A week after the CFL world erupted in a riot against the top-ranked Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats had a chance on Friday night to record a second straight win over a higher-ranked opponent.
Six points down on the Montreal Alouettes and with less than two minutes left, the Ticats had the ball in the lead before an unlucky reception by receiver Kiondre Smith sealed their fate. Trying to gain extra yards on the 9-yard catch, the rookie Canadian extended the football and had it knocked out of his grip by Alouettes’ defenseman Wesly Sutton. Mustafa Johnson recaptured the loose ball and Montreal was able to grind out the remaining clock.
Speaking to the media after the game, Ticats quarterback Dane Evans stressed that victory was within reach for his team.
“I’m telling you, we wanted to score, I have no doubt about that,” he said. “I really have a feeling we would score in the next game or games to come, but we finally had momentum back on our side and we sort of lost it straight away. 16 [points] wasn’t enough tonight.”
Smith, the team’s fourth-round pick in this year’s CFL Draft, has impressed in his first CFL season and worked his way into the starting lineup. He has caught 16 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown that came on a 54-yard reception against the Bombers in Week 15.
After that high, the son of former Toronto Argonaut Adrion ‘Pee Wee’ Smith had a game to forget against Montreal, fumbling his only reception at a critical moment. The only other goal that got in the way of the rookie was a hard drop in the end zone.
Still, Evans – who has faced significant struggles of his own this year – has plenty of sympathy for his 22-year-old pass catcher.
“We had a chance to win the game and Kiondre is trying to make a game. I feel bad for him because he’s a young guy. It’s happened to me before, it’s happened to me this season when you’re trying to make a game,” the quarterback said. “I will be there for him and I will be there for my teammate. I totally understand what he’s doing. Obviously he will learn from it.”
Head coach Orlondo Steinauer didn’t specifically address Smith’s fumble in his post-game comments, but did concede that his team missed too many chances to secure the win.
“All in all, we weren’t good enough. We’ve done a lot of great things, but I feel like we haven’t helped ourselves. He took too many penalties in key situations and turned the ball over late,” said Steinauer. “We knew it was going to be a back and forth game and we were just disappointed. You’ll always give credit to the other football team, but I felt like we had opportunities to go our own way and sometimes we just couldn’t avoid ourselves.”
The Ticats now have just four games to salvage their dwindling playoff hopes and need extra help to advance to the finals. The team bids farewell next week, followed by games against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Calgary Stampeders and a year-end home-and-home series with the Ottawa Redblacks.