Just as they appeared to have firmly pressed the up button, the Ticats’ elevator plunged a couple of floors.
And down the worst possible shaft: Toronto.
“It sucks,” Ticat offensive guard Brandon Revenberg said unequivocally Saturday night after the Cats were outscored 24-3 in the second half and lost 39-20 to the Argonauts, stalling the momentum of last week’s huge victory over Saskatchewan.
“We have to close it out in the fourth quarter, we have to close it out in the second half of the game. I felt like we took a big step last week and we took a step back this week so it’s going to be: watch the films; make the corrections; get better.”
It has to get a lot better … or at least better for longer stretches. After a slow start—three two-and-outs on offence to open the game, against three Argo opening scores (touchdown, field goal, field goal) —the Cats found their game on defence, and offence, with Tre Ford rallying the club from a 12-0 deficit to a 17-15 halftime lead in 17 minutes.
But the Cats took too many severely costly penalties; five of them for offensive procedure or offside, and that doesn’t count one that was declined. It was unnecessary over-eagerness because the receiving corps didn’t need a head start against an Argo secondary which has been vulnerable to the deep ball.
They were also widely outdistanced in the battle of the trenches over the final 30 minutes, uncharacteristically surrendering huge second-half yardage on the ground, and allowing four sacks after not giving up any the previous week.
Hamilton also didn’t play nearly enough complementary football, most notably with just over nine minutes to go when they were trailing 25-20, and followed a missed short Toronto field goal with Ford being strip-sacked by Shawn Lemon, who was everywhere all night, then somehow leaving star Argo receiver Damonte Coxie all alone two plays later for the pivotal touchdown. Those 53 seconds turned the game. And it stayed turned when Isaiah Wooden Sr. gave the Ticats some hope by returning the ensuing kickoff 39 yards for good field position, but the offence immediately turned it over on downs.
So now the Ticats, at 4-7, have lost four of their last five and are two points back of the second-place Argos who also have a game in hand and have squared the season’s series at one apiece. They’ll meet for the final time on Labour Day, in a significant stretch for the Cats who will play a possible crossover playoff candidate in Calgary next weekend.
“It’s huge,” Revenberg said of the next couple of games. “Today was going to be a big game too. So put that behind us, get better, learn from it and get after it the next two games.”
Middle linebacker Wynton McManis, who came to the Ticats as a free agent this winter, had his first trip back to Toronto spoiled by the loss, and said, “It just came down to playing a full game, some of those moments not stopping the run. We’ll have to look at the film to see what happened but we didn’t stop the run well enough in the second half.
“Stopping the run is big in what we do and that’s what’s so disappointing. But tie your boots up tighter, line it up and do it again.”
It was a modern Eastern Division battle but the Argos played re-runs of the old TV western ‘Alias Smith and Jones’: starting tailback Isaiah Smith rushed for 99 yards, most of it in the second half, and his backup Qualan Jones added another 37 overland yards.
The run accounted for 145 of the Argos’ 434 yards of offence, with Chad Kelly skillfully executing a few extended drives, completing 26 of 34 for 289 yards and three touchdowns. He had one interception, Stavros Katsantonis’ fifth of the season.
Ford threw for 356 yards, going 19-for-32. Four of the completions went for over 30 yards, with some of his passes being absolutely beautiful arcs, others going awry.
“I thought he did some good things,” head coach Scott Milanovich said. “I mean, certainly that’s what Tre needs to get better at is consistency in the passing game. He’s still a young player who’s got a lot of football left in front of him and we’ll keep working on it. He’s improving.”
With the World Cup-renovated BMO Field even more sound-amplifying with the addition of three tiers of private boxes beyond the north end zone, the atmosphere was electrifying, literally and figuratively.
Because of CFL regulations around lightning threats, the kickoff was delayed for 67 minutes and both teams were forced to retreat to their respective locker rooms as the thunder cracked and the sky lit up, fans in open areas were mandated to retreat to concourses or covered areas of the stadium. There were no player introductions and halftime was shortened to 12 minutes from the standard 16. It rained continuously in hard sheets through much of the first half.
That might have impacted the Cats’ penalties, particularly on offence, although Milanovich didn’t think so.
“I’ve got to find the answer,” Milanovich said. “But obviously, our communication wasn’t what it needs to be. I can’t imagine that the weather had any factor in it. It was coming down pretty hard but the communication still wasn’t as good as it needed to be in the third quarter when it wasn’t raining. We’ve obviously got to get to the bottom of it.”
In his post-game media scrum, Milanovich was asked if any of that miscommunication might have derived from his being away from practice on a personal matter this week, although he was in constant contact with the team and coaching staff.
He replied honestly that he hoped not, “but obviously when you’re in a situation like I was this week, it was a tough week and I hated leaving, leaving the family I’ve got in that room. I have a lot of responsibilities, not just as a father, but also as the head coach of an organization. You make tough decisions but to be honest with you, this one wasn’t that tough.”
Defensive tackle Miles Fox, who blocked a convert after Toronto’s first touchdown, said despite now being forced to play standings catch-up with the Argos, the Ticats are “still in a good position. We can’t let this loss get to us. We have to look at the film and the most important thing is to stay together. We have to play better in all three phases. We have to play better late in the game, work together and get ready for Calgary.
“Every game is huge now and we have to take them one at a time.”
The next one is in Alberta and a Saturday match against the Stampeders, as the Cats endeavour to reset and avenge their earlier 44-20 loss to the Stamps at Hamilton Stadium in a game that was far closer than the final score indicated….a bit like Saturday night in Hogtown.
The Argos, meanwhile, are also in the West on Saturday, facing Saskatchewan and the Ticats, who beat the Riders last week, now find themselves pulling for them.
CATS CLAUSES: Ticat WR Keric Wheatfall led all receivers with 124 yards on just three catches and is on pace for a 1000-yard season … Kiondré Smith caught six passes for 111 yards, 19 more than his previous high this season, and got back on track for 1000 yards … Kenny Lawler caught 4 for 57, including an important 30-yarder … QB Jake Dolegala scored his seventh rushing touchdown of the season … RB Larry Rountree III had 9 carries for 32 yards and an 8-yard touchdown … Marc Liegghio was 2-for-2 on field goal attempts and is up to 88 percent on the season … LB Reggie Stubblefield led all players with 8 tackles, his season high … the Ticats had 9 penalties accepted and the 55 official yards did not reflect how important the timing was. The Argos had only one accepted penalty, for five yards … Ticats QB Tre Ford put many of the offensive penalty calls on his own shoulders: “I think a big part of it was my fault, right? I mean, the quarterback is the one who has to communicate everything, get the plays called in the time given, and go out there and execute.” … Argos WR Damonte Coxie had 4 catches for 75 yards and 2 TDs … WR Tyler Kahmann had 7 catches for 74 yards, three of which came on on 2nd down and has 178 yards in two games vs the Ticats this year … WR Kevin Mital caught 7 passes for 53 yards, and was effective on second down … Janarion Grant averaged 19.6 yards on punt returns … DT DeWayne Hendrix, a Ticat in 2024, had 1 of the Argos’ four sacks, with DB Bubba Bolden adding another and DT Shawn Lemon making two and giving him 6 in the 4 games he’s played this season … attendance was 18,842 … the Ticat offence had the ball for only 5:55 in the 1st quarter and 4:55 in the 2nd quarter … Toronto inducted two new All-Time Argos at Saturday’s game, CB Carl Brazley and LB and former defensive coordinator Kevin Eiben, who finished his CFL career as a Ticat in 2012 and coached at McMaster the following year.
