Late TD lifts Redblacks to win
William Powell ran a 43-yard touchdown in the game’s final minute as the Ottawa Redblacks rallied to a 41-36 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday to take the lead in the Canadian Football League’s East Division.
Trevor Harris threw two touchdown passes, Powell passed 1,000 yards rushing for the season and Diontae Spencer set a new league record with 496 all-purpose yards for the Redblacks (8-9-1).
Ottawa will finish the regular season in first in the division if the Argonauts lose to the B.C. Lions next week. A Toronto win or tie in the final week of the regular season will put the Argos in the East’s top spot for the playoffs.
Jeremiah Masoli threw four touchdown passes for the Tiger-Cats (512), who are playing out the string as they have been eliminated from the post-season.
An eight-yard touchdown pass from Masoli to Luke Tasker at 6:02 of the third quarter gave the Tiger-Cats a 33-22 lead but Harris threw a 12 touchdown pass to Greg Ellingson with less than five minutes to play following an eight-yard touchdown run by Powell with five minutes to play for a 34-33 lead.
Kenny Allen gave Hamilton a 36-34 lead with a 43 yard-field goal at 13:35 of the fourth quarter before Powell scored his 43-yard run in the final minute to give the Redblacks the win and get over the 1,000 yard mark.
The Tiger-Cats owned the opening quarter, building a 16-0 lead and completely shutting down Ottawa’s offence.
It started badly for the Redblacks as they conceded a safety on their opening possession rather than punting from deep in their end zone.
Hamilton took the ensuing kickoff and eventually turned it into a six-yard touchdown pass from Masoli to Jalen Saunders and just like that the Ticats had a 9-0 lead.
After a turnover on downs by the Redblacks, Hamilton increased its lead to 16-0 less than a minute to play after Allen converted a 12-yard touchdown pass from Masoli to Brandon Banks.
The Redblacks finally got something happening early in the second quarter with a 32-yard field goal from Brett Maher at 4:23, and after Allen kicked a 13-yard field goal two minutes later, Maher hit another three-pointer from 53 yards out cutting Hamilton’s lead to 19-6.
Following that drive Harris left the game with an apparent shoulder injury, but on the next play Drew Tate connected with Juron Criner on a 39yard catch-and-run touchdown. Powell executed the two-point conversion and suddenly the Redblacks were only down 19-14.
On their next series Harris was back at quarterback for the Redblacks but a long drive ended with a fumble on the Hamilton six-yard line when Spencer failed to protect the ball and had it knocked loose in the final minute of the half.
Ottawa regained its momentum on their first drive of the second ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Greg Ellingson and a twopoint conversion run from Powell. That gave the Redblacks a 22-19 lead with nine minutes to play in the third quarter.
The lead was short lived though as Masoli found Banks in the end zone for a 43-yard strike at 8:38 of the third for a 26-22 lead.