{"id":112903,"date":"2025-09-01T23:15:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T23:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/112903\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T23:15:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T23:15:19","slug":"argos-shock-ticats-in-ok-tire-labour-day-weekend-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/112903\/","title":{"rendered":"Argos shock Ticats in OK Tire Labour Day Weekend thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"

HAMILTON \u2014 It didn\u2019t start as the high-flying duel fans expected between the league\u2019s two highest-scoring teams on OK Tire Labour Day Weekend, but the fourth quarter delivered the fireworks. After several late lead changes, Lirim Hajrullahu<\/a>\u2018s last-second field goal pushed the Toronto Argonauts to a 35-33 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Hamilton Stadium on Monday.<\/p>\n

Nick Arbuckle<\/a> went 33-for-40 with 352 yards and three touchdowns, including a 13-for-15, 169-yard burst in the fourth quarter, helping the Argos improve to 4-8 and secure their third Labour Day Classic win in four years.<\/p>\n

Spencer Brown<\/a> took 10 carries for 90 yards, and added 64 yards through the air \u2014 both career-highs for the rookie back. Jake Herslow<\/a> extended his touchdown streak to four games as he scored twice, Makai Polk<\/a> also found the end zone in the fourth quarter to go along with 64 yards in his return to the Argos\u2019 lineup, and Dejon Brissett<\/a> played the hero with a late 62-yard catch-and-run to set up Hajrullahu\u2019s game-winner.<\/p>\n

Bo Levi Mitchell<\/a>\u2018s 27-for-37, 405-yard, three-touchdown effort wasn\u2019t enough to keep his perfect Labour Day record intact, dropping him to 7-1 on the holiday and the Ticats to 6-5 on the season.<\/p>\n

Kiondr\u00e9 Smith posted a career-high 171 receiving yards on seven receptions, Kenny Lawler<\/a> snapped a four-game touchdown drought, added 123 yards and surpassed 5,000 career receiving yards, and 2025 second-overall pick Devin Veresuk<\/a> had a career day, scoring on a blocked-punt recovery and recording his first CFL sack.<\/p>\n

\"OK<\/p>\n

OK TIRE LABOUR DAY WEEKEND
\u00bb Depth Charts:\u00a0TOR<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0HAM<\/a>
\u00bb By the numbers: Argonauts at Tiger-Cats<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Injury Reports: Stay up to date<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally<\/a><\/p>\n

The Argos opened with a crisp 71-yard drive. Arbuckle completed his first eight passes to six different targets before Hajrullahu finished the series with a 16-yard field goal.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s 31-yard diving grab jump-started Hamilton\u2019s reply, and Marc Liegghio<\/a> tied it from 36 yards out.<\/p>\n

Following an exchange of punts, it was the Argos\u2019 special teams providing a boost with Janarion Grant<\/a>\u2019s return into Ticats territory. An offensive holding call wiped out Dejon Brissett<\/a>\u2019s leaping touchdown grab, and Hajrullahu ended the first quarter with a 24-yard field goal for a 6-3 Toronto lead.<\/p>\n

In an uncharacteristically low-scoring first quarter between these teams, Hamilton came out in the second eager for the game\u2019s first major. Smith\u2019s 46-yard catch-and-run set them up, but Toronto\u2019s red-zone defence held to force a 13-yard chip shot.<\/p>\n

The Argos regained the lead on a 71-yard punt single from John Haggerty<\/a>, then leaned on Brown for more. The emerging rookie back rumbled for 56 yards on the first three plays of the next drive before Arbuckle found Herslow in the end zone on a 27-yard back-shoulder throw. Hajrullahu\u2019s conversion and ensuing kickoff single pushed the lead to 15-6.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Hamilton\u2019s offence sputtering through back-to-back two-and-outs, Tyler Ternowski<\/a> swung the momentum on special teams as he blocked John Haggerty<\/a>\u2019s punt, and 2025 second overall pick Veresuk recovered in the end zone for his second touchdown of the season. Liegghio\u2019s convert cut the deficit to two points.<\/p>\n

Late in the second quarter, Mitchell and the Ticats had a chance to take the lead after Julian Howsare<\/a>\u2019s sack forced a quick Argos two-and-out. Hamilton narrowly avoided disaster when Tarvarus McFadden<\/a> fumbled an interception in instant scoring position, and the Ticats played it safe with kneel-downs to end the half down 15-13.<\/p>\n

Smith got Hamilton started in the second half, catching three straight passes for 73 yards to surpass 100 for the game, including a 55-yard grab where Mitchell improvised in the pocket before dropping a perfect pass in the bucket on the sideline. Mitchell capped the quick march with a strike to Lawler in the corner of the end zone \u2014 Lawler\u2019s fourth touchdown against Toronto in two games this season. Liegghio\u2019s convert gave Hamilton their first lead at 20-15.<\/p>\n

Toronto drove into the Ticats\u2019 side of the turf behind strong runs from Brown, but Veresuk\u2019s second-down sack prompted a 43-yard field goal from Hajrullahu.<\/p>\n

Another dynamic punt return from Grant put the Argos in scoring position late in the third with a chance to retake the lead, but their drive fizzled in two plays, and Hajrullahu\u2019s 51-yard bid clanged off the upright.<\/p>\n

After catching the break, Hamilton struck quickly in the fourth. It only took four plays \u2014 with Mitchell finding Lawler, Greg Bell<\/a>, Lawler again, and Shemar Bridges<\/a> for gains of 14, 24, 19, and 23 to go over 300 yards on the day \u2014 for the Tabbies to reach paydirt. Liegghio punched in the point-after to make it 27-18.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In a nine-point hole, Arbuckle went to work. He completed eight of nine passes for 57 yards, including a three-yard toss to the returning 2024 receiving leader, Polk, who sprinted across the goal line for the touchdown. Hajrullahu\u2019s convert cut the deficit to two points.<\/p>\n

After forcing a quick two-and-out, the Argos\u2019 offence was back at it. Polk brought down a 42-yard contested catch to spark the response, and Herslow stretched a three-yard grab across the plane for the go-ahead score \u2014 his second of the contest and sixth major in four games since being elevated from the practice roster. Hajrullahu made it 32-27 on the extra point with less than three minutes to go.<\/p>\n

Mitchell couldn\u2019t convert with 2:38 remaining, but got another chance with 47 seconds left \u2014 and he delivered. The veteran pivot found Lawler for a 50-yard gain to start the drive, then connected again on an 8-yard bullet for the touchdown, becoming the 12th quarterback in CFL history to reach 250 career touchdown passes. Mitchell took a sack on the two-point conversion, but Hamilton appeared to have sealed the result.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t to be. With just 12 seconds remaining, Arbuckle pinned one to Brissett, who raced 62 yards and crucially got out of bounds. Hajrullahu made no mistake on the 11-yard chip shot, giving Toronto the win.<\/p>\n

The Argos head into a bye in Week 14, while the Ticats visit the Alouettes in Montreal on Saturday, September 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAMILTON \u2014 It didn\u2019t start as the high-flying duel fans expected between the league\u2019s two highest-scoring teams on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-112903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}