The Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts will close out Week 11 with a grudge match at Tim Hortons Field in the annual Labour Day Classic.
The intensity surrounding the Ontraio rivals is always heightened when the two teams meet on the first Monday of September, but there are additional factors that make this year’s game even more significant.
Hamilton and Toronto are currently tied for second place in the East Division with identical 4-5 records. The Argos are 3-0 on the road while the Ticats have yet to lose to a divisional opponent, including a win over the Argos in Week 1.
One of those perfect records will come to an end on Monday night.
“It’s a very importance game,” said Ticats linebacker Simoni Lawrence. “It’s a rivalry game first and foremost. It’s a game in the East division. You understand that to come out of the east, you have to beat teams like Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa. Anytime you have a chance to go up two games on a divisional opponent, that’s very big.”
The first Labour Day Classic between the Ticats and Argos was played back in 1948. Since then, the annual game has evolved into one of the most anticipated days on the CFL schedule.
The history surrounding the iconic match always make for a special day, said Ticats head coach Kent Austin.
“We try to prepare our guys the same way every week and try not to emphasize any one week compared previous weeks,” said Austin. “Our preparation really should be consistent…That being said, obviously you can’t get away from the hype and the fact that it’s going to be a sellout and it’s meaningful and our biggest rival and all those things, which actually makes the day really memorable.”
Both the Argos and Ticats are coming off of close loses and looking forward to getting back on track at the Labour Day Classic.
Zach Collaros’ 439-yard performance and Terrence Toliver’s nine catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns wasn’t enough to get the Ticats past the surging Calgary Stampeders as the Black and Gold fell 30-24. Lawrence lead the Ticats’ defence with nine tackles while the Ticats offensive line did not allow a single sack.
The Ticats scored a major and picked up the two point convert with less than a minute on the clock in the fourth quarter to narrow the Stamps lead to 27-24. The ensuing onside kick attempt went out of bounds and Calgary capitalized on the field position with a late field goal to extend their lead and ultimately walk away with the win.
The Ticats focused has now turned to the rival Argos and the Labour Day Classic.
“I feel like we put that [loss] behind us and we understand that we can’t worry about that right now because this is going to be a super big game,” said Lawrence. “It’s at home. Everybody knows the importance of Labour Day. Since I’ve been here it’s been one of the most fun games I’ve ever played in.”
The Argos also went down to the wire last week against the BC Lions but came out on the losing end, falling 16-13. The match was decided on the final play of the fourth quarter when Richie Leone made a 30-yard field goal to break the tie and lift the Lions over the Argos. Ricky Ray completed 24-of-29 passes for 213 yards with one touchdown and one interception in his first start in a month since returning from a sprained knee injury. Kevin Elliot led all receivers with six catches for 89 yards and one touchdown.
The Argos will look to snap their three game losing streak when they head down the QEW and into Ticats territory.
The Ticats can also claim the Ballard Trophy with a win on Labour Day. The trophy is awarded annually to the season series winner between the Ticats and Argos. The Black and Gold won the first game of the series back in Week 1, defeating the Argos 42-20 in the 2016 season opener.
Quick Facts:
- Chad Owens will play in his 100th career CFL game on Monday night. The milestone happens to fall on the same week he plays his former team.
- Zach Collaros has thrown for 300+ yards in all three of his starts this season (averaging 384 yards per game) and has thrown at least one TD pass in 14 consecutive games. He has 12 completions for 30+ yards in his 3 starts. Collaros has thrown 31 TD passes in his last 11 games.
- The Tiger-Cats have won the last 4 and 7 of the last 9 games over Toronto. In the 4-game win streak they have outscored Toronto 153 to 77 averaging 38.3 points and winning by an average of 19.0 points per game. The keys in the 4-game run have been 15-4 Turnover and 14-8 QB sack edges for Hamilton.