Tiger-Cats beat Argonauts 25-22 in CFL East semifinal

And so, on a day in which Hamilton started their fourth-string quarterback and benched him, briefly, for the third stringer, and Toronto missed two fourth-quarter field-goal attempts, and both teams combined for 17 penalties, it was the Tiger-Cats who survived a nasty and brutish bit of football to win the CFL’s East semifinal 25-22.

“I just wanted to celebrate with my teammates and get the crowd up”, Medlock said of the on-field jubilation.

On the final Hamilton drive, a roughing-the-passer flag on the Argos’ Martin Wright helped give Medlock the field position he needed to provide the winning points. It looked like Wright might have been pushed forward before he thumped into the turf.

Masoli had been intercepted by Argos cornerback Antwasi Owusu-Ansah, a momentum killer that came a couple of plays after Emanuel Davis picked off Ray. It was enough, apparently.

Justin Medlock knows the opportunity to win football games with a single boot don’t come around often.

“You guys know I saw”, Toronto head coach Scott Milanovich said. “I’m not going to get fined”.

His players were less diplomatic in the locker room, with several saying that the lineman was blocked to the ground before he bumped into the quarterback’s leg.

Did the Argos deserve a better fate considering the hand they were dealt this season, veteran quarterback Ricky Ray was asked.

Hamilton will certainly have home-field advantage Sunday before an expected Tim Hortons Field sellout. Backup Jeff Mathews started strong in relief, but then faded before being knocked out with a head injury last month.

“Obviously this team went through a lot this year”, said Ray, who started just three games at the end of the season in the wake of off-season shoulder surgery. I had a good week of practice, we were in pads and I was banging.

“I’m not going to underplay that it’s a benefit”, he said.

Jeremiah Masoli takes it into the endzone from one-yard out, Ticats take the lead.

Masoli returned for the following series and assembled the first decent drive of the game, rolling 87 yards in six plays and capping it with a 41-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Bakari Grant to pull the home side within five with a quarter left to play.

“He just needs to focus on one play at a time”, Austin said.

Masoli has completed 33-of-68 passes (48.5 per cent) for 453 yards with three TDs and three interceptions over his CFL career, which began in 2012 with Edmonton.

That game, of course, is the East final in Ottawa against the RedBlacks on November 22.

For the Argonauts, the penalties and near misses did them in. The Argos, who averaged 6.7 yards per play, also implemented mostly run packages with third-stringer Adrian McPherson.

“They’re always a little longer in my head”, he said with a smile. Brandon Whitaker punched it in from the one for the touchdown as Toronto took a 10-6 lead.

“We’re going to have to stop basically that wildcat run game they’ll have, first and foremost”, he said. The Argos are 0-3 against Hamilton and also lost to Calgary and Montreal there in games relocated because of the Toronto Blue Jays making the American League playoffs.

Milanovich said he felt bad for his players, that he thought they were ready to go on a run.

Instead it is Hamilton that will move on, even though it took the fourth-string quarterback a half to find his groove.

“When Zach went down, that changed the dynamic of their team”, Greenwood said.