{"id":245305,"date":"2025-10-28T09:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T09:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/245305\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T09:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T09:20:07","slug":"hamilton-tiger-cats-put-their-trust-in-kicker-marc-liegghio-and-he-keeps-delivering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/245305\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamilton Tiger-Cats put their trust in kicker Marc Liegghio&#8230; and he keeps delivering"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Marc Liegghio has been money in the bank this season for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.<\/p>\n<p>The veteran kicker ended the regular season connecting on all seven field goals he tried \u2014 one shy of the club record \u2014 Friday night as Hamilton (11-7) clinched first in the East Division with a 35-15 win over the Ottawa Redblacks. The Ticats will host either the Montreal Alouettes or Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the division final Nov. 8.<\/p>\n<p>Liegghio has made 52-of-56 attempts (92.9 per cent) overall, tying him for second-most in club history behind veteran Paul Osbaldiston (54 in 1989). Liegghio was second only to B.C.&#8217;s Sean Whyte (95.1 per cent) among CFL kickers<\/p>\n<p>He has also hit on 46-of-48 converts and finished with 203 points, the first time in his five-year CFL career that he&#8217;s cracked the 200-point plateau.<\/p>\n<p>Liegghio&#8217;s field goal percentage is also a career best, and he set a club record earlier this year by making 33 straight. That earned the 28-year-old Woodbridge, Ont., native Hamilton&#8217;s nominations for the CFL&#8217;s top Canadian and special-teams player awards.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;His consistency has been great,&#8221; Hamilton head coach Scott Milanovich said. &#8220;The trust that I, our team and organization have in him is as high as it can be.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We left some opportunities out there offensively (Friday night), but Legs kind of cleaned us up and bailed us out and just kept adding points.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There was an opportunity with just over a minute remaining Friday night for Liegghio to make a 35-yard attempt and take aim at Osbaldiston&#8217;s club record for most field goals in a game. However, Hamilton ran an offensive play instead, turning the ball over on downs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;First of all, I had no idea that&#8217;s what it was,&#8221; Milanovich said. &#8220;But, really, the reasoning behind that was the only way we could lose that game was to miss a field goal and have it returned for a touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That would&#8217;ve been a poor decision by me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Liegghio won a Grey Cup with Winnipeg in 2021<\/p>\n<p>Liegghio was also unaware of how close he was to Osbaldiston&#8217;s mark.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My thing is I just go out there to go one-for-one, that&#8217;s my motto and that&#8217;s what it&#8217;s been throughout the season,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I get extra points in there as well, so you just kind of go out there and kick your field goals.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I heard about it after the game. It probably would&#8217;ve been pretty cool&#8230; next time I&#8217;ll go for nine.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Liegghio has been a model of consistency since joining the Ticats in 2023. He has made 136-of-156 field goals (90.1 per cent) and 111-of-120 converts (92.5 per cent) while also handling kickoff duties.<\/p>\n<p>The former Western Mustang began his CFL career with Winnipeg (2021-22), making 37-of-47 field goals (78.7 per cent) and 61-of-69 converts (88.4 per cent). Liegghio won a Grey Cup with Winnipeg in 2021, but Toronto&#8217;s Robbie Smith blocked his 47-yard attempt with 54 seconds left in the 2022 championship to preserve the Argonauts&#8217; 24-23 victory.<\/p>\n<p>The humble Liegghio credits long snapper Gordon Whyte and holder Nik Constantinou \u2014 Hamilton&#8217;s punter \u2014 for their roles in his stellar 2025 season.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Gord and Nick just make my job that much easier,&#8221; Liegghio said. &#8220;Those guys are the best &#8230; friends for life, for sure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Veteran receiver Tim White said it&#8217;s comforting for Hamilton&#8217;s offence to know that once it crosses midfield, chances are good it will come away with points.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Just understanding that we have Legs, that&#8217;s like a good safety valve for us,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But our mentality is to score touchdowns every time we get the opportunity, and when we get the ball, that&#8217;s first.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Legs just shines when he has the opportunity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Liegghio is used to kicking in the cold<\/p>\n<p>Liegghio routinely deals with windy conditions at Hamilton Stadium and, come November, faces the added challenge of kicking a hard football in cold temperatures. But he said practising daily at the venue has helped him adjust to the wind.<\/p>\n<p>As for playing in frigid temperatures, well, welcome to living in Canada.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re used to the heavy winds here at Hamilton Stadium,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You take it day by day \u2014 and the weather, we&#8217;re in Canada, so it&#8217;s going to get nippy outside.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re used to the winters putting the snow tires on, that kind of stuff, and so it&#8217;s getting to that point in the season.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marc Liegghio has been money in the bank this season for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The veteran kicker ended&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-245305","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\/245305","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=245305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}