Quarterbacking, play-calling and kicking trigger game-winning drive as Ticats move closer to clinching first

It’s an old football adage that playing at home should be worth at least a field goal.

Well, that field goal pierced 41 yards into a vigorous north wind, got Marc Liegghio hoisted onto the shoulders of his ecstatic teammates and sent CFL statisticians into calculating magic numbers for the Tiger-Cats to finish atop the Eastern Division for the first time in six years.

The Ticats’ nail-biting, back-and-forth 29-27 victory over the tenacious Edmonton Elks Saturday night was decided by the talented right instep of Liegghio, who is having a season for the ages, but it was fabricated by the ice-in-the-veins efficiency of quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and perceptive play-calling of head coach Scott Milanovich.

With the Elks up a point, the Hamilton defence had forced Edmonton to punt but Mitchell’s offence was back up to its own 10-yard line with the game clock reading 97 seconds to play. It read exactly zero to play as Liegghio stroked the ball—expertly held by Nic Constantinou and precisely snapped by Gordon Whyte; the “operation” as that trio is known—right down the middle for his fifth field goal of the game, and his 18th make in a row.

Ninety-seven seconds and 67 yards of Mitchell magic. Nine passes, seven of them completed to six different receivers—two of them the first time they’d been targeted all game—a couple of runs by Greg Bell, a game-altering Edmonton roughing the passer penalty, Liegghio capping it all off.

“The more I’m getting to know Bo, the more I’m seeing how clutch he is when the game’s on the line,” Milanovich said after the tumultuous victory which hiked the Ticats’ latest winning streak to three games and their overall record to 9-5 with four games remaining. “And I’ve been around a lot of quarterbacks. And for the special ones, it slows down in those moments. There’s no doubt that that’s what happens when Bo’s in that situation.”

So here’s where things stand as the Ticats head into Winnipeg next Saturday for their final long road trip of the season, and where they’ll face another highly-motivated Western team clawing tooth and nail for a playoff spot.

The Ticats remain four points up on second-place Montréal who kept pace with a narrow win in Toronto Friday night. Even if the Alouettes win all of their final four games, the most they could reach is 22 points. The Ticats already have 18 points, and if the two were to finish tied for first the Ticats already hold the tie-breaker.

So any combination of Tiger-Cat wins and Montréal losses which total four points, gives the Ticats the division pennant and a bye into the Eastern final. The 5-9 Argos still have a mathematical chance but the magic number there for the Cats is one point.

That’s outside stuff, media stuff, and nobody’s talking about it within the team—“It’s just go 1-0 every week, no looking past that,” Bell said—but that doesn’t make it any less real, nor any less inspiring after Hamilton’s eight wins and a last-place finish just a year ago.

The difference between losing this game and winning it stretches far beyond the playoff metrics: it was the second game of the final third of the season and the Cats have won both of them—at home—after rising above their oppressive grief over General Manager Ted Goveia passing away last Friday morning and beating the Blue Bombers that night.

Saturday’s victory elevated Hamilton over .500 at home (4-3), with two more left at Hamilton Stadium and a home playoff date imminent. Having home field advantage, they need to use it, and they’ve been doing so after a couple of tough losses to BC and Toronto here.

That is not only uplifting on the field but off it.

“The more wins we have for our fans the better,” said Liegghio who said he had Goveia in the back of his mind when he went on the field for the deciding kick, wanting to do it for him “because I know he’s watching over us.

“I think playing in our home stadium and people coming to us is something teams have to think about; with the kind of crowd we have, just the noise. They can sometimes get penalties because they can’t figure out what they’re doing.”

Throughout the game, veteran quarterbacks Mitchell and Cody Fajardo were clinical on second downs, as the two teams combined for 37 points in the first half (20-17 Ticats) but only 19 in the second, when both defences dug in. The Elks recorded points—two TDs, three field goals—on five of their first six drives extending into early in the third quarter, but Hamilton stiffened thereafter and held them to just a field goal and three punts the rest of the way.

“They’re a good offence, they move the ball well; they have a good running back (Justin Rankin) and Cody’s a good quarterback, he made plays,” said Ticat defensive end Julian Howsare who was a constant force with three tackles, a critical pass knockdown, a forced fumble and his team-leading seventh sack of the season.

“But we got comfortable and we played our game. You want to win in this stadium. It helps to play here because our fan base is awesome; they’re loud and they make it fun to play here. It feels good.”

The Elks have been one of the stronger teams in the league since the Ticats narrowly beat them in Edmonton in early August but have lost two close ones in a row in Ontario, to the Argos and now to the Ticats. They were without several significant players—including former Ticat star receiver Steven Dunbar Jr. and four of their top tacklers on defence; defensive linemen Jake Ceresna and Robbie Smith and primo linebackers Nick Anderson and Nyles Morgan—but extended the Ticats to the final second of a game which featured eight lead changes. Their playoff hopes remain alive but got a bit more challenging after this loss and Winnipeg’s win over Ottawa earlier Saturday.

