Redblacks let victory slip through their fingers to suffer third setback in a row
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The Ottawa Redblacks survived three second-half turnovers but couldn’t shake a bad habit Saturday night in Hamilton.
A late roughing the passer call on defensive lineman Michael Wakefield set the stage for Bo Levi Mitchell to connect with Kenny Lawler on his second touchdown of the game with 1:54 to give the Tiger-Cats their first lead of the game and a 23-20 victory.
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It was the third straight loss for the cellar-dwelling Redblacks, who dropped to 1-5 while the Tiger-Cats improved to 3-2 and moved into first place in the East Division.
The Redblacks, who led the league in penalty yards entering the night, were flagged just three times for 30 yards against Hamilton.
But the call on Wakefield was untimely, to say the least.
Leading 20-16 with time winding down in the fourth quarter, the Redblacks appeared to be in trouble when Kalil Pimpleton fumbled a punt that Hamilton’s Mack Bannatyne recovered at the Ottawa 15-yard line.
But the Redblacks’ defence rose to the occasion with a stand that resulted in a turnover on downs.
Dru Brown completed 24 of 38 passes for 283 yards, a touchdown and his first two interceptions of the season, both by Hamilton’s Jamal Peters.
Mitchell was held to a quiet night, connecting on 23 of 41 for 266 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Redblacks scored on their first possession of the game with a seven-play, 70-yard drive into the wind that ended with Dru Brown straddling the line of scrimmage before a 10-yard toss to Keelan White.
It was the first CFL touchdown for White, a 23-year-old North Vancouver product Ottawa selected third overall in the 2025 draft.
Three reasons why the Redblacks held a 7-4 lead after one half:
- Playing in his first game of the season, Canadian linebacker Lucas Cormier came up big when he stopped running back Johnny Augustine at the Ottawa 10-yard line, forcing the Tiger-Cats to settle for a field goal late in the second quarter.
2. While Brown completed 13-of-19 passes for 137 yards, the defence limited Bo Levi Mitchell to 13 completions on 22 attempts for 128 yards. Mitchell, who had surpassed the 300-yard mark in three of four previous starts this season, was coming off a five-TD pass game against Toronto.
3. Last but not least, after leading the league in penalty yards through five weeks, the Redblacks played a flag-free 30 minutes while the Tiger-Cats were penalized seven times for 71 yards.
Ottawa struck quickly in the second half as well, thanks to Pimpleton’s 60-yard kickoff return that ultimately set up a 41-yard field goal by Lewis Ward.
But Mitchell answered a little more than a minute later when he found Kenny Lawler, the league’s top receiver, on a 44-yard touchdown despite tight coverage by Redblacks cornerback C.J. Coldon.
The teams traded field goals before William Stanback had his biggest play as a Redblack with a 23-yard touchdown run up the middle on the last play of the third quarter.
Pimpleton had what looked to be his second long punt return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter but James Peter was called for an illegal block that wiped out the score.
The two teams meet again next Sunday, July 20, at TD Place.
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