TORONTO – Tristan Jackson made sure Trevor Harris’s return to Toronto was a triumphant one.
Jackson’s 75-yard punt-return touchdown earned the unbeaten Ottawa Redblacks a 30-20 road win over the Toronto Argonauts on Wednesday night.
Jackson broke three tackles en route to snapping a 20-20 tie at 4:19 of the fourth quarter for Ottawa (3-0-1), the CFL’s lone unbeaten squad. The first punt return TD in Redblacks’ history cemented the win for Harris in his first game against his former team.
“That was huge for us,” Harris said. “It gave us some breathing room and some free points.
“It’s always a great thing to have some free points when you have the defence score or a special-teams score.”
Harris spent four seasons with Toronto – going 9-7 as the starter last year while incumbent Ricky Ray recovered from off-season shoulder surgery. He signed with Ottawa as a free agent and assumed the No. 1 job after veteran Henry Burris (hand) was hurt the season opener.
“It was weird seeing (Argos running back Brandon) Whitaker, Ricky and Logan (quarterbacks Ricky Ray and Logan Kilgore) and all the guys I played with,” Harris said. “But at the same time it was great to see those guys because you develop such a great relationship with them, they’re almost like family.”
But Harris certainly didn’t feel nostalgic about his return.
“It’s something you guys like to write about,” he said. “At the end of the day when you watch the film it’s silent and you see 12 people versus 12 people.
“It doesn’t matter who you play against, if it’s an old team, new team.”
Harris, the CFL passing leader, was a masterful 28-of-31 through the air for 392 yards, his fourth straight 300-yard game. He also had a one-yard TD run in the third following a 77-yard completion to Greg Ellingson as the big play hurt Toronto (2-2).
“We knew they had a group of guys that could go at any moment,” Toronto defensive back Keon Raymond said. “There was no focus on just (CFL receiving leader) Chris Williams.
“There was one guy that stepped up (Ellingson) and made plays as though he wanted it more than we did.”
Williams came in with 25 catches for 493 yards and six TDs and had six receptions for 63 yards. But Ellingson finished with nine receptions for 218 yards as Ottawa rallied from an early 13-0 first-half deficit despite being flagged 19 times for 149 yards.
“It’s nice to have that good crew of receivers,” Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell said. “Our offence is designed for the quarterback to read what the defence is giving us and throw accordingly.
“There’s too many penalties. We’re making it too hard on ourselves, we need to make sure we clean those things up.”
The Redblacks also earned a third straight road win to open the season. The last time an Ottawa team did that was 1976 when the then Rough Riders earned the franchise its last Grey Cup title.
With Ottawa’s win, road teams are a 9-3-1 this season.
Toronto fell to 0-2 at BMO Field before a disappointing gathering of 12,373. That’s less than half the 24,812 who watched the Argos drop a 42-20 decision to Hamilton in last month’s regular-season opener.
“They’re a tough offence, they’re tough to stop,” Toronto head coach Scott Milanovich said. “We held them essentially to 23 points.
“That’s why we had to stay on the field offensively and not give them anything defensively. You can’t give up the penalties that extend drives when you play a good football team like that.”
Ray was 24-of-32 passing for 249 yards and a TD and moved past Danny McManus (53,255) into fourth on the all-time CFL passing list. He also threw his 77th TD pass as an Argo, moving into second in club history behind Condredge Holloway (97), but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“When you play a good team you have to play your best game and we were not able to do that tonight,” Ray said.
Compounding matters was receiver Tori Gurley, who had a team-high 10 TD grabs last year. He was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury.
“It would’ve been nice to have our best player out there for us,” Ray said. “But it doesn’t make up for the missed opportunities.”
Whitaker capped an 81-yard, 13-play march with a five-yard TD run at 13:01 of the third that put Toronto back ahead 20-17. An illegal contact penalty against Ottawa’s Abdul Kanneh erased Antoine Pruneau’s interception in the end zone and kept the Argos’ drive alive.
Rookie Cody Fajardo and Anthony Coombs had Toronto’s other touchdowns. Lirim Hajrullahu added two converts.
Nic Grigsby scored Ottawa’s other touchdown. Chris Milo booted three converts and three field goals.
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