It had all the ingredients of the feel good story of the year so far, an undefeated Hamilton Tiger Cat team taking on their long standing rivals the Toronto Argonauts. A near sell out at Ivor Wynne, was waiting to see the hometown heroes take it to the evil Bay Street bambinos. In fact it was almost a throw back to the aura surrounding the Argo/Ti Cat match ups of the sixties. The crowd fired up with numerous chants of Argos suck, the Black and Gold of the Ti cat colours featured throughout the stadium. Things were set for a good old fashioned Hamilton whuppin.
And then the game started. The Argos not to be distressed by the unfriendly faces in Steeltown took to the field and ran almost a flawless game plan. QB Damon Allen shaking off the ill effects of last earl exit from the Alouette game controlled the play from the very beginning. Passing and running his way through the first half of football Allen had his team securely in the lead 19-3 by the time the gun went to signal the end of the first thirty minutes. Picking up where he left off, Allen tore apart the Hamilton secondary, making passes with pin point accuracy. By the time Allen and friends were done for the day, the Argos would have walked away with a 34-6 victory.
Hamilton quickly coming back down to earth after their amazing 3-0 start just couldn’t generate any offence, frequently shut down by the Argonaut front four, or victimized by the secondary. Things got off to a bad start in the second half, when QB Danny McManus went down with a suspected concussion, McManus who has found a rebirth this season as receivers catch balls that last year were frequently dropped, spent the remainder of the game on the sidelines watching but seemingly unaware at times to the happenings on the field.
His departure from the game though really was not the determining factor; the first half saw the Argos dominate the Cats in every category. McManus suffering his injury was just the exclamation point on the day for Hamilton. Former Argo QB Marcus Brady took over for The Cats, but he too had little to no success. His former team mates no doubt remembering his tendencies from running the defensive practices and making him pay for his old habits.
The Ti Cats coach Greg Marshall must have known that one day his team would come back down to earth, though he probably wishes he could have got the all important Toronto rivalry game under his belt with a win. For Marshall it’s back to the boards now as he prepares for Edmonton and Montreal, two more tests of his young squad. Games that they may be forced to play without Danny Mac.
He’ll get another lick at the Argos; the always anticipated Labour Day clash will once again give him a chance to reward the Ti Cat faithful. Win that one and all sins will be forgiven through July and August, though with the Ti Cat’s start this year the Tabbie fans are getting a little spoiled. The may want their Labour Day victory and many more wins too, they’ve already increased the Hamilton fan’s expectations, sliding backwards now won’t be as easily dismissed, nor should it be.
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