Argo Bounce? Boatmen on the Ball in last-minute win

Chris O'Leary

Senior Writer

@olearychris

Marcus Ball said he knew he’d be hearing it from his teammates for the next day and a half, no question. Out of uniform and back in street clothes, the Toronto Argonauts’ linebacker sat in his locker stall, scrolling through his phone. There was a text waiting for him, but he didn’t want to look at it. Not yet.

“My mom has already texted me. She’s already ripping me,” Ball said.

“Momma’s worse than everyone in this locker room. Momma really lets me have it. Right now I don’t want to look at it and read it but I’m sure she’s got something in there for me.”

At that point, after the Argos had held on (that’s a key phrase here) for a 24-23 win over the BC Lions, Ball could only guess what it said.

“C’mon man! C’mon man!” he guessed, while Bear Woods laughed and chimed in from one stall over.

“That definitely was a blooper moment.”

With 2:25 left in Saturday’s game, the Argos were clinging to that one-point lead. Travis Lulay threw a seven-yard pass to Kevin Elliott and was picked off by Ball at BC’s 38-yard line. The 18,104 fans at BMO Field erupted, sensing a game-sealing pick-six. Ball got 16 yards and still had a lot of open grass in front of him when the ball just sort of…slipped out?

“I had it. Honestly, I don’t know,” Ball said. “As soon as I looked up I saw (the goal line) and I just felt it come out. I really don’t know. I don’t want to see it but I can’t wait to see it.”

Chris Rainey recovered for BC and since there were two changes of possession, the Lions had a first down at their own 22-yard line. With 2:16 left, Lulay put a quick drive together to bring his team up to the BC 50. He threw to Manny Arceneaux, but Jermaine Gabriel was there for Toronto to pop the ball loose for his first forced fumble of the year.

Ball was there to pounce on the loose ball at the 55-yard line. The Argos would (eventually) hold on, ensuring their first winning streak of the season. At 3-5, they’re now in second-place in the East.

“That felt great because we shot ourselves in the foot a little too much,” Ball said. “We’re letting teams hang in the games solely off of stuff we do; with respect to the BC Lions, they have a very talented team. Lulay is playing vintage Lulay right now.

“It’s just, it was fun man. At the same time I’m glad that ball rolled right to us and we were able to get on it.”

The crowd was a season-high for the Argos, and it made a difference. The stadium was loud in the final minutes of the game and the fans played a part in BC taking a procedure with 6:49 left and a time count with 4:04 to go.

“Eighteen (thousand) and loud,” said Argos running back James Wilder Jr., who had 91 yards rushing and 49 yards receiving.

“It was big. They helped us out tremendously, especially in the fourth quarter, they gave (the Lions) two penalties. That’s huge. We thank them for that, from the top to the bottom of this organization, that was huge and they played a part in that win.”

The win played out with the Canadian National Exhibition playing out around BMO Field. It’s always an interesting atmosphere to have a game going on in the middle of a carnival.

“You’ve got roller coasters going up and down all around the stadium but I like it, it’s cool,” said Argos receiver Anthony Coombs, who had a touchdown after an ankle injury delayed his season debut.

“I think this is my third year playing around the CNE. I’m used to it and it’s a game I look forward to.”

Like he did after his first start at QB two weeks ago against Ottawa, McLeod Bethel-Thompson spoke of getting out of his way as the game progressed and letting it come to him. He was 18-29 for 260 yards with a touchdown. James Franklin scored on short yardage for the Argos.

“We have to make it more about us. Stuff that we do that gets in our own way,” Bethel-Thompson said.

“The O-line was amazing, I barely got touched. Those guys are amazing human beings and awesome football players and they made my night a lot easier than it could have been.”

Watching from the sideline, Bethel-Thompson wasn’t worried as he watched Ball go through some pretty extreme highs and lows in a short period of time.

“I thought, ‘Marcus is too good of a football player to not make up for that. You just want the fans to be a little more entertained for a little longer,” the quarterback said, cracking a smile.

“Marcus is…another one of these guys in this locker room that they are special, special people and special football players. I knew the defence was going to pick that up and I was just ready in case they did to go back out there.”

Sitting in second place, with Montreal on deck for next week and a pair of games against Hamilton (also 3-5) looming, the Argos are back in the mix in the East, with bigger goals in mind.

“We never felt out of it, so let me correct you there,” Ball said of the idea of being back in it.

“We’re in this thing, our goal is right there for us to take. It’s a long ride. It’s a tall mountain and we’re steady climbing. We’ll get there.”

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