Argos give the boot to Redblacks

TORONTO Lirim Hajrullahu’s 34yard field goal gave the Toronto Argonauts a wild 27-24 home win over the Ottawa Redblacks Monday.

Hajrullahu’s field goal on the game’s final play capped an eightplay, 52-yard drive after Ottawa rallied to tie the score 24-24 on Trevor Harris’s 31-yard TD strike with 2:17 remaining. That score came after Toronto’s Cody Fajardo was stopped on a third-down gamble, to the dismay of the season-high BMO Field gathering of 15,801.

Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray, who completed 40-of-55 passes for 367 yards, hit Anthony Coombs on a nine-yard TD strike at 6:56 of the fourth to snap a 17-17 tie. It was set up by Marcus Ball’s interception.

But the win was a costly one as Toronto (3-2) played the second half without linebacker Bear Woods and defensive linemen Victor Butler and Cleyong Laing.

Butler suffered an apparent knee injury while Woods reportedly underwent concussion protocol and Laing left the field on a cart with a left leg injury.

That’s certainly a concern moving forward as Toronto begins a stretch of four games in 19 days. The Argos visit the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday night.

The Redblacks (1-4-1) know all about that. They played their third game in 11 nights and fourth in 18 on Monday. But the defending Grey Cup champs showed tremendous grit by rallying to tie the score 17-17 on Josh Stangby’s 15-yard run and Mossis Madu’s two-point convert in the fourth.

Declan Cross had a touchdown for Toronto. Hajrullahu booted two converts, two singles and three field goals. The other points came on a safety.

Brad Sinopoli had a TD and twopoint convert for Ottawa. Brett Maher added a single and convert.