Five Ticats Named to All-CFL Team, Among Most in Franchise History
The five Ticats who were named to the All-CFL team today are the most the franchise has had on the all-league selects since nine Cats were honoured in 2019, when the team established its all-time best regular season record (15-3).
The Cats (11-7) finished first in the East Division and will face No. 2 Montréal Alouettes in the East Final Saturday (2:30 p.m.) at Hamilton Stadium for the right to advance to the 112th Grey Cup. Those two teams led the East All-CFL teams, announced last week, with 11 selections each.
Wednesday, Hamilton guard Brandon Revenberg, a finalist for the league’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman and the spiritual leader of the praised offensive line, was named All-CFL for the fifth time in his career, but first since 2022.
Receiver Kenny Lawler, who signed with the Cats as a free agent and was the runaway league leader with 14 TD receptions, one short of the franchise record, gets his second nod as All-CFL. He made the 2021 team as a Winnipeg Blue Bomber.
Three members of the Ticat defence were also selected: defensive tackle Julian Howsare, the East Nominee for Most Valuable Defensive Player with his first All-CFL citation, and shutdown cornerback Jamal Peters with his second (2022 as an Argo) and safety Stavros Katsantonis with his first selection. Katsantonis and Peters made up 40 percent of the five-way tie for the CFL interceptions lead with six each.
The five All-CFLers had a consistent reaction about being elected as the best at their positions this year: that it takes a distant back seat to winning the East Final and the Grey Cup.
“It’s a good feeling but at the end of the day, you take it and move on from it and then focus on what’s really important which is winning the whole thing,” Howsare said.
“When you establish team goals and then you reach them the other stuff follows,” Lawler responded. “It’s not about that, but it will follow.”
Revenberg said, “It’s a team sport and I like to focus on the team aspect of it. It’s nice getting recognition, but to get nominated from our O line group is a real bonus, because we’ve got a group of guys who just work their asses off consistently.”
The five All-CFL nods are among the most in Ticats’ history. In the last 30 seasons, only the nine in 2019, seven in 1998, and six in 1989 and ’99 top it. The Ticats also had five all-league selects in 2015 and 2018.
Prior to those past three decades, the Ticats had more than five All-CFL players only twice: with nine in 1964 the inaugural season of the all-league selections and six in 1965. They also had five in 1970 and ’72.
Somewhat surprisingly, given that Hamilton has historically been known as a defence-first city, this was just the sixth time in the last 30 seasons that the Ticats have placed more than two players on the All-CFL team. They had five all-league defenders in 2019, 1998 and 1995, and four in 1999 and 2015. They also had three in 2021.
They didn’t have a defensive player on last year’s All-CFL team, but Bo Levi Mitchell, Tim White and since departed centre David Beard all made the offensive selects.
