Isaac Owusu
Ticats.ca
The Tiger-Cats are finally home.
Fans packed into brand new Tim Hortons Field on Monday for the stadium’s grand opening to watch the Ticats defeat their rival Toronto Argonauts 13-12.
With 18,135 fans roaring behind them, the Ticats’ defence maintained constant pressure on Argonauts quarterback Ricky Ray all game, keeping him contained for only 142 yards.
Brian Bulcke, Taylor Reed, and Antionio Coleman combined for four sacks, ending several drives for the Argos. It was late in the fourth quarter on one of Toronto’s final drives where Ed Gainey made the biggest defensive play for Hamilton, picking off Ray to virtually seal the win for the Ticats.
“Having the Hamilton fanbase means that on second down and eight, when I have my arms in the air, it’s instant crowd noise. It’s instant silent count by the centre and it is instant silent count by the quarterback. That’s something so special to have that on command,” Bulcke added.
“The best part for a lot of us is we’ve got 30, 40 family and friends in the stands and they get that feeling and everything from the early tailgates to the texts after the games, you get this all encompassing family feeling and that’s something special,” he added.
In his first game back from injury, quarterback Zach Collaros’ displayed his efficiency, he showed good footwork and movement in the pocket to spread ball out to six different receivers. He closed the game out with 317 yards on 27 of 38 passes, with a score.
Collaros was complementary of the crowd after getting his first victory as a Ticat.
“I can’t say enough about the fans, they really carried us through that whole game. The energy out there, the excitement, we really picked up on that and I think it helped us, especially the defence there in the end,” he said.
The first half was a monumental one for the Hamilton and their new stadium. Justin Medlock’s 29-yard field goal at just 1:25 was the first points scored at Tim Hortons Field. Meanwhile Bakari Grant, who scored a touchdown in the final game at Ivor Wynne Stadium, picked up where he left off.
His nine-yard touchdown catch in the back of the end zone was the first touchdown scored in Tim Horton’s Field history. Grant was able to recall his reaction to snagging the score.
“It was just a sigh of relief. I thought I gave up the first touchdown in Tim Hortons Field after that first drop so it felt good to get back in there and get that for the team,” he said.
“We have the best fans in the country. It’s hard to tell when you’re not at home, when you’re not in Hamilton, not at your field, but we felt that 100% right down to the last 20 seconds of the game, down until the clock said zero. I loved it,” Grant added.
“It was great. You can tell by the excitement on that first kick off that there was this magic going on that we been waiting for a while and I think this is just a great marker for this organization,” Bulcke said.
