By: Justin Boone
jboone@ticats.ca
If history is any indication of the future, then maybe the Tiger-Cats should have thrown Thursday night’s game in Toronto.
It’s a matter of deductive logic, really. The Tabbies went 2-0 last pre-season for the second year in a row. The results of both sub-par campaigns have been well documented across TigerTown, especially within the Ticats.ca forums. So perhaps it was time for the team to feel the pain of a loss early in the season, before the wins start counting.
Right from kickoff, it looked like that was exactly how the script was written, as the Argos got off to a perfect start with a 46-yard passing play from Kerry Joseph to Bethel Johnson, that was compounded by a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty against Jermaine Mays for a late hit out of bounds, which may have looked worse than it actually was due to the signs directly next to the field.
Two plays later the Argos broke through the goal line for a touchdown less than a minute into the game. Try three plays and one penalty for 81 yards and a quick 7-0 lead. A harsh reminder of a few contests at Ivor Wynne Stadium last year. The Argonauts came out and looked like the powerful team that swept all four regular season wins from the Cats a year ago, but then something happened, something that hasn’t been characteristic of the Ticats in recent years. The Tabbies were able to steady themselves, calm down and crawl back into the game.
The experts in exhibition fought from behind and reclaimed the lead in the second half.
Help came from all areas as the defence settled after a shaky first quarter and shut down the Argos in the second half. Special teams helped jump start the offence when the punt coverage team broke through the line and forced Mike Vanderjagt to swallow the ball, giving Hamilton great field position. On the next play the Ticats reached pay dirt for the first time as Jesse Lumsden ran the ball in from nine yards out.
Perhaps most impressive of all was the late game charge the team engineered, scoring 10 points in the final two minutes to take a 28-21 lead and walk away with the win.
Sadly for the fans, the majority of CFL pre-season games aren’t televised. What Ticats faithful missed, was a drastic difference about the club. They missed Casey PrintersTerry Caulley succeeding at just the opposite, juking and deking his way through the Argos defence. They missed a team that wasn’t scrambling or nervous about the situation they were in. A team that despite it’s past, knew it could win and acted that way.
The difference was drastic, and and that has nothing to do with the names on the jerseys. So maybe that deductive logic a little skewed, maybe the Cats, winners of six straight pre-season games, have figured out how to compete, and how to translate skill into victories.
Now if they can just figure out the first quarter. wanting to win so bad you can see the desire radiating through his face. They missed Jesse dropping his shoulder and taking on would be tacklers like he did before his shoulder surgery, and
