HAMILTON — And the beat goes on for Chad Kelly and the Toronto Argonauts.
Kelly threw two touchdown passes and ran for another to lead Toronto past the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 31-15 on Friday night. The Argos remain the CFL's lone unbeaten team and replicated their modern-day club record of 5-0 established in 1960.
And for a second straight week, Kelly threw for over 300 yards. Kelly finished 20-of-27 passing for 306 yards after registering 351 yards and three touchdowns and another TD run in last week's 35-27 road win over Montreal.
"We're getting great quarterback play and that's why we're 5-0," Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie said. "We used to miss a lot of deep balls and he's giving guys a chance to make plays and he can extend plays with his legs.
"It's fun to see. I'm excited about his maturation."
Kelly threw for 248 yards and the TDs in staking Toronto to a 20-3 halftime advantage. The Argos offence struggled with consistency in the second half until rookie quarterback Taylor Powell, in his first CFL start, pulled Hamilton to within 23-15 with a 13-yard TD run at 10:04 of the fourth quarter.
Toronto countered with a six-play, 73-yard drive that Kelly capped with a one-yard touchdown at 12:57. A 35-yard reception by DaVaris Daniels was a key play in the march.
"They played a little bit more coverage, I thought, but we kind of stubbed ourselves," Kelly said. "It's hard when you're running it on first down and it's second and long, we've got to do better.
"That (Toronto's final offensive drive) is just part of the hard work we're putting in. We try stressing it during the week and put ourselves in situations like that."
Dinwiddie shouldered responsibility for Toronto's second-half offensive inconsistencies. Dinwiddie said while he wanted to go no-huddle and play up tempo, he was worried that might give Hamilton more opportunities.
"So I kind of stayed away from it," he said. "I probably should've and said, 'Hey, we're going to be successful at it, who cares?'"
Hamilton (2-4) suffered its first loss in three games, to the dismay of the Tim Hortons Field sellout crowd of 24,312. The Ticats were also looking to avenge their 32-14 defeat to Toronto at BMO Field on June 18.
But Toronto earned its eighth regular-season win in nine matchups versus Hamilton overall.
Powell replaced injured veteran Matt Shiltz late in last week's 37-29 road win in Edmonton. He got the start after Shiltz was placed on the six-game injured list, joining incumbent Bo Levi Mitchell (lower-body injury), who missed a fourth straight game.
Powell, a 24-year-old Arkansas native, finished 27-of-41 passing for 281 yards and an interception. He also ran three times for 22 yards.
"I was excited, man, I was fired up with this crowd, " Powell said. "It's a rivalry game and I felt it.
"I was seeing the defence really well and knew what they were doing, just didn't make enough plays. I'm really frustrated, I felt like we should've won that game."
A Hamilton win would've been even sweeter for Powell, considering his parents were in the stands Friday night.
"Man, that's really special," he said. "It's hard not to get emotional about that.
"They spend a lot of money, fly a lot of miles just to watch me play a game. It's awesome."
Daniels, Cameron Dukes and Kurleigh Gittens Jr. had Toronto's other touchdowns. Boris Bede added three converts and a field goal, while John Haggerty had a single.
Marc Liegghio booted three field goals for Hamilton.
Liegghio's 25-yard field goal 42 seconds into the fourth pulled Hamilton to within 23-9. The Ticats drove to Toronto's three-yard line on the final play of the third but rather than facing second-and-goal, the home team was pushed back to the Argos' 18-yard line following a 15-yard misconduct penalty to offensive lineman Brandon Revenberg.
Bede's 17-yard boot at 5:27 of the third put Toronto ahead 23-6.
Liegghio connected from 32 yards out at 1:25 to cut Hamilton's deficit to 20-6. It followed Tyreik McAllister's 71-yard kickoff return to the Argos' 27-yard line.
Liegghio's 19-yard field goal at 13:13 of the second quarter reduced Toronto's halftime advantage to 20-3. The smart 10-play, 55-yard march included Nic Cross's onside punt recovery.
Kelly staked Toronto to a 20-0 advantage with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Daniels at 6:06. It was set up by Jamal Peters's interception, which he initially returned for a TD but the Argos were flagged for an illegal block call.
Kelly found Gittens with an eight-yard TD strike at 4:01 to put Toronto ahead 14-0. Kelly accounted for the entire seven-play, 71-yard drive, completing six-of-seven passes for 86 yards, the extra 15 yards coming on an Argos' unnecessary roughness call..
Dukes opened the scoring with a one-yard TD run at 3:32 of the first. It capped a seven-play, 66-yard march — including Dejon Brissett's spectacular one-handed, 50-yard catch on second-and-11 — after Toronto took the ball after winning the toss.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2023.
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press
