Deja Vu: Heartbreak for Hamilton

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats went into Edmonton yesterday as a huge underdog. The organization was sending mixed messages all over the places. On Monday the Ti-Cats announced they had fired head coach Charlie Taaffe and promoted offensive coordinator Marcel Bellefeuille on an interim basis. Then it was announced the Ti-Cats had traded their All-Star linebacker Zeke Moreno to the Winnipeg, the same Blue Bombers they are chasing for the last playoff spot, for a first round draft pick and a lineman that will likely stay on the Toronto/Buffalo Bills practice roster. But at the same time Bellefeuille and the rest of the organization professed they could still make the playoffs.

So as the Cats took the field last night it was time to make a statement. On their second offensive play Casey Printers was intercepted by Jason Goss and returned 50-yards for the major. 30 seconds in and Coach Bellefeuille found himself down seven, congratulations on the new post… Fortunately for the Ti-Cats the game turned into something of a circus affair, Ricky Ray and Casey Printers both threw four interceptions. Jason Goss picked off Printers three times, and returned two of them for touchdowns. The Cats’ corner Geoff Tisdale tried his best to match Goss, as he picked Ray off twice, but only scored one touchdown. In a game governed by big plays on offense and defense the Ti-Cats once again found themselves withing striking distance of a huge win. Trailing 31-30 the Cats got the ball with 5:30 left in the game. A twenty yard run by Printers and a 31-yard completion to Scott Mitchell put the Cats in position to kick a go ahead field goal, which Nicholas Setta put through from 23-yards out to make it 33-31 Hamilton.

However the problem with these Ti-Cats is the fact that with two minutes left and a two point lead, you almost knew the Eskimos would at least get a field goal to win the game. That’s just what happens to Hamilton. Low and behold, Rick Ray got the job done. Backed up into a 2nd and 13 Ray found Kelly Campbell 35-yards down field on a post route. In an obvious passing situation the Cats got burned, hold your surprise. On the next play a clearly deflated Cats defense watched as Surrey, BC native Calvin McCarty took the ball 21-yards for the go ahead score only 73 seconds after getting the ball back. As Casey Printers tried to make a play on the run in the last minute he was hit and fumbled the game away. The Eskimo who made the hit? Jason Goss, who finished off his monster game by driving the nail in the Cats’ coffin a little further.

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