(The Canadian Press)
HAMILTON — “Wow.”
That’s the reaction media got from Tiger-Cats head coach June Jones to kick off his post-game scrum following Hamilton’s come from behind thrilling 25-24 victory at Tim Hortons Field Thursday night.
“The culture in the locker room is what won the game,” Jones went on to say. “We overcame a whole bunch of adversity, and it wasn’t one guy, it was the whole team.”
Coming off of a week of rest with the bye week in Week 10, the Ticats faced Edmonton who was coming into the matchup on a fairly shortened week given their practice schedule before travelling to the Hammer.
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Hamilton got out to a rather quick start in the first quarter of the game against the Eskimos, yet, although they blanked Edmonton in the opening quarter, they were shutout themselves in the second quarter as Mike Reilly connected for three touchdowns through the air.
“That was a big win for us,” Masoli said following the game. “We’ve got great men of character. It just showed it right there, who we are.”
Despite the first half deficit, Masoli and the offence, although at times it wasn’t pretty, found ways to move the ball upfield, usually relying on big plays to set themselves up with good field position.
“We’ve been in games like that and been down, comeback only to fall short in the end,” Masoli said. ” To prove it to ourselves against a really good team, it wasn’t like it was a fluke or something like that.”
The win comes after a series of games in which the Ticats have found themselves in similar situations as they did Thursday night against Edmonton – close game and with the ball on the final possession with a chance to win the game. This time, however, the Black and Gold figured out a way to muster up a series of plays to get themselves in scoring position. A completion to Terrence Toliver followed up by a big gain by Alex Green on the ground was all it took to get Hamilton in field goal range as the final seconds ticked away and the Ticats only down by one.
Lirim Hajrullahu kicked his fourth field goal of the game, which would be the one to push his team atop the opponent and give the Tabbies their fourth win of the year as they head into an extended week of preparation ahead of their Labour Day meeting with Toronto.
Defensively, the Ticats blanked a highly-potent offence in the second half, which largely contributed to the offense’s ability to claw back and cut into the Eskimos lead in what seemed to all happen fairly quickly in the final few minutes of the game.
“You’ve got to give our defence a shoutout for doing what they did against those guys,” Masoli said. “They were able to get pressure and get them off the field and give us another chance at the end there to drive for the last one, that was huge. Have to give a tip of the hat to the defence today.
The Ticats next game will be against the Toronto Argonauts during Mark’s Labour Day Weekend on Monday, September 3 at 6:30 p.m. ET. With the win tonight, Hamilton pulls ahead of Toronto for the time being, improving to 4-5, while the Argos sit at 3-5.
