The Peterborough Examiner

Ottawa clinches first in the East

- DAN RALPH

HAMILTON — Trevor Harris and the Ottawa Redblacks will need just one post-season victory to play in a third Grey Cup game in four years.

Harris threw three TD passes as Ottawa clinched first in the East Division with a 30-13 Canadian Football League road win over Hamilton on a cold, wet and windy Saturday night. The Redblacks earned their fifth straight victory at Tim Hortons Field and swept the season series with the Tiger-Cats 3-0.

“It’s huge, just for us to be able to lick our wounds, get some guys back that aren’t really healthy and kind of be able to self-assess, self-scout a little bit,” Harris said.

“One game from the show.

“By no means is the sentence finished. There’s no period yet ... we just put a comma in there because it’s time for playoff time and for us to even turn it up another notch.”

Harris cemented the victory with a 79-yard bomb to Diontae Spencer at 10:44 of the third quarter into a stiff wind that put the Redblacks ahead 27-13.

It came before an the announced Tim Hortons Field gathering of 23,329, but no more than 3,000 took in the contest, which was played in steady rain and a brisk 34-kilometre-per-hour wind.

Harris was 23-of-30 passing for 267 yards before giving way to Dominique Davis in the fourth. Ottawa (10-7) will complete its regular season next weekend against Toronto, then be off until the East final Nov. 18.

The weather was the big story Saturday and Ottawa’s ability to handle it. The Redblacks outscored Hamilton 14-4 when the Ticats had the wind and 16-9 when the visitors had it at their back.

“It (weather) was big,” Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell said. “The key thing we talked about at the hotel (Saturday morning) was, ‘This is the CFL, you have to embrace the bad weather and not let it get it you off your game.’

“The big thing was when they had the wind, we won those quarters point-wise and that’s huge. Our guys rose to the occasion and those were two key quarters for us.”

Campbell said Ottawa’s offence is geared to succeed in bad weather. “I think this weather plays into our offence and (Harris),” Campbell said. “He’s an accurate thrower and we have some big targets that can catch some balls.

“Good on him for not being fazed in the moment and coming up big when we needed him to.”

Ottawa slotback Brad Sinopoli had two reasons to celebrate. The 30-year-old Peterborou­gh native had seven receptions for 56 yards to break Ben Cahoon’s record for most catches in a season by a Canadian (112 in ’03).

Sinopoli needed four receptions to eclipse Cahoon’s mark but now has 116 catches for 1,376 yards. The two-time Grey Cup champion is the seventh Canadian to reach the 100-catch plateau.

 ?? SCOTT GARDNER THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR ?? Ottawa Redblacks wide receiver Greg Ellington is downed by Hamilton Tiger-Cats Larry Dean (11) and Simoni Lawrence during Canadian Football League action at Tim Hortons Field on Saturday afternoon.
SCOTT GARDNER THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR Ottawa Redblacks wide receiver Greg Ellington is downed by Hamilton Tiger-Cats Larry Dean (11) and Simoni Lawrence during Canadian Football League action at Tim Hortons Field on Saturday afternoon.

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