ONTO THE WALL OF HONOUR
Joe Montford, right, with his nine-year-old son Aiden at his side, shares a laugh with former teammate Rob Hitchcock during a ceremony to unveil Montford’s name on the Tiger-Cats’ Wall of Honour at Tim Hortons Field on Thursday night. Montford won a Grey Cup with Hamilton in 1999 and another with the Edmonton Eskimos, who were visiting on Thursday, in 2005.
You can’t beat Canadian football for surprises.
Here were the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, essentially throwing the game away in the second quarter, then rising from the mat to defeat the Edmonton Eskimos, 25-24, on Thursday night at Tim Hortons Field.
Lirim Hajrullahu made a 29-yard field goal as time expired to complete the Ticats’ 50-yard scoring drive that began 92 seconds earlier.
It was somewhat of a redemption for Hajrullahu, who earlier had missed his first field-goal attempt over 40 yards this year, and had a couple of punts that netted less than 22 yards.
But it was a bigger redemption for Jeremiah Masoli, who’d been picked off twice in earlier, but undeterred led three scoring drives in the game’s final 18 minutes.
These are the kind of games the Ticats have been losing with depressing regularity in June Jones’s tenure, but this time, they stared into the maw of failure and came out a winner.
Masoli threw for a whopping 419 yards with one touchdown pass and the two picks, while Luke Tasker had a massive game with 156 yards in receptions and a touchdown that drew the Ticats within two points late in the game. Mike Jones had 117 yards in catches, including an 84-yarder with six minutes left, leading to a field goal.
The Ticats used the rushing game effectively, with Alex Green running for 104 yards and Masoli 29.
Eskimos QB Mike Reilly went 15 for 25 for 250 yards and three touchdowns, all of those majors in a dismal second quarter for the Ticats.
Ticats defensive co-ordinator Jerry Glanville made a critical personnel move at halftime, replacing field-side halfback Mariel Cooper, who’d been beaten regularly and had a key interference penalty, with newcomer Josh Johnson.
With the victory the Ticats improved to 4-5 and, depending upon how the Argonauts (3-5) do in Montreal on Friday night, will head into the Labour Day game no worse than tied for second in the East Division.
The Ticats controlled the game in the first quarter and led 10-0 before surrendering 24 unanswered points in just under 11 minutes in the second quarter. A Masoli interception, and a fumble by Brandon Banks were key contributors to that secondquarter collapse. Which is why a chorus of Bronx cheers accompanied the Ticats off the field after 30 minutes of play.
The local fans were getting tired — check that, they were already fatigued of — the blatant tendencies the team has repeatedly displayed so far: blowing leads, dominating the clock then surrendering the big play, losing destructive field position on the punting game, turning the ball over like a short-order cook frying an egg, taking a critical penalty that leads to big points and, most sinful of all, disrespecting home-field advantage.
But the Ticats defence blanked Reilly’s offence over the final half, and the offence used three runs and two passes to put Hajrullahu in position to be the hero.
NOTES: Hamilton receiver and returner Chris Williams was carried off the field in the third quarter with an apparent ankle injury . ... Jeremiah Masoli had the rare experience of twice hitting the crossbar with passes from inside his own end zone, which automatically ends the play . ... Simoni Lawrence’s sack in the final two minutes was a critical play for Hamilton and SAM linebacker Don Unamba had a superb all-round game.