Ticats, Als close out regular season at Tim Hortons Field

CFL.ca Staff

HAMILTON — The Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats will close the curtain on their regular seasons when they meet at Tim Hortons Field on Saturday night.

The Ticats are locked in as the second seed in the East while the Als have already been eliminated from playoff contention, meaning neither team has anything to play for when it comes to the standings. Still, the East rivals are aiming to end the season on a high note.

Montreal took care of the Toronto Argonauts last week with a convincing 40-10 victory at Percival Molson Stadium. Rookie running back William Stanback scored the first two touchdowns of his young CFL career in the win. Defensive lineman John Bowman had a sack and a pair of fumble recoveries, one that was scooped up in the end zone for a touchdown. The veteran earned Shaw CFL Top Preformer honours for his performance.

Pivot Johnny Manziel threw for 139 yards and one touchdown in his first CFL win in a half of work.

“I’m damn excited,” Manziel told MontrealAlouettes.com after the game. “It was a good win for our team but to finally get the first win out of the way and to do it in a season where I feel like we’re building into something…it’s what we want to do. We came out and put 40 points on the board.”

While 2018 fell short of expectation for the Als, some individual performances have the team hopeful for the future.

Montreal announced its team award winners earlier this week, with one player standing out above the rest.

Linebacker Henoc Muamba was unanimously named the team’s Most Outstanding Player, Defensive Player, and Most Outstanding Canadian. In a disappointing season for the Als, Muamba has had a career year. The 29-year-old hit the 100 tackle milestone for the first time while also racking up a career best five sacks heading into Week 21.

Stanback has also been a bright spot for the Als. The 24-year-old was named the Alouettes’ top rookie and special teamer. Montreal proved that they are invested in Stanback as their running back of the future by trading veteran Tyrell Sutton to the BC Lions in September.

The Als have shown steady improvement throughout the course of the season. In their first nine contests, they went 1-8 and were outscored an average of 18 points per game. In the second half of the year they improved to 3-5, finishing with better records than Edmonton and Toronto during that span.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ end to the regular season did not go according to plan.

A strong second half of the year gave the Tabbies a chance to take top spot in the East and earn a bye to the division finals. However, back-to-back losses against the Ottawa REDBLACKS down the stretch dashed those hopes.

The Black and Gold fell 30-13 against the REDBLACKS at Tim Hortons Field last week, officially ending their chances of clinching first in the division. The Tabbies were unable to find the end zone all game, relying on kicker Lirim Hajrullahu to get them on the scoreboard. Hajrullahu was a perfect four-for-four on attempts.

Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was unable to generate any offensive momentum, going 25-of-48 for 243 yards with two interceptions.

“We just have to look at the film and keep getting better,” Masoli told Ticats.ca after the game. “Learn from our mistakes. Obviously we didn’t execute the game plan like we needed to, especially on offence… I don’t know how many yards of penalties we had tonight but obviously that doesn’t help us.”

It is hard not to blame the Ticats’ lack of consistency on injuries, especially to the receiving corps. The teams is down a number of receivers in Brandon Banks, Jalen Saunders, Chris Williams, Shamawd Chambers and Terrence Toliver.

But the Black and Gold are forging ahead.

“We’ve created an attitude here of ‘next man up,” said Head Coach June Jones. “It’s an opportunity for whoever is hurt, the next guy up, it’s a chance for him to get on his resume that he played and he played well. Film doesn’t lie. Not only will we notice it but the rest of the league notices.”

Masoli has been the mainstay on offence in his first year as the Ticats’ starting pivot. The 30-year-old was rewarded for his stellar play by being named the team’s Most Outstanding Player for 2018, and has put his name in the running for CFL MOP. Masoli set a new franchise record by recording 300 or more passing yards in 12 games this season.

The Ticats will be resting a number of starters in preparation for their Eastern Semi-Final matchup against the BC Lions. Jones announced earlier this week that backup pivot Dane Evans will play majority of the game. Jones says that Masoli is dealing with a minor knee problem and that he does not want to take any chances with playing his starting quarterback on Saturday.

“He’s [Evans] a competitor,” said Jones. “He’s waited for a chance. I like Dane. I think he’s improved. He’s worked hard… it will be fun to watch him do it and get his opportunity.”

By The Numbers:

3 – Number of Montreal players (Manziel, Eugene Lewis, Antonio Pipkin) that threw a touchdown in the Als’ win last week. The last time that happened was Oct. 26, 2012 when Kevin Glenn, Bo Levi Mitchell and Drew Tate each had a touchdown pass for Calgary.

11 – League-leading receiving touchdowns this season for both Luke Tasker and Brandon Banks

100 – Tackles this season by Montreal linebacker Henoc Muamba, ranked fourth in the league.

310.4 – Passing yards per game for the Ticats, over 100 more than the visiting Alouettes.

Saturday will likely be the last game of John Bowman’s long and impressive CFL career.

The 36-year-old announced last month that he is “98 per cent” certain he will be ready to walk away from the CFL after this season.

Bowman’s resume speaks for itself. He has spent his entire 13-year career to date with the Als, helping the team win back-to-back Grey Cups in 2009 and 2010. The Brooklyn native is a seven-time division all-star and two-time CFL all-star.

Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on TSN, RDS and ESPN+.

– With files from MontrealAlouettes.com/Ticats.ca

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