Ticats.ca
Justin Dunk
It was an old-fashioned barnburner, a fitting game for quarterback Kevin Glenn to eclipse the 30, 000 passing yard mark in his career at Ivor Wynne Stadium on Saturday night. With Toronto in town for the only time this season, Hamilton and their rivals traded blows all night long in a back and forth affair.
The Tiger-Cats were pushed to the max by Toronto, a full sixty minute effort was needed and that was what the Ticats delivered in a 37-32 victory. An opening drive touchdown staked the Argos to a 7-0 lead, but the Ticats would strike right back on their first offensive possession and that would set the tone for a high-scoring and entertaining affair.
“The key is we played 60 minutes, I can’t stress that enough, all three phases. We kept positive and stayed the course,” head coach Marcel Bellefeuille said.
Glenn threw for 310 yards and his top three targets were rookie receivers Aaron Kelly, Bakari Grant and Chris Williams, who had 80, 53 and 64 yards on the night respectively. Pacing the team to a much-needed victory in a tightly contested game.
“They’re growing up and making plays,” Bellefeuille said. “They made some big plays down the field for us.”
“It was one of those games were it was going back and forth. You had to match everything that they did,” Glenn said. “It was good for us because it was a test to see if we could do it, especially with young guys and we did it [pulled out the win].”
Not to mention veteran receiver Dave Stala, who was one of six receivers to haul in a pass against the Argos, added to his league-leading total with yet another touchdown reception, his seventh of the season.
The Ticat offence did the heavy lifting by putting 37 points on the scoreboard, but it was the defence, despite surrendering 32 points on the night, that stepped up when it mattered most.
“I knew it was going to come down to some plays that had to be made in the fourth quarter, that’s just how the game was going,” Bellefeuille said. “We were able to get some stops late in the game. “
Middle linebacker Renauld Williams led the defence, and was making tackles all over the field versus the Double Blue.
The first-year Ticat notched eight tackles and was a key part of the defence, which held Argos running back Cory Boyd in check. Boyd’s longest run of the night was just eight yards.
“We talked about it all week having energy for all four quarters and that is what I wanted to bring tonight,” Williams said.
“We corrected the things we didn’t do at the half last week against Calgary,” Bellefeuille said. “Our players were talking about, ‘ok lets make sure we come out and play this third quarter right from the jump’.”
The win pushed the Cats over the .500 mark on the season as they sit a 4-3, heading into Hamilton’s bye week.
“We wanted to go into the bye on a good note,” Williams said.
“Now we’ve put together a string of four of our last five and that is how I look at it,” Bellefeuille said.
Momentum in any sport spurs confidence and the Ticats will get a much-deserved week off with lots of wind in their sails.
