Argonauts break their Hamilton hex
Ray engineers rally from 14-point deficit as Boatmen widen lead in East Division
HAMILTON— They were outplayed and outrushed, but not outdone.
The Toronto Argonauts pulled out a 43-35 win in Hamilton Saturday night, thanks to some last-minute miracle work by quarterback Ricky Ray and running back James Wilder Jr. at Tim Hortons Field.
With the win, the Argonauts (7-7) move three points up on the Ottawa Redblacks (5-9-1), with a game in hand, for first place in the CFL East Division. The Tiger-Cats (3-10) remained five points out of what could be the last playoff spot.
Ray, with his second touchdown pass of the game, and 20th of the season, completed a 25-yard touchdown strike to DeVier Posey with 33 seconds left in the game.
That cut what once seemed an insurmountable Hamilton lead to 3533; Wilder then got his number called for the two-point convert, and he delivered the score to force overtime.
In the extra session, Ray and Posey hooked up again, this time for the game winning touchdown. Wilder followed with another two-point convert to complete a night when he had 13 rushes for 49 yards.
With that, Toronto ended a nagging 0-7 losing streak in Hamilton. The win was their first at Tim Hortons Field since it opened Sept. 1, 2014.
The Argos also extended their win streak to a season-high three games.
Ray, who was sacked four times, completed 25 of 38 passes for 330 yards and three touchdowns, marking yet another, wildly engineered comeback performance that has been a trademark in his career.
Wilder was outdone on the stats sheet by Hamilton’s C.J. Gable, who had a memorable night, rushing 16 times for 153 yards. Gable scored back-to-back touchdowns that gave Hamilton a 35-21 lead. Two Lirim Hajrallahu field goals put Toronto in position to make a game-tying drive.
Masoli completed 18 of 32 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns.
Toronto punt returner Martese Jackson had a 92-yard return in the first quarter for a touchdown, while Ray hooked up with Armanti Edwards for another Argos touchdown.
Backup quarterback Cody Fajardo pushed a touchdown in from one yard out, that tied the score at 21-21 entering the fourth quarter.
Toronto linebacker Marcus Ball looked to be seriously hurt with a lower leg injury in the second quarter; but he returned to make a fumble recovery on the Hamilton 12-yard line that set up Fajardo’s touchdown.
Hamilton scored on just the second play of the game when Brandon Banks took a pass from Masoli and motored 58 yards for the touchdown, his fifth touchdown reception of the season.
The Argos were outplayed in the first half, falling behind 21-14 after 30 minutes.
The lead for Hamilton might have been bigger. The Tiger-Cats wound up going backwards after an automatic review negated what was initially ruled an11-yard touchdown run by Masoli, where the quarterback landed in the end zone.
The ball was put on the one-yard line. On first down, Ball kept Gable from scoring. A holding penalty and an intentional grounding penalty against Masoli on the next two snaps brought the ball all the way back to the Argo 27.
Hamilton settled for a field goal and a 10-7 lead, which helped the Argos stay within reach on the scoreboard.
Ray, soon thereafter, found Edwards in the front left corner of the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown and a 14-10 Argos lead.
Hamilton pushed through for another field goal to narrow the score to 14-13. Late in the half, Masoli went on a passing rampage, completing four of five passes over a 77-yard scoring drive that took just 58 seconds.
Banks made a tremendous 21-yard reception along the sideline that set up the touchdown. On the next play, Masoli connected with Luke Tasker wide open to the right side for a three-yard touchdown and a 19-14 lead. That some combination connected again a two-point convert that sent Hamilton into the half up by a touchdown.