Argonauts 29, Redblacks 19
Beautiful weather. Good crowd. More home-field disappointment.
If there was any consolation for the folks who shelled out the money for tickets, it was that the Ottawa Redblacks, who were outslugged during much of the first three quarters, fought back and made it an exciting finish in a 24-19 loss to the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday afternoon. But feeling like you came close in professional sports is never good enough. Never. And another loss — at home, where Ottawa has now lost 20 of its past 21 games — is not acceptable. Ever.
With the Redblacks on a two-game winning streak — both on the road — it seemed like a great opportunity to get back on track at TD Place. When you’ve got a good crowd — Saturday’s attendance was announced as 21,673 — you want to send them home happy. It’s hard to image RNation is too happy at this point.
The loss dropped the Redblacks’ record to 3-9. The Argos lead the Canadian Football League’s East Division at 7-5.
Making his debut as a starter at home, Redblacks quarterback Nick Arbuckle completed 26 of 40 passes for 290 yards; much of that was in the second half.
“It’s tough to lose,” Arbuckle said. “You’re not going to win them all, but you definitely want to win at home. It’s tough to go into a bye week on a loss because you have a long time to think about it and mull it over. We’re looking forward to coming back and playing this team again at home here again in a couple of weeks and continuing what we got going in that second half. I think all of us wanted to keep playing football. We wish the game had another four quarters today because we all felt really good out there … We just ran out of time.”
Ottawa had two chances to score what could have been a game-winning touchdown in the final 5 1/2 minutes. Again, close. But not enough.
“I don’t think we did enough at the beginning of the game – that’s kind of what happened to us,” Redblacks head coach Paul LaPolice said. “We have to find more points in the first half. The first play of the game, we get a holding penalty. The next series, we were changing our cadence and we jumped it. Those first two possessions, we had first and extra (yards to go for a first down) and that can be difficult to overcome. Every loss is about missed opportunities. Our players aren’t going to be perfect, every game is not going to go perfect. But you have to do enough things to overcome whatever shows up.”
It was a great game for Argos receiver Kurleigh Gittens Jr., who’s from Ottawa. He had eight catches for 161 yards and a touchdown.
The Redblacks defensive secondary tightened up after spending the better part of three quarters giving up huge chunks of yardage to Argos quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who completed 27 passes for 365 yards.
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The Argos took a 3-0 lead on a 51-yard field goal by Boris Bede.
Toronto forced a turnover, recovering an Arbuckle fumble at Ottawa’s 24-yard line. But, after a coach’s challenge, Toronto’s Shawn Oakman was penalized for roughing the passer and Ottawa got a first down on its 50. Another Oakman sack ended the drive.
Damonte Coxie caught a Bethel-Thompson pass and, after several missed tackles by the Redblacks, went 39 yards before being pushed out of bounds at the two-yard line. Two plays later, A.J. Ouellette ran in for a touchdown. The convert made it 10-0 for the Argos.
With 7 1/2 minutes left in the first half, Arbuckle overthrew Jaelon Acklin and the ball was intercepted by Maurice Carnell at Toronto’s 39-yard line. Another Toronto field goal made it 13-0.
A pair of Lewis Ward field goals, from 48 and 47 yards in the final 2 1/2 minutes of the half, made it 13-6. A 51-yard Bede field goal attempt with no time on the clock missed wide right and DeVonte Dedmon ran it back 57 yards before being tackled.
Bede booted a 47-yard field goal on the opening drive of the second half. A 35-yard field goal by Ward made it 16-9. Toronto got a single point when Bede missed wide right on a 46-yard attempt.
On a fake quarterback keeper, Arbuckle took a couple of steps back and found Darvin Adams open short; the receiver ran 43 yards after the catch. However, Ward’s 29-yard field goal attempt hit the post and bounced out.
A 12-yard touchdown pass to Gittens and convert made it 24-9.
Ottawa struck back, though, with Caleb Evans pushing into the end zone from two yards out. The convert made it 24-16.
Damon Webb intercepted Bethel-Thompson and returned the ball to Ottawa’s 53-yard line. A 31-yard Ward field goal made it 24-19.
After taking the ball with a bit more than five minutes left, Ottawa began a long march, featuring a nice combination of running by Devonte Williams and pass completions. An intentional grounding call on Ottawa took the Redblacks out of a third-and-seven gamble, though. After that penalty, Arbuckle scrambled left, but he was tackled a couple of yards short of the first-down marker.
Ottawa got one last crack with the ball, starting at Toronto’s 35-yard line with less than a minute and a half remaining. But a pass fell off Shaq Johnson’s fingertips on a third-down gamble.
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A QUEEN MEMORY: With the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, former Ottawa Rough Riders kicker Gerry Organ remembered the day on Oct. 15, 1977, that he met her — at a game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Standing beside Ticats receiver Terry Evanshen, Organ met the Queen and Prince Philip. “Terry introduced himself and I let the royals know what an outstanding player and gentleman he was, even though, ‘He is here to beat us,'” Organ said. “We shook hands with the Queen and the Prince. They were curious about all the ‘stuff’ we were wearing, while comparing us to soccer players in shorts. Smiles all around with minimal time for full explanation.”
THE END AROUND: Redblacks defensive lineman Lorenzo Mauldin IV now has 12 sacks, tied for the Redblacks’ single-season record by Justin Capicciotti (2015). The “franchise record” belongs to Angelo Snipes, who had 20 with the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1992 … A big hit was delivered by Ottawa cornerback Brandin Dandridge on Toronto’s DeVaris Daniels early in the game, knocking the receiver’s helmet off. Daniels hung onto the ball for a four-yard gain … Ottawa receiver Darvin Adams dropped one he’d like to have back early in the second quarter … Redblacks defensive back Abdul Kanneh was flagged for pass interference late in the second quarter. LaPolice threw a challenge flag, then picked it up. Asked to explain, LaPolice said: “They called (the penalty) on 14. As soon as I heard it was on (Kanneh), I threw my challenge flag that 14 did not have PI. (The officials) said they got the number wrong, it was on 37 (Dandridge). They allowed me to pick up my challenge flag. I wasn’t going to try to challenge that based on what I saw.” … Ottawa Senators forwards Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson were at the game … Nice hit by Ottawa’s Frankie Griffin to stuff Toronto’s A.J. Ouellette for a three-yard loss, back to the Toronto one-yard line, with less than two minutes left.
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