It has been a long summer for Hamilton Tiger-Cats fans, but the Black and Gold finally make their return to Tim Hortons Field on Saturday night when they take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The Ticats have played their last four games on the road with a bye week in between. Their last match on home turf was back on July 7 in Week 3. Ticats wide receiver Andy Fantuz says the team is looking forward to the homecoming.
“It’s always an amazing feeling to play in front of our fans here,” said Fantuz. “It’s so electric and really gives us a big advantage, having a 13th man in the stands. It’s been a while since we’ve been home and I’m sure the fans are as eager as we are.”
The Ticats will look to feed off the energy of the crowd after a tough 45-38 loss in Week 8 to the BC Lions. Hamilton trailed by 20 points at the half but battled back to make up the deficit. Brandon Banks ran a missed field goal to the house, a 125-yard return, with 4:15 remaining in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 38 apiece. The Ticats were unable to hold off the Lions on the ensuing possession as Jonathon Jennings found Emmanuel Arceneaux for a late fourth quarter touchdown.
It did not take long for quarterback Zach Collaros to shake of the rust in his first start in 11 months. The Ticats gunslinger appeared to look like his old self by the third quarter, throwing two touchdowns in the second half and finishing the night with 331 yard on 24-of-40 passing.
Saturday night’s standoff with the Roughriders will be the first time that defensive end John Chick faces his former team since signing with the Ticats in the offseason. The two-time CFL all star suited up for the Riders from 2007-2015 before being released earlier this year under the new Chirs Jones regime in Riderville.
“It’s exciting in a lot of ways,” said Chick about facing his former team. “It’s not so much that it’s a revenge game or anything like that, but I’ll have fun showing them why they should have kept John Chick around.”
The Roughriders have not had a lot of luck on the turf this season with a league low 1-6 record heading into Week 9. The Riders came close in their latest contest against the Calgary Stampeders but to no avail, losing 19-10 against their West Conference foes. The game was within reach of the Riders as they trailed by six heading into the final quarter. They held the Stamps to only a field goal in the last 15 minutes, but were unable to generate any offence of their own.
Jones says that all aspects of the Riders game needs to improve in Week 9.
“Coaches don’t point fingers at players,” said Jones. “We don’t say ‘this is this person’s fault’ or ‘this is that group’s fault.’ We haven’t played good enough in all three phases. Certainly our special teams units needs to play better, but so do our defence and so do our offence.”
The Riders only win this season came against the Ottawa Redblacks, who currently sit at the top of the East Division. The close loss to another top team last week in the Stampeders proves that there is a lot of parity in the league this year. Jones is convinced that the Riders are a team on the rise despite their start to the season.
“We’ve been close in a lot of games… You get paid to play winning football and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
The Riders rented ad space on a billboard just blocks away from Tim Hortons Field to promote the Roughriders merchandise shop, the Rider Store, as well as the game on Saturday. The Billboard has been up since early August and adds even more intrigue to the matchup. This is the first of two meetings between the Roughriders and the Ticats this season.
Quick Facts:
- Zach Collaros is 10-1 at Tim Hortons Field
- The Saskatchewan Roughriders have yet to win a game at Tim Hortons Field
- Darian Durant has become the first CFL player to reach 300+ attempts and 12 consecutive QB starts without throwing an interception
- Banks has 3 kick return TDs already in 2016, and is threatening the all-time mark of 6 set by Chris Williams in 2012. Banks has a kick return TD once in every 4.40 games in his career (10 in 44 games), easily the highest frequency in CFL history
