Maiden voyage a rough one for new Boatmen
by Richard Bowness
June 3, 2006 - Canadian Football League (CFL)
Toronto Argonauts
While the Toronto Argonauts may have brought in a group of veritable super heroes to lead their offence this season, on Friday night at Rogers Centre their newly imported talent looked a lot more like Alpha Flight than the Justice League of America.
Former Heisman Trophy winners Ricky Williams and Eric Crouch produced extremely mediocre numbers in their first professional games north of the border while the Hamilton Tiger Cats appeared to forget that they were playing an exhibition game as they put forth an impressive effort on both sides of the ball en route to a 31-3 drubbing of the Argos in front of 21, 469 football fans in the heart of downtown Toronto. Williams totalled 7 yards on 4 carries on Friday while Crouch passed for the same total on 4 passes - 1 of which was completed. Despite the one-sided score, Argos Head Coach Mike Clemons was decidedly positive during his post-game press conference.
"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you deal with it," said Clemons. "This game was about getting information we need to make decisions with and we did that. This kind of game is always hard - you try and play everyone and it's impossible to get any continuity in that situation. It's obvious that we have a lot of work to do, but we'll definitely be ready for the regular season."
Former Blue Bomber Spergon Wynn, acquired in an off-season trade with Winnipeg, started the game at quarterback for the Argos and began the match by handing off to Toronto's top running back from 2005, John Avery, on successive plays to earn a first down for the home town team. After completing his only pass of the game, an 8-yard hook-up with Shockmain Davis, Wynn again handed off to Avery, who produced the game's first turnover in the form of a fumble.
The Tiger Cats started Jason Maas at quarterback, and new offensive coordinator Joe Paopao called in a hand-off to his former Ottawa Renegades go-to running back Josh Ranek on Hamilton's first offensive play of 2006. Ranek failed to gain any yards on his initial carry, and Maas' lacklustre scramble on second down forced the Tiger Cats to punt and bring an unceremonious end to their opening drive of the pre-season. Pat Fleming, also a former Renegade, booted a 45 yard punt that was returned for a modest gain by Bashir Levinsgtson.
On Toronto's second possession, Spergon Wynn threw an incomplete pass in the general direction of Shockmain Davis which he followed up with an toss that was intercepted by Bobby Brooks and resulted in a 4-yard Josh Ranek touchdown run two plays later. After each team registered a two-and-out possession, Wynn threw successive passes to a phantom receiver that failed to haul in the ball on either play. Newly developed CFL Paranormal Replay failed to provide conclusive evidence as to whether or not the spectre dropped the passes or if Wynn was off-target in his attempts. He finished the game with 1 completion on 8 attempts for 8 yards and an interception.
Jason Maas led an impressive Hamilton touchdown drive near the end of the opening quarter; the 8-play, 3:41 drive was highlighted by a 37-yard passing play that saw Maas' former Edmonton Eskimos team-mate Terry Vaughn besting a series of would-be Argonauts tacklers en route to a 6-point tally for the Tiger Cats. Damon Allen and Ricky Williams both entered the game following the second Hamilton touchdown, with Allen handing off to the former Miami Dolphin for a 2-yard gain as the first period came to an end.
Damon Allen's first pass of the game was an incomplete toss to Robert Baker that was succeeded by a Jaco Booyens punt. With Maas (6 for 10, 84 yards, and 1 TD) and Ranek (8 yards on 3 carries, 1 TD) done for the night, Kevin Eakin entered the game at quarterback and defending CFL all-purpose yards leader Corey Holmes entered the game at running back for Hamilton. Holmes put together some impressive runs during his time in the game, finishing the match with 43 yards on 8 carries. Eakin, a product of Fordham University, also impressed in two-plus quarters of work, registering 7 pass completions on 17 attempts for 153 yards. The second-year pivot exuded seemingly haphazard bravado at times, throwing into double and triple coverage on several occasions; his risky passes yielded favourable results though, as three of Eakin's passes went for 30 yards or more. His lone interception came as time expired at the end of the second quarter, making it functionally meaningless.
