The Ottawa REDBLACKS have another Saturday afternoon contest, today, taking on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a 4:00pm EDT kickoff from Tim Hortons Field.
Ottawa is coming off of a tough 27-16 home loss to the Montreal Alouettes. Quarterback Caleb Evans completed a touchdown pass to Kenny Stafford, while kicker Lewis Ward was perfect on three field goal attempts. Defensively, the REDBLACKS were powered by defensive back Randall Evans, who led the way with 11 tackles and a sack. Defensive lineman Kene Onyeka forced a critical fumble early in the game, recovered by defensive back Brandin Dandridge, whose positional compatriot Abdul Kanneh notched his third interception of the season, in the second half.
Today will be the first time that former NFL quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges dresses for a CFL game, backing up Evans after Taryn Christion was injured in last week’s affair.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
The Ti-Cats were dealt a narrow 24-23 loss by the Toronto Argonauts, 12 days ago. Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli threw for 362 yards, and two touchdowns that were hauled in by receivers Jaelon Acklin and Sean Thomas-Erlington, respectively. Star linebacker Simoni Lawrence logged six tackles and a sack.
The last time these two teams faced off was on September 22, at The Stadium at TD Place. Hamilton rode a touchdown by Acklin, a pick six, and three field goals to a 24-7 win over the REDBLACKS.
This will be Caleb Evans’ first matchup with the Ti-Cats.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Terry Williams, punt returner, on his mindset while filling in for the injured DeVonte Dedmon:“I’ll do whatever the game plan consists of. Fielding the balls, do whatever the team needs me to do.”
Paul LaPolice, head coach, on finally finding some time to prepare after consecutive short weeks: “Three games in 11 days blends pretty quickly. It’s actually good to have three days of prep, Coach Dyce is doing some special teams fundamentals, I got to do some more fundamentals, you get a little bit more time to prepare and see everybody, it’s been good.”
Antoine Pruneau, defensive back, on staying positive through a tough stretch of the season: “It’s is the toughest part of our sport, all those mental battle that we’ve got to fight. There’s things that are happening to us as a group, things that are happening in our lives, and stuff like that, and you’ve got to fight with that daily, like people in any other jobs. But I think that the great ones are able to come out of it stronger, and that’s what I’m striving for.”
BROADCAST INFORMATION
4:00 PM ET | TV (ENG): TSN/ESPN+ | TV (FR): RDS2
Radio: EN: TSN 1200, SiriusXM (ch.167) | FR: 104,7 FM Outaouais
