late-summer practice roster expansion, the Ticats have added six American players: RBs Shane Watts, who was with the Ticats for a week in mid-July and spent some time with the NFL New England Patriots and Marcus Yarns out of the University of Delaware; OL Joey Lombard from the University of South Dakota; LB Ryan Meed, who spent six years at the University of Illinois; DT Caiden Woullard, who played three years at Miami University and played 11 games for Oklahoma last year; DB Cam Bergeron who played at Duke. The roster expanded from 10 to 15, and players who are new to the PR at this point of the season do not count against the CFL salary cap… two sets of brothers will play in this game, as they did back in August: QB Tre Ford and his twin, CB for the Elks and Hamilton DE Owen Hubert and his younger brother, Edmonton rookie DL Silas Hubert. The game in Edmonton was the first time the Huberts had played against each other … Scott Flagel, one of the best safeties in CFL history, is part of the 2025 Canadian Football Hall of Fame class who will be honoured at Saturday’s Hall of Fame Game. He played 15 games for the Ticats in 1988 and then 11 more in 1989 before being traded to Ottawa. Another inductee WR Jeremaine Copeland started his coaching career as receivers coach with the 2012 Ticats … Jim Lawson, Hamilton Sports Group minority owner and former interim commissioner of the CFL, will have an enhanced role in the organization after being named vice-chair of HSG, which owns the Ticats …