Harris tosses record 6 touchdowns
Redblacks heading to Grey Cup after 46-27 win over Ticats
OTTAWA — Trevor Harris threw a Canadian Football League playoff-record six touchdown passes to lead the Ottawa Redblacks to an emphatic 46-27 East Division final win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday afternoon.
Ottawa finished the season 4-0 against Hamilton. More importantly, the Redblacks will make their third Grey Cup appearance in four years next Sunday in Edmonton, against the Calgary Stampeders, who beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 22-14, later Sunday.
Ottawa lost the 2015 Grey Cup to Edmonton before earning a thrilling 39-33 overtime victory the following year against Calgary at Toronto’s BMO Field. Hamilton was looking to return to the CFL championship game for the first time since losing 20-16 to Calgary in 2014.
With under two minutes remaining, the TD Place faithful began a “We want the Cup” chant.
Harris finished a stellar 29of-32 passing for 367 yards and spread the ball to 10 different receivers in the contest.
Hamilton’s Jeremiah Masoli, the East Division’s outstanding player nominee, completed 28of-41 passes for 315 yards with a TD and three interceptions. He also ran for a 12-yard TD with 7:56 remaining, then hit Bralon Addison on the two-point convert to cut Ottawa’s lead to 46-27.
Addison had 12 catches for
129 yards, his second straight 100-yard playoff game.
Harris brought the TD Place sellout of 24,108 to its feet with a 10-yard TD strike to Marco Dubois, which put Ottawa ahead 33-13 just 2:27 into the third quarter. It was an effective counter to Hamilton scoring on the final play of the first half, to cut the Redblacks’ advantage to 27-13.
Hamilton reduced its deficit to 33-19 on two Lirim Hajrullahu field goals (44, 15) with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
But Ottawa responded with a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive Harris capped with a 29-yard TD pass to Brendan Gillanders at 13:39 for a 39-19 advantage.
Harris removed all doubt with a 50-yard touchdown pass to Greg Ellingson just over a minute into the fourth. Ellingson, the former Ticat who had the game-winning TD grab against Hamilton in the 2015 East final, finished with eight catches for 144 yards and the TD.
Diontae Spencer, with two, and Jean-Christophe Beaulieu had Ottawa’s other touchdowns.
William Powell added a twopoint convert, while Lewis Ward booted two converts and two field goals, but missed from 44 yards out in the fourth to end his streak of 50 straight.
Mike Jones had Hamilton’s touchdown. Hajrullahu kicked four field goals and a convert.
Hamilton cut Ottawa’s halftime lead to 27-13 when Jones reached behind to make the two-yard TD grab. But he did an even better job of not allowing the ball to hit the turf as it came loose while he was going down.
The touchdown was Hamilton’s first against Ottawa in roughly 124 minutes.
It came after Ottawa’s Jonathan Rose was flagged for unnecessary roughness and ejected for contacting an official with 37 seconds left, following a sideline melee after Addison’s six-yard catch. When order was restored, Hamilton moved up 30 yards to the Ottawa 15.
Harris staked Ottawa to a 27-6 advantage with three TD strikes in the quarter, two being set up by interceptions.
Harris found Spencer on a 22-yard touchdown pass at 8:08, before Powell ran in the twopoint convert to put Ottawa ahead 14-6. It came a play after Antony Cioffi’s interception.
Harris then found Beaulieu on a one-yard touchdown pass at 13:09, but the two-point convert was unsuccessful. The play after Rose’s 59-yard interception return, Harris hit Spencer with a nine-yard TD strike at 13:53 before Ward’s convert put Ottawa up 27-6.
Ottawa led 6-3 after the first on Ward field goals of 11 and 27 yards — stretching his consecutive kicks streak to 50 — while Hajrullahu connected from nine yards out.