Week 15 CFL Wrap

ALOUETTES 19 STAMPEDERS 19

CALGARY – The Calgary Stampeders may have snapped a four-game losing streak and the Montreal Alouettes may have remained unbeaten on the road, but Saturday’s 19-19 tie was unsatisfying for both football clubs.

Atop the CFL at 10-2-1 and a playoff spot already locked in, the Alouettes could feel more cheerful about a stalemate than the Stampeders (4-8-1) at the bottom of the West Division.

“I thought that was one of the weirdest games I’ve played in my entire career. The first draw of my career,” Alouettes quarterback Cody Fajardo said.

“There’s worse situations. We could have lost the football game. Getting one point out of it is better than nothing.”

What made the game weird was neither side parlayed breaks, including gaffes by the opposition, into any momentum.

Penalties also hampered their progress with clubs combining for 201 lost yards.

“There was a lot of things you should feel pretty good about other than the game ended in a tie, but 19 (points) probably not enough to win still,” Stampeder quarterback Jake Maier said. “We’ve got to push that number to another touchdown or two if we want better results.”

The Stampeders are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004. A single point was cold comfort for head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson.

“We haven’t had a win in awhile,” Dickenson said. “It’s tough for our guys to feel good about that. There were multiple occasions I felt we could have taken the game over.”

The two clubs traded field goals in overtime.

Fajardo completed 19 of 26 pass attempts for 204 yards and scored a rushing touchdown in his third start since he was sidelined for six weeks with a hamstring injury.

Maier was 29-of-37 in passing for 236 yards. He was restored to starter after backing up Logan Bonner in a 37-16 road loss to the Edmonton Elks.

UP NEXT

The Stampeders are home Friday to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Montreal Alouettes continue a run of three straight road games next Saturday against the Ottawa Redblacks.

TIGER-CATS 37 REDBLACKS 21

HAMILTON – It remains faint but Bo Levi Mitchell and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats still have a playoff pulse.

Mitchell threw two touchdown passes as Hamilton defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 37-21 in the CFL’s annual Hall of Fame game Saturday afternoon at Tim Hortons Field. The Ticats (4-9) earned a second straight win to move to within six points of the third-place Toronto Argonauts (7-6) in the East Division.

Hamilton visits Toronto on Friday night.

“Obviously they’re (wins) huge now,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t do ourselves any favours by getting into this position and not being able to really control our own destiny.

“But right now, we need certain people to win at certain times. Our job is to go out there and try to win the next five, then the next three after that.”

Mitchell finished 20-of-27 passing for 299 yards and an interception. He entered weekend action leading the CFL in passing yards (3,383) and TD strikes (21).

Ottawa (8-4-1) would have clinched a playoff spot with a victory.

Ottawa committed six turnovers (three interceptions, two fumbles, once on downs) before an announced gathering of 22,119. Lawrence Woods III also returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown at 11:51 of the first quarter that put Hamilton ahead 10-3.

“You’ve got to bring your best every single week and this wasn’t our best, all of us, from coaches to the players,” said Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce. “If you don’t play great for four quarters, I don’t care who you’re playing you’re not going to have a successful day.”

“We should’ve made the tackle (on Woods), we had him wrapped up it’s that simple. Even though we didn’t make the play on that, there should’ve been extra bodies there to clean it up when he did break the tackle.”

Hamilton also tied the season series with Ottawa 1-1. The teams meet again at TD Place on Oct. 25.

“If we didn’t turn it over today I would’ve said we played really well offensively and that to me is what the biggest difference is,” said Hamilton head coach Scott Milanovich. “Even the turnovers today (interception, fumble), at least they were in their end and we weren’t giving them a short field.

“The biggest play of the game was Woodsie’s return. It got us jump-started, gave us the lead and we were kind of off after that.”

Ottawa starter Dru Brown was 17-of-27 passing for 164 yards and an interception. Masoli entered late in the third and finished 13-of-19 passing for 183 yards with two TDs and two interceptions, but Dyce said Brown will start against Montreal.

The Canadian Football Hall of Fame’s ’24 class of S.J. Green, Chad Owens, Weston Dressler, Vince Goldsmith and Vince Coleman, along with builders Ray Jauch and Ed Laverty (posthumously), was honoured at halftime. All were enshrined Friday night.

UP NEXT

Redblacks: Host the Montreal Alouettes (10-2) next Saturday, Sept. 21.

Tiger-Cats: Visit the Toronto Argonauts (7-6) on Friday.

ARGONAUTS 33 LIONS 17

VANCOUVER – The past two weeks haven’t been easy for the Toronto Argonauts. 

First, there was the narrow loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Labour Day Classic. Then the team dropped a decision to the Ottawa Redblacks. 

On Friday, though, the Argos (7-6) halted their two-game slide in decisive fashion, downing the B.C. Lions 33-17 in Vancouver. 

“Toronto’s performance built on those recent losses,” said head coach Ryan Dinwiddie.

“We haven’t executed very well the last few weeks, but we fought hard, right? And we fought toward the end, we played a full 60 with the effort, and that execution wasn’t always great,” he added. 

“So (tonight’s) a big win for our locker room. Those guys stuck together. We had our backs against the wall, and they had their best performance.”

Argos quarterback Chad Kelly connected on 18-of-28 pass attempts for 268 yards, including a touchdown, and added a rushing major.

Lirim Hajrullahu made six field goals, including a 51-yard kick to open the scoring in the first quarter. 

Toronto’s defence troubled B.C.’s quarterbacks all night and registered seven sacks across the game. 

“We played complimentary football,” Kelly said. “I mean, the kicker, Lirim, had six field goals tonight, defence had seven sacks. It was huge for the whole team to really come out confident.”

The Lions (7-7) struggled from the outset, with four two-and-outs in the first quarter alone. 

Lions head coach Rick Campbell turned to veteran QB Vernon Adams Jr. to start the third quarter, replacing starter Nathan Rourke. 

“Just looking for a spark. It’s a case of — in my opinion — having two elite CFL quarterbacks. And I told the team and I told Nathan that it wasn’t on him,” Campbell said. 

“I didn’t think our energy on offence was where it needs to be. And that wasn’t on Nathan. We just couldn’t get any flow going. And I was just literally trying to create a spark and see if we could flip the script.”

Rourke — who was six for 12 on his attempts, throwing for 110 yards — admitted he was “a little” surprised to get the hook, but wanted to be as supportive of Adams as possible.   

“And hopefully I did that. Obviously, I’m not great at keeping my emotions in. I wear them on my sleeve, and so I’m obviously disappointed,” Rourke said. “But we weren’t playing well. As a team, we were losing. And I think everyone’s kind of body language kind of showed it tonight. But I thought (Adams) did a good job under tough circumstances.”

UP NEXT 

The Argos will battle the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Toronto next Friday. The Lions are on a bye next week and will return to play Sept. 27 when they host the Ticats. 

(Canadian Press)