Friday CFL Round-Up: Ticats Upset Lions, Bombers Blast Elks

VANCOUVER – It was quite a day for Ante Milanovic-Litre.

First, he learned his wife was expecting a baby. Later, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats running back took a direct snap and scored on a one-yard run in overtime to give his team a 32-29 win over the B.C. Lions in a nail-biting CFL game Friday night.

“I’m on top of the world,” said the 29-year-old who was born in Vancouver and played his college football at Simon Fraser University. “I’m on cloud nine. That touchdown was for my unborn child.”

The winning touchdown was set up after B.C. defender Ronald Kent Jr. was called for pass interference in the end zone following a review from the command centre, bringing boos from the crowd at BC Place Stadium.

It was a wild game that saw the Tiger-Cats rally from a 16-point deficit and score two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter to win their fourth consecutive game.

With just over five minutes left, and Hamilton facing a third-and-three, quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell found Smith in the end zone to cut the Lions lead to 23-18.

After a Lions two-and-out, Mitchell marched Hamilton down the field again, hitting Brendan O’Leary-Orange for a 10-yard touchdown. The two-point convert was good, giving Hamilton a 26-23 lead.

With less than a minute remaining Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke connected with Keon Hatcher on passes of 23 and 15 yards to set up a 12-yard Sean Whyte field goal that tied the game 26-26.

On their first possession of overtime the Lions settled for a 24-yard Whyte field goal, giving B.C. a 29-26 lead.

Rick Campbell, B.C.’s head coach and co-general manager, said his team struggled in the second half.

“They (Hamilton) seem to come out in the second half with really good energy,” said Campbell. “We were missing some tackles and they were making some plays. They were playing at a faster level than we were.”

Hamilton head coach Scott Milanovich watched his team start the game with four two-and-outs and not mange a first down until early in the second quarter.

“We just got off to a bad start and didn’t have any rhythm offensively,” he said.

“The offence didn’t get settled in until halftime, but they never quit. A lot of trust is building in that locker room.”

Mitchell completed 34 of 40 passes for 309 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He caught a two-point convert on a razzle-dazzle play and was sacked three times.

Rourke shouldered the blame for an offence that started hot then cooled off.

“In this league your offence goes as much as your quarterback allows you to go,” said Rourke, who completed 22 of 36 passes for 264 yards.

“I think there were times when I was playing well and moved the ball. I think there were times we weren’t moving the ball and that was because I wasn’t making the throws or making the reads.”

Rourke ran for touchdowns of seven and two yards. Whyte also kicked field goals of 50, 45 and 26 yards.

UP NEXT

Tiger-Cats: Host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday, Oct. 4.

Lions: Host the Calgary Stampeders on Friday, Oct. 4.

WINNIPEG – Zach Collaros had a feeling during warm-up that it could be a special game between his Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Edmonton Elks on Friday.

He was correct.

Collaros threw a career-high six touchdown passes to ignite the Bombers in a 55-27 victory over the Elks that extended their win streak to seven games and clinched a playoff spot for the eighth consecutive season.

“We give a handshake to each other, half the warm-up is done, and you kind of feel everybody is just really locked in, a really high sense of focus,” Collaros said.

“I did actually really feel that. I typically don’t enjoy being the guy to have to hype everybody up, but I had to share that with them.”

Winnipeg’s first four series of the game resulted in touchdown catches by Nic Demski, Keric Wheatfall and Brady Oliveira, plus a field goal by Sergio Castillo.

The explosion of points had the team’s third straight sellout crowd of 32,243 at Princess Auto Stadium cheering wildly as the CFL West Division-leading Blue Bombers improved to 9-6.

The Elks dropped to 5-10 and have a flicker of a chance to still make the CFL playoffs.

Collaros completed 21 of 26 pass attempts for a season-high 432 yards with the six TDs and no interceptions. His career best for passing in a game is 439 yards.

Elks quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who got the start ahead of Tre Ford, had a tough night against Winnipeg’s stifling defence. He was 19-of-34 passing for 223 yards with three TDs and no picks.

“Execution, man,” Bethel-Thompson said. “To come in and have a performance like that is extremely disappointing and embarrassing. It’s not who the heck we are.”

Edmonton interim head coach Jarious Jackson wasn’t pinning the blame on his quarterback. He also wasn’t backtracking on his decision to start Bethel-Thompson over Ford.

“McLeod’s still our quarterback,” Jackson said. “I thought he played well. Early on, we’ve got to help him with some of the calls and some of the things that we’re doing offensively.”

He was glad to see his team battle in the second half and believes they can build on that.

Winnipeg led 17-0 after the first quarter, 34-6 at halftime and 41-20 heading into the fourth.

UP NEXT

Elks: Host the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday, Oct. 5.

Blue Bombers: Visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday.

(Canadian Press)