The Hamilton Tiger-Cats raced out to a 24-9 lead and were able to fend off a furious Toronto Argonauts comeback to win the 53rd Labour Day Classic by a score of 31-28 at Tim Hortons Field on Monday. Below are my thoughts on the game.
Bo be great
Bo Levi Mitchell’s name has been swirling in the press for the last couple of weeks after head coach Scott Milanovich announced that Taylor Powell would be the team’s starting quarterback moving forward following a 33-23 loss to the Montreal Alouettes on Aug. 10.
Mitchell was thrust back into the starting lineup almost immediately following an injury to Powell and he’s since posted back-to-back solid performances. On Monday, he threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns and — maybe more importantly — didn’t turn the ball over. He also added 25 yards on the ground on two carries.
This might’ve been Mitchell’s best performance of the season. He posted gaudy numbers in June against Saskatchewan and threw for five touchdowns in late July against Edmonton, but the efficiency and clutchness of his performance on Monday is what made this his best.
HIT ‘EM WITH THE HIGH STEP
Tim White (@tim_white6) had nothing but grass in front of him on his second catch — and second touchdown — of the quarter.#CFL #Ticats #TheHammer #LDC
pic.twitter.com/qhfpiPvRlq— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) September 2, 2024
The 34-year-old looked like the Bo of old, showing great arm strength on two deep touchdowns to Tim White and, when the game was still in the balance late, Mitchell found Brendan O’Leary-Orange for a 48-yard gain to put the game on ice. Couple that with the fact that Mitchell has dealt with a lot of noise the last several weeks, this was certainly a performance that will inspire confidence from not only the fan base, but his head coach and offensive coordinator as well.
Mitchell is also 7-0 as a starter on Labour Day between his time in Calgary and Hamilton. Is that good? I think that’s good.
I’ll take that!
Heading into last week’s game in Winnipeg, Hamilton had forced only nine turnovers. Since then, the Ticats’ defence has grabbed four including an interception from Richard Leonard on Toronto’s opening drive of the game when he snagged an errant Chad Kelly throw.
The takeaway gave Hamilton momentum early in the game and two plays later, the Ticats’ offence was able to find the end zone on a 57-yard connection from Mitchell to White.
Hamilton is still last in turnover ratio (minus-nine) and last in takeaways (13) but it appears the team has turned the corner with new defensive coordinator Chris Jones calling the shots.
It’s Himothy, not Timothy
Simply put, Tim White did his best Randy Moss impression against the Argonauts. The Ticats most dangerous weapon put on a masterclass on Monday, nabbing six receptions for 180 yards and two touchdowns while averaging an absurd 30 yards per reception thanks to two explosion plays with 57 and 70-yard touchdowns.
It looked like White might’ve found his stride last week thanks to a strong performance that saw him go for 160 total yards and his performance on Monday further showed that he’s rounding the corner after a slow start to the year.
Once again, it was nice to see him be the team’s focal point on offence as he was targeted nine times with the next highest being Steven Dunbar Jr. with six. Hamilton could make things interesting down the stretch should White continue this stretch of dominance.
The Bell tolls for thee
This is the third consecutive week I’ve mentioned Greg Bell in my postgame recap, but the San Diego State product continues to impress.
Bell has such a quick burst off the line and has proven he doesn’t shy away from contact. Add in his impressive vision and Hamilton has potentially found a potent weapon out of the backfield. He averaged 8.7 yards per carry thanks to his 78 yards on nine attempts and added four receptions for 40 yards, marking the second time he’s gone over 100 total yards in his young CFL career.
I also wanted to give an honourable mention to Ante Milanovic-Litre, who had 28 yards on six carries including a huge rush in the third quarter that got Hamilton out of the shadow of their goalpost. Milanovic-Litre does all the little things to help his team win, being a huge special teams contributor while also taking care of Hamilton’s short-yardage duties.
Taulia Time
Taulia Tagovailoa didn’t see a ton of snaps in his first CFL action but he was impactful during the times he did.
The 24-year-old rushed for a three-yard major in the first quarter and was a key part in Hamilton running out the clock in the game’s final moments. The stat sheet only shows one completion for six yards and two rushes for 10 yards, but having the ability to throw a different look at the Argos defence proved effective.
Tagovailoa to the end zone!@Tua will have something to smile about this Labour Day after little brother Taulia scampers in for his first career CFL TD.#CFL #Ticats #TheHammer
pic.twitter.com/d3pKw5aVDM— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) September 2, 2024
The rookie is mostly known for being the younger brother of Miami Dolphins star Tua Tagovailoa but he posted huge statistical numbers at Maryland, finishing his college career as the Big 10 leader in career passing yards. He’s a ways away from becoming a CFL starter but the early returns proved that there’s some potential there.
Marc, you’ve got quite the leg
His performance won’t get talked about much due to some of the others we saw on Labour Day but Marc Liegghio went three-for-three in the game, which included a 55-yarder that turned out to be the winning points.
The 27-year-old has been near automatic this season for the Ticats, connecting on 89.7 percent of his kicks while also being perfect on extra points. If Hamilton is going to push their way back into the playoff picture, there will surely be a game or two that comes down to the wire. Liegghio has proven that he can make clutch kicks.
Up next
The Ticats (3-9) will head into the bye week before they return to host the Ottawa (7-3-1) Redblacks on Saturday, Sept. 14. Ottawa took the first meeting between the two teams by a score of 24-22 in Week 4 thanks to a Lewis Ward walk-off field goal after Hamilton’s special teams unit made the strange decision to squid kick it after scoring what appeared to be the go-ahead touchdown.
Was Labour Day just a one-off for Hamilton or was it the first win of a possible late-season push to the playoffs? If this team’s able to put together back-to-back wins, the playoffs don’t seem as farfetched as they felt just a few short days ago.