Mitchell went 28-for-40 for 311 yards, and threw an interception to go with his 27th and 28th touchdown passes of the season, to Brendan O’Leary-Orange and Kenny Lawler, his 11th receiving major of the season.

Liegghio took care of the rest of the scoring.

Both Mitchell and Fajardo (21-for-29, two TDs, no picks) led offences which were electric on second downs, with eerily similar numbers: Edmonton were successful on 14 of their 25 second downs, many of them on second-and-long while Hamilton converted 14 of their 24 (plus two third-down conversions during the final drive).

Ticats running back Greg Bell rushed for 93 yards on 17 carries, falling just short of a third-straight 100-yard game, and added seven catches for another 39 yards.

“But I don’t think I did that well today,” Bell said. “I missed a few blocks early in the game and Bo got hit so I have to clean that up. And I have to stay on my feet when I get into the secondary. I’m happy about the yardage but I’m a lot more happy about the win. That’s all that matters right now.”

Both Mitchell and Milanovich praised the work of the Hamilton offensive line which has benefitted from the continuity of staying healthy and from the mileage they’ve accumulated from the sophomore seasons of their young tackles, and 14 games with right guard Liam Dobson, who came via free agency, and centre Coulter Woodmansey who shifted from guard to replace departed CFL all-star David Beard—who was snapping to Fajardo Saturday night.

“It takes all 12 players on the field to be successful and great play calls by coach,” Dobson said, pointing to the final drive in which the offensive line was impeccable. “I think we put in a lot of good work together to be ready for situations like that. We have each other’s backs: we have a great quarterback who makes plays for us and we have to keep him safe. And obviously we’ve got play makers all over the field. We do whatever we can up front to get those guys loose.

“We have a great back like Greg who can hit the holes. We can run the ball, we can pass the ball and it makes it hard to defend. Edmonton did a good job tonight but we were able to do some things at the end that allowed us to get out with a win. Believe in your teammates and you’ll end up with a good result.”

Mitchell said that he knew that despite starting in the shadow of his own goal posts, there was plenty of clock left to get into field goal range. Kiondré Smith, having a tremendous season, made a key third-down catch. The Elks lost 15 devastating yards in field position on a roughing the passer call with 37 seconds left and Tyler Ternowski and Shemar Bridges both caught important passes on the first balls thrown their way all night. All choreographed by Mitchell recognizing where the holes were and trusting that Liegghio would be able to successfully cap the drive.

“I know it seems like you don’t at times, but, you know, 45 seconds, a minute, you’ve got time to get down there,” Mitchell said. “Great job by everybody on the offense. A helluva job by Scott calling it there at the end. I feel like play-callers aren’t judged on a lot, but Scott seems to be one of the best I’ve ever been around. When it’s a critical time … and you have zero time to think, man, he comes up with the right plays.

“I just knew if I got (Liegghio) anywhere close, we were going to have the game. So just do whatever you can to get him the opportunity in a drive like that.”

Liegghio made the most of it, and the shortest player on the team ended up hoisted eight feet off the ground by his teammates.

CATS CLAUSES: Kiondré Smith had seven receptions for 89 yards, giving him 841 yards for the season, less than 100 yards off his career high set last year, with four games left to go … Tim White had five receptions for 84 yards to hit 812 on the season and ran a fly sweep for another 15 … Kenny Lawler had three catches for 46 yards and a major … Brendan O’Leary-Orange had 32 yards receiving and a touchdown … MLB Devin Veresuk led the Ticats with seven defensive tackles … Julian Howsare, Philip Ossai and Casey Sayles had the Ticat sacks … Brian Cole II recorded his team-leading 15th special teams tackle … The Ticats totalled 413 yards in net offence, 110 of those on the ground, and the Elks had 319 … attendance was 22,114 … the Ticats hit the road for games in Winnipeg then Toronto before finishing with two more at home against Calgary then Ottawa … Hamilton won for only the second time this year after losing (2-0, an interception and on downs) the turnover battle … the Ticats defence had two different drives which resulted in five points extended by penalties to two different veterans on each drive. “I’m still steaming about that,” Scott Milanovich said of the fouls. “We’ve been generally pretty good with that this year.” … Edmonton’s Canadian linebacker Joel Dublanko led all defensive tacklers with 11 and had the Elks’ only sack … Elks CB JJ Ross had the game’s only interception … RB Justin Rankin had 41 yards on the ground and another 77 yards in receptions, most of that on a short-pass-and-run he took 72 yards for a TD … Kurleigh Gittens Jr. grabbed the Elks’ other receiving touchdown … Edmonton K Vincent Blanchard was 4-for-4 in field goals … This year’s Canadian Football Hall of Fame class, who were inducted Friday night at a ceremony and dinner at the stadium, were introduced and re-honoured during the game: Bryan Chiu (offensive lineman); Jeremaine Copeland (wide receiver); Scott Flagel (defensive back); Darryl Hall (linebacker); Jovan Olafioye (offensive lineman); Frank McCrystal (builder); and builders Glen Johnson (former CFL referee and league executive) and (CJFL and CIS coach).