The Hamilton Tiger-Cats extended their winning streak to four in a row as they defeated the Ottawa REDBLACKS 30-15 on Sunday night at TD Place Stadium.
Bo Levi Mitchell threw for 327 yards on a historic night, tallying one touchdown and one interception, Kenny Lawler grabbed a touchdown along with 66 yards, Johnny Augustine rushed for 85 yards on the ground and Tim White led all receivers with 89 yards.
Dustin Crum recorded 149 yards and an interception completing 16 of 22 pass attempts, and also recorded 29 rushing yards, while Kalil Pimpleton grabbed five receptions for 56 yards and Daniel Adeboboye led the ground game with 54 yards.
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The Tiger-Cats were first to get on the board as Marc Liegghio made his 28th consecutive field goal, the longest active streak in the league, with a 28-yarder on Hamilton’s first offensive drive of the game.
Two drives later, Mitchell passed Tracy Ham to become 10th all time in CFL passing yards with a 41-yard touchdown pass to Lawler, the dynamic duo connecting once again, putting the Tiger-Cats up by double digits in the first quarter.
Lewis Ward put the REDBLACKS on the board to start second quarter with a made 21-yard field goal, but after the REDBLACKS defence forced a punt, Dru Brown was taken to the locker room with an apparent injury after being hit by Dashaun Amos coming off the edge on a blitz.
Crum came in to replace Brown, and on the first drive led Ottawa downfield where Ward knocked through another field goal, this time from 27 yards out. Ottawa’s defence forced another punt on a two-and-out, and Ward hit his third of the quarter on a 34-yard field goal.
Liegghio extended his streak to 29 as he would give Hamilton their only points of the quarter with a 37-yarder, though Ward, who was responsible for all of the REDBLACKS points in the first half, successfully kicked a 45 yard field goal to trail by just one point after falling behind by 10. Cum was a perfect 10-for-10 for 97 yards at the half.
Getting back to their usual business in the third quarter, Mitchell found Kiondre Smith for 63 yards, getting down to the Ottawa three-yard line, before Treshaun Ward rushed middle for three yards and his first CFL touchdown to put Hamilton back in front by eight.
At the end of the third quarter, Crum had a pass intercepted by Destin Talbert, but the REDBLACKS defence answered right back in the fourth quarter as Adarius Pickett picked off Mitchell and ran the ball 43 yards on his first interception of the season.
Ward came in clutch once again for Ottawa after the play, cutting the lead to five points after a successful field goal attempt from 27 yards out.
Just as the REDBLACKS were inching closer, the Tiger-Cats moved in front by double digits once again as Mitchell connected with Jevoni Robinson for 18 yards, before Hamilton’s go-to short yardage rushing player Andre Milanovic-Litre recorded his second rushing touchdown of the season on a one-yard score.
When it looked like the REDBLACKS were about to score again and make the Tiger-Cats sweat, Talbert grabbed his second interception of the game to give Hamilton the ball back with just over six minutes to play.
With 1:12 left on the clock, Liegghio put through one last kick from 25 yards out to mark 30-straight field goals dating back to last season, and sealing victory for Hamilton.
Ottawa is on bye during Week 8 action, while the Tiger-Cats will head out west to BC as they face the Lions on Sunday, July 27 at 7:00 p.m. ET at Save-on-Foods-Field at BC Place.