Run game powers Tiger-Cats over Alouettes

MONTREAL — The Hamilton Tiger-Cats leaned on the run game Saturday afternoon, and it proved to be the difference in their win over the Montreal Alouettes.

Hamilton’s running back Greg Bell hit a career high, rushing for 156 yards on 20 attempts, and scored a touchdown in the Ticats’ 26-9 win.

Bo Levi Mitchell also scored a touchdown on the ground, his first rushing major since 2015. As a team, the Ticats rushed for 234 yards, highlighted by Tim White’s 42-yard run, the game’s longest. Their previous high in a game was 100 rush yards.

The Ticats defence held strong, limiting Montreal quarterback James Morgan to 138 yards passing, only 55 by the fourth quarter, and keeping the Als out of the end zone. Hamilton’s D also forced three turnovers in the contest.

Heading into the game, Montreal was just two points behind Hamilton, and with the win, the Tiger-Cats remain on top of the East Division with a four-point cushion over the Als.

RELATED
» 3 stats that defined Hamilton’s Week 14 win over Montreal
» Depth Charts: HAM | MTL

Mitchell went deep on the first play of the game, connecting with his big-play receiver, Kenny Lawler, for a 48-yard gain. On the next play, the Ticats pivot targeted Lawler again from the Montreal 26-yard line, this time in the end zone, but Kabion Ento, who was in coverage, denied the touchdown. Lawler turned defender on the play, swatting the ball out of Ento’s hands to break up the interception. A few plays later, Montreal did get a turnover, with Ciante Evans forcing Greg Bell to fumble and Als defensive back Lorenzo Burns scooped it up.

Hamilton got out of the miscue unscathed, forcing Montreal to punt the ball away.

Pinned on their own three-yard line, the Ticats started to move the chains down the field, but Montreal’s defence had other plans. It was Burns getting the turnover again, this time the Als defensive back picked off Mitchell to bring Morgan and co. back onto the field.

Starting already in field goal range on the Hamilton 25-yard line, Montreal went to work looking for six. They weren’t able to find the end zone, settling for a 19-yard Jose Maltos Diaz field goal. That gave the Als a 3-0 lead with just over two minutes left in the opening quarter.

The Ticats matched with a field goal of their own to open the second quarter, with Marc Liegghio connecting on his 43-yard attempt to tie things at three.

Hamilton’s defence got their first turnover of the game on the next series, with Jonathan Moxey knocking the ball out of a sprinting Morgan, who was looking to run for a first down on second-and-seven. DaShaun Amos recovered the ball, bringing Mitchell and the Ticats offence right back onto the field.

Just like the Ticats defence did earlier in the game, Montreal got out of the turnover unscathed, as they forced Hamilton to punt the ball away.

Hamilton looked to make more big plays in the opening half, starting their next possession with a 42-yard run by Tim White, who juked around defenders to get extra yardage. After moving down to the 15-yard line, the Ticats settled for another field goal, with Liegghio successfully splitting the uprights from 20 yards out. Those three points increased Hamilton’s lead to 6-3 with 6:21 left in the half.

The field goals kept coming in the first half, with Maltos Diaz kicking his second of the game, this one from 48 yards away. The field goal tied things at six just 17 seconds before the three-minute warning.

Balancing throwing and running the ball, the Ticats strung together first downs to move down into Montreal territory after starting on their own 40. On second-and-five on the Montreal 14, Mitchell decided to call his own number and took off toward the end zone, sliding across the goal line for the game’s first touchdown with under 30 seconds left in the half. With the convert after Mitchell’s first rushing touchdown since 2015, Hamilton took a 13-6 lead.

After a big return from James Letcher Jr. in his first game back since being out with injury, Montreal added three more points on the scoreboard before the break. Maltos Diaz kicked another 48-yard field goal, cutting the Ticats lead to 13-9 at the end of the half.

Hamilton scored the first points of the second half, with Liegghio connecting on a 48-yard field goal to extend his teams lead to 16-9.

The defences dug in for most of the quarter, with the teams trading punts.

With just over a minute left in the third frame, Mitchell and his offence started on their own 18-yard line and moved the chains down into Montreal territory. They used both Bell and Johnny Augustine in their run game on the drive as they looked to add to their lead. After an offensive pass interference penalty on Lawler on first down, and Ento stopping Brendan O’Leary-Orange from getting a fresh set on second-and-16, they had to punt again.

Cameron Dukes replaced Morgan in the fourth quarter after the Als starter had only thrown 55 yards passing at the time.

But after Montreal forced a Hamilton two-and-out, Morgan returned to the game. On second down, Morgan took a hit just as he threw the ball, and defensive back Jamal Peters came up with the interception.

With a 25-yard objectionable conduct penalty against Montreal on the play, Mitchell and Hamilton’s offence started on the Als two-yard line. Bell took the hand off from Mitchell and scored his team’s second rushing touchdown of the game. With the convert, Hamilton took a 23-9 lead with 4:21 on the clock.

On the Als next possession, Morgan started to move the chains looking to begin a comeback, but Hamilton’s defence came up with a turnover once again. Julian Howsare knocked the ball out of Morgan’s hand and Miles Fox recovered the fumble deep in Montreal territory.

Hamilton cashed in on the turnover with another field goal. Liegghio was good on his 25-yard attempt, increasing the Ticats lead to 26-9 with 45 seconds left on the clock.

That would be enough to seal the win for the visitors.

Next up for the Tiger-Cats is a meeting with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Hamilton Stadium on Friday night while the Alouettes head to Saskatchewan to take on the Roughriders on Saturday night.