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Tiger-Cats Turn Focus to Argonauts After Heartening Comeback Win Over the Riders In the raucous, boom-box afterglow of what was—given the many circumstances involved—the Ticats’ most significant win of the season, Scott Milanovich hit the note perfectly when he was asked what it proved. “That we’re not as bad a football team as y’all think we are,” the head coach quipped after his Cats’ uplifting 26-19 comeback win over the heavily-favoured Saskatchewan Roughriders at Hamilton Stadium Saturday night. “Honestly (the players) see what I see. And that means nothing until you show it on game day. And we’ve had some adversity, obviously, but the guys haven’t stopped believing in the guys who are still playing and what we can do. So I’m happy that they got that reward.” It was the first game of the second half of the season, after the first half had ended with three straight losses and an agonizing 3-6 record. Still a long way to go but they moved into a second-place tie with the Toronto Argonauts in the East, kept pace with any Western sides with designs on a cross-over playoff berth, and beat the Riders for the first time in six games, handed them their first road loss of the season and knocked them out of first place in the West. Make no mistake. This was a statement game, a declaration meant to confirm an internal message to each other and an external one to the whole league, particularly their QEW rivals, whom they play twice in the next three weeks, starting Saturday in Toronto. “This is another big one coming up,” said speedy Ticat Keric Wheatfall who led all receivers, by far, with nine catches for 118 yards and a pivotal touchdown. “They’re in our division, we beat them once and we have to go out there and go 2-and-0 on them. And I feel like we’re playing well right now and can do it.” Furthermore, playing exemplary complementary football in almost every way, a team which has struggled like a Greek tragedy in the fourth quarter outscored one of the league’s strongest-finishing teams 16-0 over the final frame. It would have been an even bigger margin had they not decided to allow time to expire at the Saskatchewan one-yard-line. And, after they had finally landed on Harrison Frost as their starting quarterback, they lost him for the game to an upper-body injury after the first half. To say that Tre Ford did a superb job coming off the bench is like saying Hamilton streets have some rough patches: it understates the case. Ford played under control, completed 13 of his 17 passes for 151 yards, ran four times for 38 yards, twice for 10 yards or more, bought time with his legs, kept the offence on the field for 13 of the game’s final 18 minutes and marched the Cats 98 yards on a drive while completing all six of his passes including a 41-yarder for a spectacular touchdown catch by Wheatfall, which gave the Ticats the lead (20-19) they would never surrender. “I can’t even explain to you how difficult that catch was,” Milanovich said. “It was the play of the game for us.” And it was made by a man with a heavy heart. Wheatfall’s grandmother, known as Gramma Rosie, passed away last week in the family’s native Texas, and he had to miss her funeral, which was the day before the game. That is why he took his helmet off after his touchdown and looked toward the sky. “It was for her,” he said. “This one was kind of special for me.” Wheatfall made a one-handed touchdown catch in college but said Saturday’s body-twisting grab—which had a Kenny Lawler feel to it—was his best as a pro, and it contributed heartily to an impactful victory. “This is very important,” he said of the comeback. “It’s a big confidence booster for the team. You can hear the music in the locker room right now, and you know everybody’s excited. And everybody is excited to look at the film and see what we can fix, get ready to finish this game and get ready for Toronto next week. “We didn’t really play our best in the first half of the season, so you kind of flip that around in the second half and display it as a whole team in the second half.” It was definitely a whole-team victory Saturday. It started early, bent but didn’t fully break in the middle, then finished on a soaring high. On Saskatchewan’s second play from scrimmage, Destin Talbert harassed a receiver enough that it deflected off his hands to safety Stavros Katsantonis for his fourth pick of the year. Two plays later, Frost threw a big-league laser to Myron Mitchell for his first CFL touchdown. Frost was 12-for-16 for 112 yards for a touchdown before his injury and Milanovich said he’d let everyone know during the week where the quarterbacking situation stands. But there can be no doubt that it was uplifting for the Cats to see such a riveting display from Ford. “I thought they both played well,” Milanovich said. “Tre worked his butt off this week. Every time Frosty was in there running plays (in practice) I could hear Tre behind me saying the play, doing the right calls. So, he was prepared when the opportunity came up and I thought he did an amazing job.” Ford calmly said, “I think getting the win was the big thing. Especially being able to do it against Saskatchewan, at home for our fans and it just feels good because I see the work the guys put in every single day, and we haven’t been coming up with wins. So it’s nice to come up with one. It’s important for us (for him) to come in and do well. “Throughout