Hamilton bench boss Greg Marshall utilized some trickery in the second quarter, faking a Jason Boreham field goal that resulted in a 28-yard run by punter/place kick holder Pat Fleming. A subsequent Tiger Cats field goal and an earlier rouge made up the entirety of the second quarter's score sheet, and the game reached its mid-way point with the score 18-0 in favour of the visiting squad from the City of Steel. Despite leaving the game at half-time having failed to register double-digit yardage on the ground, Ricky Williams was pleased with his performance on Friday.
"I didn't get a lot of yards running tonight but overall I felt pretty good about my performance," said Williams. "I felt comfortable with the offence and I think I did a decent job on pass protection. It was good to finally see the speed of the game here - thatâs really hard to do in a meeting room."
Tiger Cats rookie running back Anthony Davis opened the third quarter with runs of 7, 7, and 9 yards respectively. Argos defensive end Eric England stopped Davis for a 1-yard loss on second and short, however, forcing Hamilton to punt on their opening possession of the third quarter. Bashir Levingston then turned in the biggest special teams play of the game, returning Fleming's punt 45 yards to give the Argonauts excellent field position as Eric Crouch took over for Damon Allen (who completed 2 passes on 8 attempts for 24 yards in his lone quarter of action) at quarterback. The Argos âgained' 3 yards during Crouch's first series, 5 of which came via a Hamilton off-sides penalty, and -2 of which came on a sack of Crouch by Sacha Glavic. Nonetheless, rookie kicker Jaco Booyens was able to boot a field goal through the uprights to put Toronto on the scoreboard for the first time... and the last time... in the game. A Jamie Boreham field goal (set up by a 47-yard pass from Kevin Eakin to Willie Quinnie) near the end of the third made the score 21-3 as the imminence of regulation's final frame grew large in scope.
The Tiger Cats added three points to their lead courtesy a 37-yard Jason Boreham field goal 1:47 into the fourth period. On the following series, Charlie Peterson entered the game at quarterback for the Argos, giving Eric Crouch a pedestrian final line of 7 passing yards on a 1-for-4 pass completion total. He did have an impressive run in the third quarter for 21 yards after eluding blitzing linebacker Ray Mariuz with some nifty footwork prior to charging up-field in dynamic fashion. His successor at the helm of the S.S. Argonaut proved to be the most successful Toronto pivot of the evening. Peterson completed 6 passes on 16 attempts in the fourth quarter while amassing 50 yards despite a series of badly overthrown passes to the majority of Toronto's receiving core. The third Hamilton quarterback of the evening, Patrick Josten, made effective use of his limited playing time, registering 3 pass completion on 4 attempts for 50 yards. His performance was highlighted by a 37-yard hook-up with Mike Morreale that resulted in 6 more points for the Tiger Cats. Despite being guarded by three members of the Toronto secondary (one of whom was charged with pass interference on the play) in the end zone, Morreale managed to make the touchdown grab and put his team up by a not unsubstantial amount of points.
The Morreale touchdown proved to be the game's final scoring play, and after each side reached the bottom of their depth charts by the expiration of the game clock, the end result was a 31-3 victory for the Hamilton Tiger Cats.
In the battle of star Argros kick returners, Bashir Levingston out-paced Keith Stokes by returning 2 punts for 50 yards to Stokes' 3 returns for 28 yards. The log jam at the wide receiver position for the Tiger Cats failed to disperse in any discernable fashion, as imports Craig Yeast, Terry Vaughn, Talman Gardner, Willie Quinnie, and Kwame Cavil all had strong games, as did non-import slot backs Iain Fleming and Mike Morreale.
The pre-season win by the Tiger Cats over the Argonauts was the first such win since 2002, and the first in Toronto since 2001.
The Tiger Cats and Argonauts will meet again next Friday, June 8, at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton as the pre-season comes to an end. The following week, the archrivals will meet yet again in the regular season opener for both squads.
Canadian Football League Stories from June 3, 2006
- Ticats Release Seven - Hamilton Tiger-Cats
- Maiden voyage a rough one for new Boatmen - OSC Original by Richard Bowness
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
