Derek Mortensen/CFL.ca
Sunday’s loss is a bitter pill to swallow for Andy Fantuz and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, but if there’s one thing the veteran receiver can come to terms with it’s the fact that it was to his former team.
He was a major focus in the week leading up to the game, being that it would be just his second visit to Riderville since he opted to leave as a free agent two seasons ago.
But despite being one of the bad guys this week, Fantuz showed a soft spot for his former fans and teammates following the game.
“I am happy for those guys, for the guys in the locker room, happy for Rider Nation, they deserve this,” he said. “They have had a good team for years and especially this year.”
“If we had to lose I was glad it was against them.”
Fantuz was the team’s go-to receiver in the playoffs, and on Grey Cup Sunday he hauled in a team-leading seven catches for 76 yards. But the offence just didn’t look its usual efficient self, failing to ever establish a rhythm before going down 31-6 at the half.
In the third quarter the Ticat defence pitched a shutout, and 10 straight points pulled them to within two scores. But they couldn’t get any closer than that.
“We came out after half time and left some plays out there, we got beat by a better team today,” said Fantuz. “They beat us on both sides of the ball.”
“You’ve got to give them credit but if we would have made a few more plays, the first half would have been a different story and then you never know what could have happened.”
“We managed to claw back a little bit but not enough.”
The focus for Fantuz and the Ticats now turns to next year, as one of the youngest teams in the league looks to build on its exciting run to the Grey Cup game.
“It is a good experience, we got something to build on for next year – but we don’t make excuses,” said Fantuz. “We have been together all year battling adversity so we are here and we had a chance to win and we came up short.”