my years in the CFL, the one thing you learn is to be professional. So, yeah, I got benched. I’m not going to boohoo or whatever. I go into the practice with my teammates, try to give them the best I can. But I get my name called, and I’ve got to be able to step up and help my teammates.” Saskatchewan led 13-7 at the half and had the ball for nearly 10 minutes in the third quarter but were held to only a pair of Alex Hale field goals. In fact, the Cats didn’t allow a touchdown after the final minute of the second quarter. They did surrender too many drive-extending passes to the wide flats on second-and-long in the middle two quarters, particularly to Dhel Duncan-Busby, but corrected that emphatically. And they held the Riders—using promising Star Thomas at running back for injured A.J. Ouellette—to just 36 rushing yards. They also took the middle of the field away from the Rider receivers and forced Harris into some uncomfortable reads. “It’s always important to stop the run but we knew it would be big this week, and make them one dimensional,” said middle linebacker Wynton McManis. “It’s hard to give Trevor something he hasn’t seen before, so we just had to be real sound. He got me on one I’d like to have over again but he’s a great player and you can’t stop him all game. But for the most part we’d take away the middle and make him make the safe throws.” The linebacking rotation combined for 15 tackles; McManis and Jordan Crook with four apiece, Braxton Hill and Reggie Stubblefield with three each and Ryan Baker one. And Stubblefield was again outstanding at SAM Linebacker. He made his first interception of the season to seal the victory in the final minute, had two pass knockdowns and two tackles for loss. Anyone who thinks he isn’t having an All-CFL season needs cataract surgery. He and Katsantonis both credited defensive coordinator Brent Monson with a creative game plan. “This team has been through so much adversity this year, and we knew we had to finish; it was a credit to the whole organization,” said Stubblefield, whose sister and grandparents were seeing him play in Hamilton for the first time. It was also his grandparents’ first time in Canada. “Now we have to keep it up for Toronto. We have a natural rivalry growing and we have to prove ourselves every single day, every single week and to each opponent and continue to finish.” The Cats had a generally good game in the trenches, and defensive tackle Miles Fox said, “We definitely have to enjoy this win and get back to work. I felt this was a really good statement win but now we have to go to Toronto and we beat them last time so they’re going to have a chip on their shoulder and be ready. I can only speak for the D-line but as long as we keep rushing and playing well I think we’re going to be fine.” The offensive line protected both quarterbacks well. It was a vast improvement over last week in BC and they didn’t allow a sack and after Larry Rountree III had only 19 yards rushing through three quarters, he had 28 in the fourth, when it was critical to chew clock and yards. “It’s always good to walk away with a win, especially against a quality team like we played tonight,” centre Liam Dobson said. “They’re well-coached and they’re physical so it always feels good to win a game like that. It was three-phase football, everybody played their role perfectly. Tree had some great runs, and so did Tre so we were able to do lots of good things to help us close out that game.” The Ticats’ dog days of summer continue with Saturday’s trip to Toronto and second place up for grabs. The Argos were beaten 42-12 in Edmonton in the early game Saturday, which dropped them to 4-5, with the Cats at 4-6 but inspired and optimistic. “I haven’t thought past tonight and I usually see the season as 18 mini-seasons,” Dobson said. “But it IS the second half, and every game for us is a big game now. We know what we’re capable of, so we have to approach every game with a go-1-and-0 mentality.” CATS CLAUSES: Marc Liegghio was 4-for-4 on field goals … Myron Mitchell caught all five passes directed his way including his TD … DE Phil Ossai had a sack and 4 defensive tackles … DB Ronan Horrall led both teams with 3 special teams tackles and has 5 in the last two games … returner Isaiah Wooden Sr. caught just his 5th pass of his two-plus seasons in Hamilton on a key 15-yarder, his longest reception, on a smart call by Scott Milanovich … the 1986 Cats were celebrated at halftime to recognize the 40th anniversary of their Grey Cup title… the Ticats’ only turnover was on a 3rd-and-long gamble that came up short in the third quarter … Tre Ford on his mobility causing a problem for the Riders’ very strong front: “I don’t think they were prepared for it, but I did play them a couple times in Edmonton, and they probably had, I would think, a little bit of a game plan, you know, just in case something did happen.” … Rider QB Trevor Harris was 23-for-35 for only 207 yards, his lowest total of the season, with 1 TD and 2 INTs. His lowest yardage games have been in the season’s split with the Ticats and he had 3 total TDs and 4 picks… Dylan Djete led Saskatchewan with 5 catches (33 yards) while KeeSean Johnson had 51 yards and Johnny Johnson III caught the only Saskatchewan TD pass… Riders’ excellent starting LB trio of Josh Woods (7), Jameer Thurman (6) and Antoine Brooks Jr. (5) combined for 18 tackles … the Ticats had 348 yards net offence to 244 for the Riders.