Argos keep playoff dream alive
The Argonauts get to live another day, and backup quarterback Trevor Harris is their life force.
If Montreal beats Hamilton on Saturday, the Argos are in the playoffs. If the Tiger-Cats win, Toronto is out.
As the backup and even third-string quarterback for his three seasons in Toronto, Harris was always well-prepared for this day. But who knew he could be this good?
On the strength of his two first-half touchdown passes, the Argos prolonged their playoff aspirations by knocking off the Ottawa Redblacks 23-5 at the Rogers Centre Friday night to finish the regular season at 8-10.
A season-high crowd of 19,687 watched Harris replace the injured Ricky Ray in his first CFL start. Harris tossed TD passes to John Chiles and Chad Owens as the Argos raced ahead to a 20-0 halftime lead before bogging down in the second half, when they were outscored by Ottawa 5-3.
Harris completed 16-of-22 passes in the first half alone for 184 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, but he cooled off in the second half as the Argonauts had trouble converting on second down.
He finished with 281 yards on 26 completions in 36 attempts.
Owens finished 11 yards short of 1,000 receiving yards for the season; he was playing in only his 11th game because of injury.
Argos kicker Swayze Waters connected on three field goals to round out the scoring. For Ottawa, Brett Maher had a field goal and two singles.
Ray, who suffered his concussion last week, watched from the sidelines and often consulted with Harris during the game.
The Redblacks made a charge in the fourth quarter when quarterback Henry Burris hit Eddie Poole with a 42-yard pass to take the ball deep into Argo territory with Toronto up 20-2.
However, two straight Burris passes fell incomplete and Ottawa only managed a field goal to cut the margin to 20-5.
Later, backup Danny O’Brien replaced Burris and completed a 77yard pass to Khalil Paden with only a few minutes left in the fourth. It was Ottawa’s longest pass play of the season, and the Argos’ Branden Smith saved a touchdown by chasing down Paden. Smith had picked off a pass earlier in the game. Ottawa, however, turned the ball over on downs after a third-down gamble failed.
Now, the Argos will be rooting for the Alouettes (9-8) to beat the TigerCats (8-9) in Hamilton on Saturday.
If that happens, and it very well could because the Als are riding a six-game winning streak, the TigerCats will be knocked out due to losing the head-to-head series with Toronto.
Montreal would claim the first seed and have a bye to the East Division final on Nov. 23. Toronto would be second and host the East Division semifinal next Sunday against the fourth-place finisher in the West in a crossover format.
This week, head coach Scott Mi- lanovich had made the point that Harris was neck and neck for the backup role last season before Zach Collaros won the job; he would up joining the Ticats this season. Harris, playing in front of his parents who had made the drive from Waldo, Ohio, looked poised right from the start in driving the Argos to score on their first possession. He capped a six-play, 78-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Chiles cutting over the middle. Harris did a fist pump to celebrate his first TD pass of the season and just the second of his career (he tossed a TD pass to Darvin Adams last season). On Ottawa’s next series, Argos defensive end Tristan Okpalaugo snatched the ball out of the air. The six-foot-six, 250-pounder then rumbled to the Ottawa three-yard line only to be tackled by the 190-pound Burris. Harris promptly hit Owens on the next play, and he bulled his way over the line for a touchdown and the Argos went up 14-0. O’Brien did not have Harris’ touch and was a clear loser in the battle of the backups. O’Brien showed a tendency to overthrow and many times his passes fell harmlessly with no receiver around.