Ferocious Tiger-Cats defence sets the tone in dominant win over Argonauts

Just how important was that?

“After a loss like last week it was all, ‘How is the team going to respond?’ and we responded the right way, exactly what you wanted to see,” said Tiger-Cats’ defensive end Julian Howsare after the Ticats rode a huge early lead to a 47-29 win over the Toronto Argonauts Saturday afternoon at BMO Field, “Just taking a step forward and doing what we did today is a great feeling.”

Howsare led a ferocious Ticats defence which set the tone from the start with bold play and a ferocity that the Argos offence could not match. He had four sacks for the first time in his career, pro or college, as the defence smothered the game and backup Argo quarterback Jarrett Doege with nine sacks and four interceptions.

Doege replaced starter Nick Arbuckle who was gone after the Argos’ second play from scrimmage, when he was hit by defensive end Philip Ossai and dropped the football, with Howsare—who keeps cementing his 2025 all-star credentials—recovering.

Bo Levi Mitchell then took only 81 seconds to turn that into 38 yards and a touchdown pass to Kenny Lawler, his first of two on the night.

Four minutes into the second quarter, the Ticats led 24-3, which swelled to 32-6 late in that quarter and 32-9 at the half, which they rode the rest of the way to victory.

The Ticats hit 10 wins for the first time in six years and upped their record against East Conference opponents to 6-1, the only blemish coming on the Argos’ impossible comeback last-second win on Labour Day.

Fifth-year Ticats safety and defensive captain Stavros Katsantonis, who had three of the Cats’ nine interceptions said, “It’s the first time we’ve been in double digit wins since I’ve been here. That’s the kind of team we’ve got this season, we’re focused on one game at a time and whatever that (win) number is, we want to keep adding to it.”

The interception hat-trick lifts Katsantonis to six for the season and into a three-way tie for the league lead. Toronto’s Tarvarus McFadden, who picked off Mitchell in the third quarter, also has six, as does Saskatchewan’s Tevaughn Campbell.

Despite battling some injuries Katsantonis has been melding interceptions and thunderous hits and s going to get lots of consideration for an all-star nod.

His climb up the Pick Parade is among a slew of relevant numbers which emerged from this game.

• Start with two, as in the number of Eastern Division teams —the Ticats and Als—which remain still eligible to play after the regular season ends in three weeks. The Argos, now 5-11, bowed out on Saturday and Ottawa was excused from playoff consideration the night before. In their stead, the fourth-place western team will cross over to meet No. 2 in the East.
• Speaking of which, another “two” is the Ticats’ magic number. Any combination of two points lost by the Als or won by the Cats locks up first place. More simply put, they can clinch with a win over Calgary, Saturday afternoon at Hamilton Stadium. Hamilton’s 6-1 divisional dominance—and they will also finish .500 vs. the West if they defeat Calgary on Saturday—has been central to shaving their magic number for finishing first and proceeding directly to hosting the East final.
• The Ticats’ final two games are at home. They have a bye after hosting Calgary before Ottawa comes in the following weekend for the season-ender. The Cats finished 6-3 on the road this year and have a chance to duplicate that mark at home if they can defeat the Stampeders and Redblacks.
• Even with the Winnipeg hiccup, the Ticats have now won four of their last five games, to go with their six-game winning streak from late June to early-August.
• Howsare’s four-sack outing continued his stellar season, as the Cats poured a lot of heat at Doege, who did complete 34-of-49 passes for a couple of touchdowns and put up 13 points in the third quarter.

“He’s been consistent all year,” Milanovich said of the eight-year CFL veteran, who’s in his second Ticats stint. “He’s got a tough little spin move, he’s relentless to the quarterback. I thought all of those guys did a good job getting after him.”

This year Howsare has two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, an interception and 37 tackles.

He’s had eight sacks in the last six games, and his career-high 11 equal the total he amassed over the past two years in Calgary, where his defensive coordinator was Brent Monson, now his coordinator here. They’ll both be looking forward to trying to clinch first against their former Western employers on Saturday.

• Bo Levi Mitchell has now started 24 straight games, the longest consecutive stretch in his career, leads the CFL in passing by 150 yards and delivered four TD passes to reach 32, five more than anyone else and just three short of his career high. He hit Kiondré Smith for 48 yards on the game’s first play from scrimmage, leading to a field goal and found Brendan O’Leary-Orange all alone on the left side on second and 11 for an 87-yard touchdown bomb, the Ticats’ longest play of the season and one of two TDs O’Leary-Orange would grab.

Mitchell had 320 yards passing but it was his assassin-like steeliness which was most impressive. He took 107 seconds and four plays to drive 48 yards after the opening kickoff, leading to the first of Marc Liegghio’s four field goals; he followed Ossai’s sack and Howsare’s early fumble recovery with four plays and 38 yards in 98 seconds to hit Lawler for the 10-0 lead. After Isaiah Wooden’s solid punt return he used only two plays and 80 seconds on the 86-yard drive that resulted in O’Leary-Orange’s long TD dash; when Jonathan Moxey picked off Doege deep in the Argo end, it was three plays, 24 yards and 104 seconds culminating in Greg Bell’s hard-earned 14-yard TD run; Mitchell followed another interception with a touchdown strike to O’Leary-Orange using just 32 seconds and three plays to cover 55 yards.

Those five drives for 251 yards and 32 points required  only seven total minutes and a cold-bloodedly efficient 20 total plays. And that was just the first half. Mitchell began the fourth quarter completing a four-play drive that finished with long completions to Smith and Lawler (his second TD) and covered 70 yards in just 108 seconds to immediately douse the potential fire the Argos had kindled in the third quarter.

Most Outstanding Player material right there.

