Rise to the Top: Tiger-Cats Clinch East Division and Prepare for Playoffs

It was a while in the making, so there are only two of them who were wearing black and gold the last time it happened.

The Tiger-Cats clinched first place in the CFL East — and a bye directly into hosting the conference final Saturday, Nov. 8 — with a 35-15 defeat of the overmatched Ottawa Redblacks Friday night, that win in the final game of the regular season ensured that the Ticats (11-7) would stay ahead of the second-place Montréal Alouettes, no matter how the surging Als (10-6 as of Saturday morning) would fare in Winnipeg Saturday afternoon. The Als will now host the East semifinal next Saturday against Winnipeg while the Ticats take care of bumps and bruises, and fine-tune their game for the East final.

All-star left guard Brandon Revenberg, who’s been a Cat since 2016, was a key part of the 2019 Ticats, the last Hamilton team to finish first.

“That’s making me feel a little older, but it’s a damn good feeling. Always,” Revenberg said in the deafening Cat locker room. “We’re in a spot where we control our own destiny. It’s one more step closer to the ultimate goal which is the Grey Cup.”

Revenberg took a moment to pay tribute to Ted Goveia — the Ticats GM who died Sept. 12 — for building the roster which became just the third Ticat team, and just the ninth in CFL history, to go from last place in its conference to first the following season. He credited the entire organization, “for getting through the adversity that’s been with us all season.”

Defensive end Julian Howsare was Revenberg’s teammate in 2019, and Goveia brought him back to Hamilton during the off-season after two years in Calgary. If he’s not the Eastern rep for Most Outstanding Defensive Player something wrong with the voters’ eyes and ears. He had another dominant performance against Ottawa — a lot of Cats did — with two quarterback sacks, six tackles and yet another pass knockdown.

“You get through adversity throughout the season but you pull it together and win ones that matter and I think we’ve done that,” Howsare said. “We’ve taken great strides as a team all year. You want to win the East games and we did that.”

The Ticats finished 7-1 against the East, the sole blip a last-second loss to the Argos on Labour Day.

They beat Montréal both times they met, were 2-1 against Toronto and swept all three games against the last-place Redblacks (4-14).

Saturday, they led 26-7 at the half and held serve the rest of the way as the defence pounced on starting quarterback Tyrie Adams and former Ticat Matt Shiltz, who replaced him after the intermission for a combined six interceptions and four sacks.

“Obviously it was a dominant performance defensively,” said Scott Milanovich. “I talked a couple of days ago about what our formula is and it’s protect the ball, get turnovers defensively and play a clean game on special teams and I think we did all those things.”

The only other Ticat teams to go worst to first were the 1998 and 1961 sides which both reached the Grey Cup Finals. Toronto has gone from last to winning the division four times, and Ottawa and Winnipeg once apiece.

“I’d be lying if I said I expected it,” said Bo Levi Mitchell, who threw his career-high 36th touchdown pass of the season and strengthened his hold as the favourite to win the East’s Most Outstanding Player. “I just know that with what we had and what we started to show in the second half of last season, the type of team that we could be. When you’ve got a leader like Scott, he’s all ball all the time, and it just reverberates throughout that locker room.”

The Ticats have earned a home playoff game for the seventh time — winning five of the six previous times — in the 11 seasons they’ve played in their new stadium. Over that stretch, only Calgary has equalled that.

As well as going last to first, the Ticats had three 1000-yard receivers for the first time since 2017 when Tim White took a short shovel pass for 20 yards late in the game on a play deliberately called by Milanovich knowing White needed only a handful of yards to collar his 1000. Kenny Lawler and Kiondré Smith were already waiting for him in the lobby of the Grand Hotel. It made White just the second Ticat to chalk up four straight 1000-yard seasons, following Darren Flutie (1998-2001). Earlier he caught two Mitchell touchdown passes to give him seven for the year, one shy of his career best.

“I understand (Milanovich) wanted me to get that mark and, truly, that means the most to me,” White said of his 1000-yard season. “So, it’s extremely emotional.”

Marc Liegghio had a stunning 7-for-7 night in field goals, one short of Paul Osbaldiston’s franchise record, as the Ticats scored points on nine of their 13 possessions. One of those four other drives ended with a fumble off a bad snap, two on punts and another on a deliberate turnover on downs late in the game when only a long return could have jeopardized the Cats’ win.

Liegghio’s 92.9 per cent accuracy over the regular season is the 10th best in the history of the CFL and his 33 straight makes earlier in the year ranks fourth all-time. He also passed Earl Winfield for fifth place on the Ticats’ career points-scored table.

White said that Liegghio’s consistency does lift some pressure from the rest of the offence, knowing that at a certain point of the field, points are almost guaranteed.

