Winners at last, Ticats stun Argos in wild finish

C.J. Gable and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats finally have something to smile about. Gable's one-yard TD run with 2:30 remaining earned Hamilton its first win of the season, a lightning-delayed 24-22 decision over the Toronto Argonauts on Monday night.

The victory not only halted an ugly eight-game losing streak, but capped a miserable week highlighted by the franchise rescinding its controversial decision to hire former Baylor coach Art Briles.

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"All the things that happened this week I think pulled everybody together," said Hamilton coach June Jones, who won his CFL head-coaching debut. "In tough times teams come together and I think that's what happened this week.

Game Wrap: Tiger-Cats beat Argos, win first game of season

7 years ago

Duration 1:59

Hamilton downed Toronto 24-22, winning its first game since October 2016.

"The guys put it on themselves to make a difference and we did."

Gable scored after Jones successfully challenged a pass interference call against former Ticat Rico Murray, who was defending Luke Tasker in the endzone. That gave Hamilton the ball at the Toronto one-yard line.

The Argos drove to the Hamilton 30-yard line but Lirim Hajrullahu missed a 37-yard field goal that went for a single with 45 seconds remaining. Toronto got the ball at its 35-yard line with two seconds left but backup Cody Fajardo couldn't pull out the miracle victory.

Jones was promoted to head coach following Hamilton's 37-18 loss to Ottawa on Aug. 18 when vice-president of football operations Kent Austin relinquished those duties. Last Monday, Jones hired long-time friend Briles as a Ticats assistant.

The 61-year-old Briles was fired last year as head coach at Baylor in the wake of a sexual assault scandal that included members of the football team. Less than 12 hours after hiring Briles, the Ticats reversed the decision amid pressure from the CFL and a serious backlash from fans, sponsors and the media.

Following Hamilton's decision, a letter of support written by Baylor's general counsel for Briles emerged. Then came word the Ticats had recently worked out Johnny Manziel, the former Heisman Trophy winner who was released in March 2016 following two turbulent seasons with the NFL's Cleveland Browns.

Ignoring the noise

There were also reports the Ticats had discussed trading veteran quarterback Zach Collaros to the Saskatchewan Roughriders and had also received an offer from Toronto. And the Cornell Daily Sun reported that Cornell University was suing Austin for $100,000 over his departure in 2012 to become Hamilton's head coach, GM and vice-president of football operations.

Austin spent three seasons as Cornell's head coach (2010-12) and according to the report, his five-year, $1.4-million contract with the school included a penalty clause if he left early.

But Jeremiah Masoli, who started Monday in place of Collaros, said the Ticats players were oblivious to all the off-field stories.

"We have nothing to do with any of that as football players, it really didn't matter," he said. "Our record and where we're at right now that's what we were worried about.

"Just getting a win."

It was by no means a pretty victory. Hamilton managed just 261 net offensive yards, had the ball just over 25 minutes and were a dismal 33 per cent in second-down conversions.

But Jones felt Hamilton came out strong after the two-hour, eight-minute lightning delay in the first half.

"I could really see when they [Ticats offence] came back out after the delay that they were on, they were hitting a lot of passes," Jones said. "A win is a win.

"It's not pretty. We tried to screw it up, myself included, about three times. But the kids kept fighting, kept going, and I was really proud of the defence because we battled through some injuries. Then Jeremiah made some throws and plays at the end and that was good to see."

Masoli finished 19-of-33 passing for 219 yards and a TD.