Hamilton Tiger-Cats earn key road win over Edmonton Elks

EDMONTON — The Hamilton Tiger-Cats notched their second win of the season with a 44-28 victory over the Edmonton Elks on Sunday night.

Bo Levi Mitchell threw a career-high five passing touchdowns in the winning effort with Tim White (two), Luther Hakunavanhu, Jevoni Robinson and Kiondré Smith all on the receiving end of the scores. Mitchell completed 17 of 25 passes for 316 yards and an interception in the win.

Running back James Butler had 21 carries for 98 yards on the ground and added three catches for 19 yards in his team’s win.

The Tiger-Cats defence held the Elks from scoring a touchdown until the fourth quarter of the game. Tre Ford, who came into the contest replacing McLeod Bethel-Thompson in the final frame, threw three touchdown passes to Kurleigh Gittens Jr., Gavin Cobb, and Eugene Lewis in the loss. Ford finished his night completing 10 of 15 passes for 121 yards to go along with the three majors.

Boris Bede was two-of-two on field goals while Bethel-Thompson connected on 10 of 22 passes for 85 yards and an interception through three quarters.

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The Elks, sporting a special Indigenous logo on their helmets, hit the field first on Sunday night. Bethel-Thompson started the drive on his own 26 and moved the chains into Hamilton territory spreading the ball around to his receivers (Hergy Mayala, Kurleigh Gittens Jr. and Dillon Mitchell all with gains of 11 on the drive).

On the Hamilton 35, Bethel-Thompson found Gittens Jr. again for 18 yards and a first down. The Tiger-Cats defence got into the game on the next play as Jonathan Moxey took down the Elks’ QB for a loss of 12. On second-and-22, Bethel-Thompson found Smith on the far sideline but it wasn’t enough for a fresh set of downs. Boris Bede hit the field for the first time on the night and connected on his 26-yard field goal attempt to give Edmonton a 3-0 lead with eight and a half minutes left in the opening frame.

Edmonton’s defence made their first big play of the game on the Ticats’ opening drive as Bo Levi Mitchell looked for Steven Dunbar Jr. on his second pass of the game. Elks defensive back Marcus Lewis jumped in front of the route and hauled in the interception, his first of the season.

The Elks had just two plays on the ensuing drive and on third-and-one on the Hamilton 40, the team elected to trot out Bede for his second field goal attempt of the night. He was good on the 47-yarder, cashing in on the turnover and adding three more points to the home team’s lead (6-0).

After back-to-back runs from Butler (13 and five yards, respectively) when Mitchell and co. hit the field on the ensuing possession, Shemar Bridges had his first catch of the night for a nine-yard gain to bring the Tabbies on the Elks side of midfield. A few plays later on second-and-four on the Edmonton 37, Mitchell threw an incomplete pass to Luther Hakunavanhu bringing up third down. Marc Liegghio was good on his 45-yard field goal cutting Edmonton’s lead to 6-3 with three and a half minutes left in the first quarter.

After Hamilton’s defence forced a two-and-out, it looked like Edmonton’s defence had done the same. But Elks defensive back Jake Taylor, who was covering Dunbar Jr., was called for a pass interference penalty on second-and-four bringing up a fresh set of downs. After a Butler 13-yard run and back-to-back incomplete passes, Liegghio booted a 47-yard field goal to tie things up at six as the opening quarter wrapped up.

Javon Leake opened the Elks’ first offensive possession of the second frame for six and seven yards out of the backfield but after back-t0-back incompletions from Bethel-Thompson, including one that went off the hands of Hamilton’s Moxey’s hands, Edmonton had to punt the ball away. Jake Julien’s 74-yard punt went into the end zone adding a single point to Edmonton’s score (7-6).

Edmonton defensive lineman Elliott Brown got his third sack of the season, finding Mitchell with a nice spin move around the edge for the QB take down on Hamilton’s first possession of the quarter. The Elks defence forcing the two-and-out meant the Ticats had to punt the ball away.

The punters traded singles on the next two possessions with Julien scored his second single of the night for the Elks, sending his 58-yard punt into the end zone (8-6). Then Nik Constantinou scored a single of his own for Hamilton, punting the ball 70 yards into the end zone (8-7).

Hamilton’s special teams got in on the fun after an Edmonton two-and-out, tallying their second punt block in as many games. Kobe Jones got his hands on the Julien punt and DQ Thomas returned it to the Edmonton 12 with just over two minutes left in the half. It only took one play for Hamilton to score with Mitchell finding Global player Jevoni Robinson for the 12-yard score. With the point after, Hamilton took a 14-8 lead.

As the second quarter was winding down, Edmonton was looking to move the chains into scoring position before the break. Jamal Peters jumped in front of the pass intended for Eugene Lewis giving the ball back to Mitchell and the Tiger-Cats with just over a minute on the clock.

Hamilton added another score on the turnover with Hakunavanhu’s 66-yard catch-and-run touchdown on the second play after the interception. With the completed convert, the Ticats took a 21-8 lead with 59 seconds left. That would be the final scoring play as the half game to a close.

The Ticats started the second half in their own end zone and moved the chains deep into Elks’ territory. On the Edmonton 16-yard line on second and five, Mitchell found Tim White for the first time in the game and the receiver made it count. White evaded a defender along the sideline and ran into the end zone for the touchdown score. With the convert, Hamilton increased their lead to 28-8 with seven and half minutes left in the frame.

Following an Edmonton two-and-out, Hamilton scored another touchdown on the night. A few plays into the drive, Mitchell found Kiondré Smith for a 59-yard major. After an unsuccessful two-point convert, the Tiger-Cats took a 34-8 lead with just over three minutes left in the quarter.

After another Edmonton two-and-out, the Ticats picked right back up where they left off on their last possession. A few plays into the drive, Mitchell eyed Dunbar Jr. down field, who hauled in a 42-yard pass to bring his team down to the Elks’ seven-yard line. Mitchell threw his fifth passing touchdown of the night, this time finding White for the receiver’s second major. With the point after, Hamilton increased their lead to 41-8.

Tre Ford replaced Bethel-Thompson at quarterback on the Elks’ ensuing drive.

Ford made quick work moving down the field, and after a defensive pass interference penalty on Richard Leonard, the Elks set up shop on Hamilton’s five-yard line. On second down, Ford found Gittens Jr. in the end zone for the team’s first major of the night. Edmonton went for two and was unsuccessful and Hamilton held onto a 41-14 lead with six minutes left in the contest.

The Ticats added three more points to their lead on their next possession with Liegghio connected on his 35-yard attempt (44-14) with three and a half minutes left.

Ford scored his second touchdown in as many drives, a drive that included an incredible scramble out of the pocket to find Leake down field for a 22-yard gain, finding Gavin Cobb for six. Eugene Lewis hauled in the two-point convert to cut Hamilton’s lead to 44-22 with about two minutes on the clock.

Edmonton wasn’t done yet. After the Elks defence forced a Ticats fumble, Ford and co. were back on the field. Ford had another incredible scramble to get out of trouble on the drive before finding Lewis for the quarterback’s third touchdown pass. After a failed two-point convert attempt, Edmonton cut Hamilton’s lead to 44-28.

That would be the final score as Hamilton held on for the win.

Next up for Hamilton is a battle with the Montreal Alouettes at Tim Hortons Field on Friday Night Football, while Edmonton heads to Regina to take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday night.