Ticats surprise Redblacks, win two in a row

Hamilton coach Jones off to perfect start, thanks to big first half on the road

OTTAWA— The Ottawa Redblacks made no excuses Saturday night as they fell 26-22 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at TD Place.

Ottawa didn’t show up for the game until the second half and, by then, they had dug far too deep a hole for themselves. The Redblacks trailed 23-7 at the intermission.

“I don’t know if we overlooked Hamilton or what went on, but they came out here and punched us in the face just like you’re supposed to do on the road,” said Ottawa running back Mossis Madu. “We just came out way too flat. We just did too much, too late.”

The loss may be the least of the Redblacks’ worries at this point as starting quarterback Trevor Harris left the game midway through the third quarter after having his right shoulder driven into the ground. He was later sporting a sling on the sidelines. Harris was 18-for-28 for 193 yards and one touchdown.

“I don’t know too much yet, but I know it’s not a season-ending thing,” Redblacks coach Rick Campbell said. “(Sunday) will probably be a big day of how he wakes up and how he feels. We’re hoping it’s a shorter-term thing, but we’ll see how that goes.”

Drew Tate made his first appearance for Ottawa (4-7-1) and finished the game 7-for-12 for 108 yards and one touchdown

“There was enough time for us to come back,” Tate said. “I just couldn’t sprinkle enough magic dust on everyone to get a (win).”

Hamilton’s Jeremiah Masoli was impressive in his second appearance, going 17-for-31 for 231 yards as the Tiger-Cats improve to 2-8-0. C.J. Ga- ble ran in two touchdowns and finished with 74 yards on 11 carries.

“We battled our butts off,” Masoli said. “We all know what C.J. can do with the ball in his hands, so we were definitely trying to feed him.”

Masoli looked just as comfortable running the ball as he had seven carries for 73 yards.

The Redblacks will want to focus on their second half when reviewing this one as they held Hamilton to just one field goal after giving up 23 points in the first half.

“You could kind of tell the belief was different in the first half than it was last week and I think that was both offensively and defensively,” said Hamilton coach June Jones, who is undefeated (2-0) since taking over for Kent Austin.

“I think the guys are getting it. They know what’s at stake. They know we had to win a couple on the road and this was one we felt we could win.”

Ottawa got off to a much better start in the second — scoring a 22-yard Diontae Spencer touchdown on its opening drive that started with a 27yard punt return, also by Spencer. With a two-point convert the Redblacks were back in the game trailing 23-15.

Tate connected with Josh Stangby early in the fourth for a 29-yard touchdown, but fell short on the twopoint convert to trail 26-21.

Brett Maher’s missed 44-yard field goal attempt made it 26-22.