“For sure,” he said. “As an offence we want to score points, we want to score touchdowns. Just understanding that we do have Legs is like a good safety valve for us.”

Liegghio called “the operation”, which includes long snapper Gordon Whyte and punter/holder Nik Constantinou, as a major contributor to his consistency. But he wasn’t aware he was one short of Osbaldiston’s club mark because he actually didn’t know how many he’d attempted, he was so zoned in on not missing any of them.

“I’m proud of myself for a good game and I’m really glad that we got the win today,” he said. “Obviously the accolades and stuff like that, it’s always good to hear. And something hopefully I could tell my kids one day when they look at the CFL and see my name etched in the history.

“But I’m kind of just living in the moment right now and focusing on who we’re going to have in two weeks.”

With 94 yards in 15 carries, Greg Bell surpassed 1000 (1038) yards rushing for the first time in his career and was mobbed by his teammates after hitting the mark in the second quarter.

“I think it’s a huge step this year, obviously, in the run game and you kind of saw we started to progress when (Bell) did, right?” Mitchell said. “So when he takes off, I think we kind of do too. He’s a big catalyst for this offense and a reason we can play great football. And it all starts with the O-line up front.”

The defence, which was the drive shaft of this game, did what they had to do, forcing the Redblacks into quick, off-balance throws which often left balls up for grabs … then they grabbed them. Linebacker Braxton Hill had a pair of picks, as did strong side halfback Dashaun Amos, while SAM linebacker Reggie Stubblefield, with his first as a Ticat, and cornerback Jamal Peters had singles. Peters’ sixth of the season tied him with safety Stavros Katsantonis for the team lead.

“It was a great team win and we needed it,” said Amos, who’s won a Grey Cup with Calgary and two with Toronto. “We came together and got the business done and put ourselves in the position to make sure the East goes through us. There’s more work to be done, and that’s one goal knocked down. We treated it like a playoff week, it was a must-win type of game.

“It was a 2-for-1 type of game, too, where one win gets you two wins because we get the bye next week. This is a favourable position but it doesn’t mean anything as far as the playoffs go because we still have to handle business in that second round.

But it’s one less game you have to win in order to get to the Cup.”

Destin Talbert, who plays halfback beside Peters, didn’t make an interception but did make a couple of big hits and an athletic knockdown as he continued his all-star calibre season. He said that the plethora of interceptions was about executing the average plays, then stepping forward to make the game-changing ones.

“I don’t think anyone did anything outside of what they were supposed to be doing,” he said. “All the guys were where they were supposed to be and made the plays that were there to make. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

When the Ticat defence has the kind of interwoven communication and cohesiveness among its three tiers — four if you consider the solid play-calling of defensive coordinator Brent Monson and his assistants — that they showed in this game, they can be highly effective, even against teams with the highest 2025 pedigrees.

Hill has added something extra to the linebacking rotation and had five tackles to go with his first two CFL picks. After spending time with Saskatchewan last year, he was playing in just his eighth professional game.

“Just going out and playing as fast and physical as I can on every snap,” he said. “It’s my second year up here and I’m getting a better feel for the game. But I’m still learning every day.”

Mitchell said he was proud of the way the team has handled itself and that the rest and extra preparation time for whomever survives the East semi-final was important but that the Ticats need to stay locked in next week, and the week leading into the final:

“The job’s nowhere close to done.”

CATS CLAUSES: Ticats sacks were recorded Julian Howsare whose two put him at 13, nearly double his previous career-high of 7, Casey Sayles with his fourth, and Philip Ossai with his 8th in just 12 Ticat games … Bo Levi Mitchell went 21-for-31 for 264 yards and two TDs and didn’t throw a pick … Kiondré Smith had 99 yards on eight catches to give him 37 receptions in the last five games … Kenny Lawler had 43 receiving yards but no TDs. His 14 on the season fell one short of Tony Champion’s franchise mark but were 8 more than his previous best … Gordon Whyte, Brian Cole II, Robert Panabaker and Ronan Horrall had the Ticats’ special teams tackles … the Ticats did a solid job of coverage against the dangerous Redblack return duo Kalil Pimpleton and Devonte Dedmon … Isaiah Wooden had a key 34-yard kickoff return after Ottawa had closed the gap to 29-15 five minutes into the fourth quarter. That led to a field goal … the Ticats had 358 yards of net offence, Ottawa 283 … Hamilton took only two penalties and Ottawa had five, most of them costly … attendance was 22,030 … Redblacks QB Tyrie Adams was 9-for-14 for 119 yards, a TD and two interceptions; Matt Shiltz was 7-for-15, 78 yards and four picks and ran six times for 25 yards and a touchdown… RB William Stanback had 11 yards on 58 carries and 23 yards of receptions, which included a TD … Eugene Lewis was targeted only once for a 12-yard first down … Ottawa did not record a sack.