Adam Gagnon
Bert Faibish
Ticats.ca
On a rainy night in B.C., five fourth quarter takeaways by the Tiger-Cats defence spelt doom for a Lions team that looked like they had the game in the bag.
The Ticats demonstrated that football is a sixty-minute game, as the fourth quarter saw Hamilton outscore B.C. 19-3 and leave Vancouver with an important victory.
Even without sack-leader Garrett McIntyre and newly acquired Stevie Baggs, the defence imposed its will on the Lions, sacking Lions QB Casey Printers four times, picking him off twice and forcing three fumbles. Ticats linebacker (and former Lion) Marketih Knowlton made his case for Defensive Player Of The Week honours on defence by picking up a sack, interception and forcing and recovering a fumble.
The defence harassed Printers all night, chasing him from sideline to sideline from the very first play of the game, never allowing him to step up in the pocket.
Conversely, the Ticats offensive line held up superbly against the B.C. defence, which came into the game leading the league in sacks. Only once did B.C. defenders get their hands on Kevin Glenn, who had all the time he needed to find open receivers all game. One of those receivers was Maurice Mann, who delivered a breakout performance, catching five balls for 113 yards, including a 51-yard screen pass that launched the Hamilton comeback.
Ticats running back DeAndra’ Cobb had easily his most impressive game of the season, running for 151 yards and helping Hamilton erase valuable time on the clock with under three minutes left. Cobb gashed the B.C. defence all night and added to his impressive totals against B.C. after rushing for 100 and 167 yards respectively in each game against the Lions last season. Cobb now has 418 yards rushing in his last three regular season games against B.C.
Sandro DeAngelis had his best game of the season, going 5-for-5 and emphatically delivering the final nail in the coffin with 52 seconds remaining on the clock, putting the Ticats up by four.
The win was Hamilton’s third regular season victory in a row over the Lions but their first since falling in overtime to B.C. at Ivor Wynne Stadium in last year’s East Semi-Final.
