Medlock puts the boot to Argos
COMEBACK WIN: Field goal as time expires puts Hamilton into East Division final
HAMILTON — Justin Medlock knows the opportunity to win football games with a single boot doesn’t come around often.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats kicker realized as soon as he connected with no time left on the clock Sunday afternoon what he had done.
Medlock sent his teammates and many in the crowd of 24,029 at Tim Hortons Field into a state of euphoria when his 47-yard field goal sailed through the uprights, giving the Ticats a 25-22 win against the Toronto Argonauts in the East Division semifinal.
“I just wanted to celebrate with my teammates and get the crowd up,” Medlock said of the on-field jubilation. “You don’t know when this is going to be your last game. I’m a free agent (in the approaching offseason) and you never know. This could be the last time I ever play here. That’s the way I looked at it coming into (the game) and I just wanted to enjoy it.”
The Ticats, remarkably, have managed to survive since No. 1 quarterback Zach Collaros suffered a season-ending knee injury Sept. 19.
Jeremiah Masoli didn’t shred the Argos offence on a wonderful fall day, passing for 141 yards and one touchdown. But Masoli, who spent time on the practice roster during the regular season, regrouped after he was benched for two possessions in the third quarter and completed each of his final seven pass attempts.
The Tiger-Cats secured a spot in the East final Sunday in Ottawa against the Redblacks. Ottawa swept Hamilton in a home-and-home set to end the regular season, though that won’t matter much to a Ticats team that will try to get back to the Grey Cup for a third consecutive year.
For the Argos, it was the final game in the David Braley era and when they return in 2016, will start a new era at BMO Field.
Quarterback Ricky Ray never got full range after coming back from off-season shoulder surgery and was unable to pick apart a strong Ticats defence. He finished the afternoon with 220 yards passing, completing 22 of 34 passes.
Medlock kicked two field goals in the first quarter, including a 55-yarder that was the second-longest in Canadian Football League playoff history, to put Hamilton up 6-0. It was a yard short of the record 56-yard kick Bernie Ruoff made for the Ticats in 1984.
The Argos had a 10-6 lead at halftime thanks to a one-yard touchdown run from Brandon Whitaker, which was preceded by a 42-yard field goal by Swayze Waters.
An 88-yard single by Waters and a nine-yard pass to Chad Owens from Ray for a touchdown in the third increased the Argos lead to 18-6.
The field then started to tilt in the Ticats’ favour, though it took some words to Masoli from head coach Kent Austin to get the quarterback back in the game mentally.
Masoli had been intercepted by Argos cornerback Antwasi OwusuAnsah, a momentum killer that came a couple of plays after Emanuel Davis picked off Ray.
For the next two series, Jacory Harris ran the Ticats offence as Masoli regained his composure. The move turned out to be a smart one.
Masoli returned immediately after the Owens touchdown and led the Ticats to their first major, finding Bakari Grant from 42 yards before the end of the quarter.
Later, Masoli plunged in from one yard and Hamilton led 22-19. Waters kicked a 43-yarder with 49 seconds remaining to tie the game 22-22.
Austin confirmed after the game Masoli will start in Ottawa.
“To respond like that, having not played, on the practice roster, I can’t say enough about the man,” Austin said. “I talked to him, and said ‘Listen, we are going to keep you out a couple of series, are you ready go to back in? I need to know you are ready.’ He said ‘Coach, let’s just go win the football game.’ He is the kind of guy you want on your football team.” And how about Medlock? “I’ll tell you who he reminds me of, but with a stronger leg, is Dave Ridgway,” Austin said. “When I played with Dave, if Dave said get the ball to this yard line and I am good, I had 100-per-cent trust and faith in that.
“I’m exactly the same way with Justin. I have tremendous faith in him.”