“That dude is great,” Ossai agreed. “You make the plays and they turn into points. That is a great quarterback.”

Mitchell looked at it this way: “It’s complementary football, right? When we’re able to reward the defence with touchdowns off a turnover, special teams make great plays, it creates great momentum.

“There’s still plenty of things we can clean up and get better at. We still gave up 29 points and a lot of that’s on me with that pick that turned into a touchdown. I just think we’re trying to find ways to be who we are as a football team. We have to push the ball down the field, we have to run the ball well. Defensively, we have to play attacking, aggressive football and when we do that…you can see what happens.”

• Philip Ossai had two forced fumbles Saturday and three sacks, to give him five sacks and 22 tackles in the last five games. He was among the too-many-to-mention Cats  with big contributions against the Argos—linebacker Kyle Fisher had nine defensive tackles and field-side halfback Reggie Stubblefield had six—and so was defensive lineman Casey Sayles who had a sack and with Miles Fox played the bulk of the Cats’ 69 defensive snaps in the middle against an Argo line which could not handle them.

“It seemed like a long game, but it was fun just basically going four-man the entire time and just trusting everyone in all three phases of the game. Last week was kind of a humbling moment to say the least, and  I’m glad we came out firing in a big game and starting fast.”

• Kenny Lawler’s two TDs gave him 13 on the season, more than double his previous career high. He caught three passes for 63 yards, after he’d been bluntly critical of himself following the Winnipeg game. In the three games against the Argos this year, rising to the rivalry occasion, he caught seven touchdown passes.

“That’s nice,” he said. “But it was a four-phase win, the whole team was clicking. The O line blocked well, Bo delivered, the other guys ran routes that opened me up. That’s why we practice… to got out and execute just like that. It’s amazing to see when it all unfolds.”

• Kiondré Smith caught all six balls thrown his way, for 65 yards, and reached the 1000-yard plateau for the first time in his four pro seasons, joining Lawler in the Grand Hotel.

“It’s nice,” Smith said. “But on to next week. It was a win that we needed. After scoring three points it was good to score 47. It was a reminder that as long as we do what we can do, everything is going to work out.”

Mitchell, knowing Smith was within earshot joked, “but he still lined up wrong a couple of times. The 1000 yards is a testament to the work he puts in. We ask him to do a lot and I’m proud of him. I still think he can be an even better player than he is and that will come with time.”

• The QEW rivals can both score; in their three games this year—and Argo quarterback Chad Kelly did not play any of them—the Argos and Ticats scored 233 points….nearly 80 per game.
• Is there something about sons of Argo legends ramping up for playing against their father’s CFL alma mater? O’Leary-Orange, son of former Eastern all-star, Doyle Orange, led all receivers with his 111 yards and two majors and Smith, son of CFL all-star Adrian Smith was second with 98.

“The fun answer is ‘yes’ but the genuine one is ‘no,’” said Smith,  ‘We attack every week just the same, sometimes it just works out. As Bill Belichick said ‘Do your job.’”

“I don’t know what to say,” O-Leary Orange shrugged. “Maybe talk to our dads about that. Credit goes to Bo for making great reads. I’ve got great guys around me who take up a lot of coverage and I’m lucky to play with them.”

“It’s infectious. I feel like we were all putting our best efforts into everything and getting a win like that is huge for us to continue to grow and keep momentum going.”

His head coach concurred: “It was important that we bounce back, get that taste out of our mouth and build on that and move on from there.”

The Stampeders, up next, beat the Ticats on opening night in Calgary but come into Hamilton for the season’s penultimate game on a four-game losing streak during which they have surrendered 159 points, including 38 Saturday night in B.C. Suddenly they’re at 8-7, tied with Winnipeg for third in the West and facing a battle to catch the Lions for second and a home playoff berth while also having to avoid crossing over to play either Montréal or Hamilton in the opening round of the post-season.

The Ticats can ensure that the Als are the ones who have to host that semifinal by beating Calgary Saturday afternoon. Montréal has back-to-back games against already-eliminated Ottawa but doesn’t play the first of that doubleheader until Thanksgiving Monday, two days after the Stamps-Ticats game.

“We have to go 1-0 this week and we’ll have that opportunity, Saturday,” Katsantonis said. “We play first and our goal is us winning the game and establishing our own destiny. It’s about this room. We’ve known the past couple of weeks that if we can win football games we control our own destiny.”

CATS CLAUSES: Ticats RB Greg Bell had 76 yards  and a TD on 12 carries and another 20 on catches. In the last five games he’s run for 550 yards on 84 carries, more than half the 160 carries he’s had all season …  Ticats DE Jose Ramirez, with the team for only a week, had a sack in his first CFL game … the Argos actually had more first downs (23) than the Ticats (17), but not when it mattered, in the opening 30 minutes … Marc Liegghio missed his first field goal but hit on his other three, one from 50 yards … Bo Levi Mitchell was 18-for-25 for 320 yards, the 10^th time this year he’s gone over 300 yards … Dijon Brissett led the Argos with eight catches for 97 yards and Makai Polk also caught eight for 88 yards … J-Min Pelley and former Cat Branden Dozier had the Argo sacks … Argos’ Lirim Hajrullahu was 5-for-5 in field goals, including his fourth and fifth from 50 yards or deeper in the past two games … one of the Ticats’ sacks resulted in a two-point safety touch … Toronto possessed the ball for eight more minutes than the Ticats did, mostly after the issue was decided, but also because the Ticats offence struck so quickly in first-half possessions …. The Ticats had 387 net offensive yards, the Argos 311 … as part of an Argos-NFL/Canada promotion former Buffalo Bills star Jim Kelly and Canadian Football Hall of Famer Doug Flutie were on hand as the crowd hit 19,846, large for BMO Field.