The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have punched their ticket to the 108th Grey Cup championship at home next Sunday after a 27-19 win over the Toronto Argonauts.
A tremendous defensive performance, an explosive special teams play and the exploits of their backup quarterback contributed to the victory and sets up a rematch against the defending champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Despite possessing the ball inside Hamilton’s five-yard line twice in the first quarter, Toronto had to settle for two Boris Bede field goals from 10 and 11 yards out.
Trailing 6-0 early in the second quarter, quarterback Dane Evans replaced an ineffective Jeremiah Masoli after the latter fumbled at the Toronto 16-yard line.
Evans went on to complete all 16 of his pass attempts for 249 yards. He threw a touchdown and ran for two more TDs to power Hamilton into their second consecutive Grey Cup final.
Bede added two more field goals, from 47 and 33 yards, to push the Argos’ lead to 12-0 at halftime in front of an announced crowd of 16,898 fans.
The Ticats stormed back into the game in the third quarter when Papi White returned a Bede punt for a 92-yard touchdown and Evans hit receiver Jaelon Acklin for a 13-yard TD to even the score at 12-12.
Following a missed field goal by Bede from 41 yards out resulting in a rouge for the Argos, Hamilton took their first lead of the game 3:18 into the fourth quarter when Evans dove into the endzone from the one-yard line, putting the Cats up 20-13.
Bede added his fifth field goal of the game from the 47-yard line to trim Hamilton’s lead to 20-16 with 6:33 left to play in regulation.
Evans scored his second rushing touchdown of the game with 2:48 to play when he ran into the endzone from one-yard out.
Bede rounded out the scoring with 1:10 in the game when he converted an 18-yard field goal.
The Cats will play the Blue Bombers in the title game after Winnipeg downed the Saskatchewan Roughriders 21-17 in the Western Final.
The Grey Cup on Dec. 12 at Tim Hortons Field marks the first time in 25 years that Hamilton will host the Canadian Football League‘s title game.
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