Bethel-Thompson rallies Argos to crazy 42-41 win over Ottawa

TORONTO — McLeod Bethel-Thompson’s 23-yard touchdown strike to Armanti Edwards with one second remaining rallied the Toronto Argonauts to a stunning 42-41 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks on Thursday night.

Edwards’ catch capped an 11-play, 86-yard march engineered by Bethel-Thompson, who was 25-of-37 passing for 302 yards with four TDs and a pick in his first Canadian Football League start.

Diontae Spencer’s 88-yard punt-return TD at 10:25 of the third quarter gave Ottawa (4-3) a seemingly insurmountable 38-14 advantage. Spencer’s electrifying run came after Toronto opened the third impressively as Bethel-Thompson hit S.J. Green on a five-yard TD pass at 3:19 to cap a 60-yard, eight-play march.

Ottawa countered with a 64-yard, 10-play drive that resulted in Lewis Ward’s 17-yard field goal at 9:01 before Spencer’s heroics.

Toronto (2-5) snapped a three-game losing streak before a BMO Field gathering of 11,857.

Bethel-Thompson hit S.J. Green with an 11-yard TD pass at 1:12 of the fourth to cut Ottawa’s lead to 38-26.

Lewis Ward’s 14-yard field goal at 4:18 put the Redblacks ahead 41-26. But, after Zack Medeiros’s 32-yard field goal at 8:57, Bethel-Thompson hit James Wilder Jr. on a 20-yard TD pass at 11:34 to pull Toronto to within 41-36.

Green finished with nine catches for 134 yards and two TDs.

Harris was 27-of-35 passing for a seasonhigh 381 yards and two TDs for Ottawa. Spencer finished with eight catches for 145 yards and a TD while returning three punts for 104 yards and a touchdown.