When Bob Young bought the Tiger-Cats last year, taking them from the clearance shelves of the CFL basement, he probably had a little dream like Friday night. His team would come out of the dressing room and find a stadium filled with rabid Ti-Cat fans, they would respond with a convincing win and everyone would go home happy. The only thing to make it even better would be having the Argos on the receiving end, but hey, there’s got to be something left for next week.
Friday night saw the Tiger Cats entertain the first sold out Ivor Wynne crowd in six years with total domination of the Calgary Stampeders. 28,850 cheered on the Black and gold and they sent Matt Dunigans team back to cowtown with a 26-7 shellacking.
Danny McManus maintained the ball control game, as the Cats controlled play for 34 minutes compared to the Stamps who only had their hands on the ball for 26, eight minutes that told the tale on this night.
While the score may not show it, Calgary’s defence held the fort as best they could, but could not control Danny Mac’s throwing arm or Troy Davis’ legs; Davis accumulated over 100 yards on the night with his 23 carries. McManus completed a touch down pass to D. J. Flick; while Jason Lamar ran back an interception for a TD and Julian Radelin ran the ball in from the two for the final major. The Ti Cat explosion most of which happened in the first half, raised their record to 5-5 and boosted them into third place in the East and holding the final playoff spot for the moment, but more importantly putting them back into the hunt for second and targeting arch rival Toronto. It shouldn’t be too surprising to find the Ti Cats with their second consecutive sell out next Monday.
As for the Stamps all of Calgary’s points came off of the foot of Charles Hebert. Calgary used both Tommy Jones and third stringer Michael Souza during the course of the game, neither of which had a particularly stellar evening. Patience is the word being proclaimed by head coach Matt Dunigan, hoping that the duo will be given time to better understand the game. Marcus Crandell was not in the line up on Friday, suffering from an injury, he may or may not be in the line up for the Labour Day Classic with the Eskimos, rumours continue to persist that he’s on the trading block and may have a change of address in the near future. Dunigan has made no decision yet as to who will get the start for the much anticipated battle of Alberta.
The loss was Calgary’s third in a row and drops the Stamps to 2-8 so far on the year, leaving Matt Dunigan with nothing much more to do than issue apologies at the moment. Lose to the Eskies next week and he may end up having to grovel.
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