{"id":886144,"date":"2026-09-07T00:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T00:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/886144\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T00:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T00:53:16","slug":"hogan-the-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/886144\/","title":{"rendered":"Hogan: The Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

It won\u2019t be the first time Isaiah Smith will attend a Labour Day Classic, but this year he\u2019ll have a much different vantage point. The rookie running back \u2013 who attended Aldershot High School in Burlington \u2013 will play in his first Classic, which will give him a brand new perspective than the one he had while sitting in the stands as a fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s honestly going to be surreal,\u201d Smith told Argonauts.ca. \u201cBeing a fan, going to the games as a kid and now being able to be a part of the Argos and being a part of the game, it\u2019s going to be amazing, it\u2019s going to be a surreal feeling. I\u2019m going to have my family there; it will be so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He\u2019s thankful his family and friends already bought their tickets so they could sit together, but the rookie is still on the hook for another 8-10, though there\u2019s a chance that could increase to 20.<\/p>\n

Related Content<\/p>\n

Smith once played in Hamilton, suiting up for the CJFL\u2019s Hurricanes before playing for the Guelph Gryphons, where he was named the OUA\u2019s Rookie of the Year in 2022. He tore his ACL in the Gryph\u2019s 2023 season opener and needed almost a year and a half of rehab. The Argos made him their second-round pick, 11th overall, in this year\u2019s CFL Draft. He played special teams and had limited touches until a game at BMO Field two weeks ago, against the same Tiger-Cats he\u2019ll face on Monday.<\/p>\n

On that rainy night, Smith was the starter and looked more like an all-star than a rookie, carrying the ball 15 times for 99 yards. It showed that he absolutely could play in the pros. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great confidence boost,\u201d he admitted. \u201cBut I honestly know that every week can change and I\u2019ve got to make sure I\u2019m able to build off weeks past, and going into this game it\u2019s something I want to do as well, be the best player I can be for this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Labour Day Classics are nothing new for Jonathan Kongbo. The defensive end \u2013 in his first season in Double Blue \u2013 has played in all three CFL rivalry games, suiting up for Edmonton, Winnipeg, and two seasons ago with Hamilton.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve been around the CFL you know what the Labour Day Classic means,\u201d Kongbo told Argonauts.ca. \u201cYou know what the rivalry between Toronto and Hamilton means. Out of all the games this year, I know this one\u2019s probably going to be the most physical that we play them, just because of all the things surrounding it and where we are in the standings. You\u2019ve just got to go out there and be ready for that and not let our previous success determine our mentality going into this game. We\u2019ve got to earn it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What can\u2019t be lost because of the pre-game and game-day pageantry is the importance of the game. It\u2019s an opportunity for the Argos to put their rivals in the rearview mirror. A win would move the Argos four points ahead of the Ticats, who would only have five games left. Hamilton would also have to finish ahead of Toronto to finish second, as the winner of Monday\u2019s game will win the tiebreaker between the two teams.<\/p>\n

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It would leave the Argos needing any combination of three Toronto wins or Hamilton losses to clinch second in the East. A loss would make for a dogfight down the stretch between the two rivals. <\/p>\n

A key on Monday for Kongbo and company will be containing the incredibly mobile Tre Ford. The Argos had a tough time doing that in their first meeting of the season. The Waterloo product rushed 10 times for 109 yards. When they met at BMO Field two weeks ago, there was a concerted effort to contain the QB and it worked, he carried the ball just 4 times for 33 yards with a long run of 11. They also sacked him four times, a feat much easier said than done.<\/p>\n

\u201cTre Ford is a very talented quarterback, he\u2019s very talented with his legs,\u201d said Kongbo. \u201cWe knew what we had to do in that game, if we could keep him contained and stop his running yards, we had that game pretty much secured. This time around, they\u2019re also a professional team, so they\u2019ll have things to try and counter what we do to them, but I think it all starts with physicality, so if we can dictate the terms as far as the d-line, as far as the defence, we\u2019ll be alright.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kongbo, who had a sack in the first meeting between the QEW rivals, then recovered a Ford fumble in the game at BMO Field, can set a career high of five with a sack on Monday.<\/p>\n

The good news is that the forecast for kickoff is 23 degrees and mostly sunny with just the slightest chance of rain. Considering the weather in three of the previous meetings; torrential rain in the pre-season game in Hamilton, the threat of postponement in the regular season game there due to poor air quality from forest fires to the west, to the hour-long lightning delay a couple of weeks ago at BMO Field, the forecast is welcome news for everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It won\u2019t be the first time Isaiah Smith will attend a Labour Day Classic, but this year he\u2019ll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-886144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886144","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=886144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}