Tiger-Cats 28 Blue Bombers 7
HAMILTON, Ont. — In a still-young CFL season, Hamilton quarterback Kevin Glenn and the Ticats felt they were already in a must-win situation.
Glenn threw for three touchdowns, two of them to Maurice Mann, as the Tiger-Cats got their first win of the young season, defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 28-7 on Friday.
“I don’t think we put any added pressure on ourselves,” said the veteran pivot who completed his first 14 passes of the game — good for sixth-best in CFL history. “I think the thing was that everybody understood the ramifications of this game, especially being at home, being a team we had actually lost to.”
After losing the season-opener to Winnipeg 49-29, then its home opener in a heartbreaking 23-22 loss to Calgary, Hamilton was looking to set its season straight, quickly.
Hamilton improves to 1-2 while Winnipeg (1-2) has lost two straight.
Glenn completed 29 of 36 pass attempts for 336 yards and no interceptions. In all, he used eight receivers and five of them had at least four receptions. Canadian veteran Dave Stala led them all with 124 yards on nine receptions.
“It was a pretty good night,” Glenn said. “I credit the offensive line because this doesn’t happen if your offensive line doesn’t give you time to play.”
After giving up seven sacks against Winnipeg in the first meeting, the O-line gave up just one this week.
DeAndra Cobb also scored two TDs for the Ticats in front of 21,408 at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Winnipeg’s back-up QB Steven Jyles scored a TD.
Ticat kicker Sandro DeAngelis missed on both field-goal attempts, from 40 and 42 yards, as the crowd roared its disapproval.
Hamilton went up 21-0 after Glenn hit Mann for a 19-yard touchdown in the third quarter to cap a 99-yard drive that ate up 8:02 on 13 plays. The scoring drive was kept alive by a Winnipeg penalty for too many men on the field, and a rush by Glenn that appeared to have been fumbled. Winnipeg challenged the call, to no avail.
Winnipeg’s starting quarterback Buck Pierce couldn’t get the ball moving consistently, going 10 for 19 with 117 yards and one interception in the end zone. He was replaced by Jyles in the middle of a series late in the third.
The 27-year-old backup responded by completing Winnipeg’s 71-yard drive in 11 plays, scoring the TD with a one-yard run to begin the fourth and make the crowd nervous with the score 21-7.
Pierce, who left the game with an injured knee, would not talk to the media after the game, leaving head coach Paul LaPolice to explain the change of fortune.
“We had a good talk before the game,” he said. “Everybody was riled up. We get out there and had a lot of 2-and-outs. We knew we had to start fast. We didn’t. We let them get momentum.”
Glenn and the Ticats came back midway through the fourth quarter with an 87-yard drive of their own, eating up 5:44 on the clock and putting the game out of reach with a six-yard scamper by Cobb.
Meanwhile, the Ticat defence rebounded from its poor showing in the season opener.
“The difference is we had a better practice this week,” said linebacker Markeith Knowlton, who intercepted a Pierce throw in the endzone. “We came out and limited our mistakes. We played as a team, and communication was a big part of that.”
Hamilton was up 14-0 at the end of the first half.
Glenn was a perfect six-for-six in passing on Hamilton’s opening drive, taking the Ticats 94 yards on nine plays. His 41-yard pass to Dave Stala to the Winnipeg one-yard line set up the TD strike to Cobb and a 7-0 lead.
The Ticats carried the momentum into the second quarter with a 35-yard drive ending with a 17-yard TD strike from Glenn to Mann. The drive was set up by two Winnipeg penalties on the punt that gave Hamilton possession on the Bomber 35.
Hamilton dominated the first half with 255 yards and 19:22 time of possession, but came away empty from three promising drives, electing to punt into the wind from the Winnipeg 35-yard line and getting nothing on missed field goals from 40 and 42 yards that were both run out.
Canadian veteran receiver Stala had 112 yards on eight receptions in the first half and finished with nine overall for 124 yards.
Winnipeg didn’t record a first down until midway through the second quarter and didn’t threaten to score until late in the first half. But Pierce’s throw into the endzone was intercepted by Markeith Knowlton. The Ticats drove downfield, but couldn’t put points on the board when DeAngelis missed his second-straight field goal attempt of the night.