CFL.ca Staff
HAMILTON — The newly made-over Battle of Ontario in the CFL kicked off Wednesday night at Ivor Wynne Stadium as Ricky Ray and the Argos marched to a 29-24 win over Henry Burris, Andy Fantuz and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in front of 27,585 fans.
The Argos opened up the scoring halfway through the first quarter when Cory Boyd plunged one-yard for a major. The touchdown was set up by a pass interference call on Hamilton’s Woodny Turenne in the endzone.
Boyd would follow up with another touchdown run with 13:27 in the second quarter, completing a 9-play, 72-yard drive to put the Argos up 14-0.
That would be the end of Ray’s night as the former Eskimo was taken out of the game and replaced by Jarious Jackson on the first drive of the second quarter.
On the other sideline, the second quarter brought upon Henry Burris’ first appearance as a Tiger-Cat. His first drive would be marred by penalties as Hamilton struggled to move the ball in the first half.
Burris would get in rhythm however, as he found a wide open Samuel Giguere for a 52-yard gain, leading to a QB sneak major by the former Calgary signal-caller a play later to cut Toronto’s lead to 7.
Burris would follow with a 75-yard touchdown strike to last year’s Most Outstanding Rookie Chris Williams to tie the game at 14 at 8:22 of the second quarter.
The ‘Cats new pivot was poised to build on his club’s momentum but his next drive was stalled when rookie DB Patrick Watkins stepped picked off the misguided toss in the endzone.
After the Argos missed a field goal forcing a conceded single, the Ticats ended the second half with a 24-yard Luca Congi field goal to go into the half up 17-15.
The Argonauts would turn to rookie QB Trevor Harris who would start his CFL career in style, completing a 75-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown strike to running back Gerald Riggs to put the Argos up early in the third quarter 22-17.
Another rookie QB would take the helm for the Double Blue as Zach Collaros took the helm and found receiver Jesse Hubbard in the back of the endzone for a 13-yard major.
The Tiger-Cats would add a late major when Simon Charbonneau-Campeau grabbed a 21-yard touchdown pass to close the Argos lead to 29-24.
