The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have stumbled into their first bye week of the Canadian Football League season after losing their first three games on the schedule.
Quarterback Cody Fajardo threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Montreal Alouettes (2-0) to an impressive 38-12 victory at Tim Hortons Field on Friday night.
The home opening loss for the Ticats dropped their record to 0-3. The club started 0-4 last season but still made the playoffs, only to lose to Montreal in the first round.
Matthew Shiltz started at QB for the injured Bo Levi Mitchell and completed 25 of his 47 pass attempts for 345 yards and slipped to 4-5 all-time as a starter. Before the game, the Cats placed Mitchell on the six-game injured list with an abductor injury.
Shiltz and receiver Tim White connected on a few big plays, including a season-long 61-yard pass and catch play that set up Hamilton’s opening field goal of the game by Marc Liegghio, who converted all four of his attempts to account for all of Hamilton’s scoring on a cloudy and rainy night.
White hauled in seven passes for 143 yards and teammate Duke Williams made five catches for 102 yards.
The Cats had a 6-0 lead when Alouettes returner Chandler Worthy took a punt for a 77-yard touchdown and Fajardo connected with Austin Mack for a TD and then ran for a touchdown himself.
Montreal’s Wes Sutton had one of Montreal’s two interceptions and returned his snag for a 71-yard touchdown that put the Alouettes up 35-12 midway through the fourth quarter. That was one of five Hamilton turnovers in the game compared to zero for the Al’s.
Hamilton is now on its bye week and will next take the field on July 8 when they host the Ottawa Redblacks.
Before the game the Ticats honoured former star receiver/returner Brandon Banks as the alumnus of distinction.
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