Toronto Argonauts clinch second in East Division with home win over Ottawa Redblacks

TORONTO — Chad Kelly and the Toronto Argonauts ensured there will be one more home game in their season.

Kelly threw three touchdown passes and ran for another as Toronto held on for a wild 38-31 home win over Ottawa on Saturday afternoon. The Argos (10-7) clinched second in the East Division with their third straight victory and will face the Redblacks (8-8-1) in the opening round of the CFL playoffs Nov. 2 at BMO Field.

Ottawa suffered a fifth straight loss but created plenty of angst for both the Argos and their season-high gathering of 20,487. The Redblacks outscored Toronto 25-0 in the fourth quarter to turn a seemingly one-sided game into a nail-biter that came down to the final play.

“We’ve got to finish, we’ve got to finish a lot better,” said Kelly. “It’s part of the game where you play a full 60 minutes.

“They’re a professional football team, they’re not going to give up and we’ve got to be better.”

Kelly finished 31-of-43 passing for 331 yards. He also ran 10 times for 25 yards before giving way to Cameron Dukes late in the fourth.

Ottawa’s Dru Brown completed 31-of-43 passes for 400 yards with four TDs and an interception. He began the Redblacks’ comeback by hitting Bralon Addison on a 32-yard scoring strike at 2:30 of the fourth to cut Toronto’s lead to 38-12 as the two-point convert was unsuccessful.

After being intercepted by Toronto’s Tavarus McFadden, Brown found rookie Nick Mardner on a six-yard TD pass at 12:21, then passed to Justin Hardy for the two-point convert. After Kene Onyeka recovered the onside kick, Brown connected with Hardy on a 14-yard touchdown toss and Addison for the two-point convert at 12:56.

Amazingly, Ottawa recovered another onside kick — this time via Jaelon Acklin — at the Toronto 52. Lewis Ward’s 38-yard field goal with 1:12 remaining cut the Argos’ lead to 38-31.

Toronto’s Daniel Adeboboye recovered the third onside kick at the Ottawa 42. The Argos didn’t get the first down and punted with the Redblacks taking possession at their 12-yard line with 30 seconds remaining.

With Ottawa at its 37-yard line and two seconds to play, Brown completed his final pass to Hardy at Toronto’s 52-yard line. Following a series of laterals, the game ended with offensive lineman Dariusz Bladek being tackled.

“They don’t give up, they’re no pushover,” Toronto linebacker Wynton McManis. “They have a lot of fight in them.

“The way this team is built, we know that’s not us. We know we’re a lot better than that … this will never happen again. It won’t.”

Dejon Brissett, with two, Ka’Deem Carey and Makai Polk scored Toronto’s other touchdowns. Lirim Hajrullahu booted five converts and a field goal.

Addison finished with two TDs for Ottawa.

Redblacks’ head coach Bob Dyce wasn’t surprised by his team’s resiliency and fight. But he said how the Redblacks played in the fourth is how they must play throughout an entire contest.

“I’m always going to be proud of these guys in the way they fight but we can’t allow ourselves to get into a situation where you’re down like that,” he said. “We have to start games faster than what we have.”

Ottawa finishes its regular season hosting Hamilton (7-10) on Friday. Although the Tiger-Cats have been eliminated from playoff contention, they’ve won five of their last six games.

“It’s a very meaningful game for us because we have to show we can play like that for four quarters,” Dyce said.

Before the fourth-quarter fireworks, Toronto appeared to be on cruise control. Kelly and Brissett combined to finish a 13-play, 82-yard march on a 10-yard TD pass at 13:13 of the third that put the Argos ahead 38-6.

Brown’s seven-yard TD pass to Addison at 12:23 of the second cut Toronto’s halftime lead to 28-6. Addison put the finishing touches on a five-play, 75-yard march but Benji Franklin blocked Ward’s convert try.

Toronto was dominant to that point, scoring touchdowns on its first four possessions. Kelly completed his first 12 passes for 238 yards and two TDs while also running for another before finishing the half with three straight incompletions.

Still, Toronto rolled up 297 net offensive yards, converted nine-of-15 second-down chances and held the ball for more than 19 minutes. Polk had three catches for 104 yards and a TD.

Brown was 10-of-13 passing for 123 yards, much of that coming on the scoring drive. But Ottawa had only 113 net offensive yards and ran half as many offensive plays (19) as Toronto (38).

Kelly’s 47-yard TD pass to Polk at 4:57 extended Toronto’s lead to 28-0. It followed a 29-yard TD strike to Brissett 14 seconds into the second that was set up by Wynton McManis’s fumble recovery.

Kelly’s one-yard run at 14:12 of the first put Toronto ahead 14-0 and culminated a 14-play, 98-yard march. Carey opened the scoring with a one-yard TD run on third down at 5:07.

It was the seventh play of the 91-yard drive that followed Ward’s missed 43-yard field goal try.

UP NEXT

Argonauts: Visit the Edmonton Elks (6-11) on Friday.

Redblacks: Host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (7-10) on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press