Redblacks 46, Argonauts 42
The Ottawa Redblacks rebounded from one of the worst first quarters in franchise history to pull off their biggest victory of the season Saturday afternoon at BMO Field in Toronto.
Justin Hardy’s second touchdown reception of the day with 41 seconds left gave the Redblacks a wild 46-42 victory over the Toronto Argonauts, moving Ottawa into third place in the Canadian Football League’s East Division.
Former Argo Robert Priester intercepted a Nick Arbuckle pass with 27 seconds left to crush any chance of a Toronto comeback.
Ottawa, now 3-6, hits the midway point in the season on a two-game winning streak.
The Argos fell to 2-7 with the loss.
The Redblacks’ Kalil Pimpleton (83) gets away from the Argonauts’ Jon Edouard on a long punt return in the second quarter.
From a 21-point deficit after one quarter, the Redblacks led 32-31 until Arbuckle hit DaVarius Daniels with a six-yard touchdown pass with just 9:58 left in the fourth, then followed up by finding Jake Herslow in the end zone for Toronto’s two-point conversion.
The Redblacks tied the game immediately, marching downfield on a seven-play, 73-yard drive before short-yardage quarterback Dustin Crum plunged over from the one-yard line.
Lirim Hajrullahu connected on a 45-yard field goal with 2:50 left to put Toronto back in front, but again the Redblacks stormed back to set up the Dru Brown-to-Hardy winning score.
Brown had an incredible performance, connecting on 26 of 31 passes for 373 yards and five touchdowns.
Redblacks quarterback Dru Brown (3) throws a pass under pressure from the Argonauts’ Da Marcus Johnson (98) in the first half.
The Ottawa running game also was instrumental, with William Stanback having his best day as a Redblack: 17 carries for 84 yards.
No one could have predicted the ending after the way the game began.
After starting safety Bennett Williams was a game-time scratch with a hamstring injury, the Redblacks lost defensive tackle Cleyon Laing and defensive back Amari Henderson to their own injuries on the first two plays from scrimmage.
The Argos took advantage to score touchdowns on Arbuckle’s 26-yard pass to Dejon Brissett and a 31-yarder to Herslow.
If that wasn’t enough, Brown’s failure to protect the ball led to a fumble on the last play of the opening quarter that 285-pound defensive lineman Jordan Williams scooped up and ran 81 yards to the end zone.
From a 22-1 deficit after 15 minutes, the Redblacks dominated the second quarter with 17 consecutive points before the Argos replied with a field goal on the last play of the half to hold a precarious 25-19 lead at the intermission.
Argonauts QB Nick Arbuckle (4) throws a pass despite pressure from Redblacks’ defensive lineman Lorenzo Mauldin (94) in the first half.
The comeback orchestrated by Brown included a six-yard touchdown pass to Eugene Lewis, who made a remarkable play by turning to catch the ball over his left shoulder, and a 42-yard bomb to Bralon Addison.
Addison followed that grab by keeping his feet in bounds for a nice catch on the two-point conversion.
Argonauts kick returner Janarion Grant (3) is tackled by the Redblacks’ Marco Dubois (89) in the first half of Saturday’s game at Toronto.
Lewis, whose first touchdown was set up by a 57-yard punt return by Kalil Pimpleton, pulled in another TD pass from the seven-yard line early in the third quarter after former Argo Daniel Adeboboye returned the second-half kickoff 72 yards.
The Argos replied immediately with a touchdown drive of their own, but the Redblacks responded promptly as Brown hit Justin Hardy with a 19-yard TD pass.
Ahead 32-31, the Redblacks again went for two points, but this time their attempt failed when Stanback was stopped inches from the goal-line.
Ottawa carried that one-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Related