HAMILTON — Seth Small came up big for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday night.
Small booted four field goals as Hamilton earned an important 18-14 home win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Small's 29-yard boot at 12:43 of the fourth quarter gave the Ticats their four-point lead and capped a 71-yard, 14-play drive that ate 7:38 off the clock.
Hamilton (5-10) moved to within a win of Saskatchewan (6-10) in the battle for the third and final East Division post-season spot. If the Riders end the year with more victories than the Ticats, they'll assume the final Eastern playoff seed.
Hamilton visits Calgary (10-5) next week before finishing with a home-and-home series against the Ottawa Redblacks (3-11). Saskatchewan, which has lost five straight, heads into a bye week before ending its regular season facing the Stampeders in a home-and-home.
Further complicating matters is both Ottawa and the Edmonton Elks (4-11) mathematically remain in playoff contention. But the Ticats are in the drivers' seat as they can clinch third in the East by winning their three remaining games.
Had Hamilton lost, it would've needed to win out and have Saskatchewan lose both of its remaining games to make the playoffs. The Riders can only make the CFL post-season as a crossover team.
"We knew the situation at hand," said Hamilton head coach Orlondo Steinauer. "The most important thing is we found a way.
"We've been in those situations before and found a way to squander them, probably more times than naught. Most of all, we needed to get a win."
Saskatchewan had the ball at its 42-yard line with 2:09 remaining and drove to the Hamilton 45 before quarterback Cody Fajardo's third-down pass was incomplete with 1:21 remaining. The Riders regained possession at their own 23-yard line with 23 seconds to play but Fajardo was intercepted at the Ticats' 26-yard line by Ciante Evans.
Fajardo finished 24-of-31 passing for 259 yards with two TDs and two interceptions. He also ran for a team-high 22 yards on five carries as Saskatchewan rushed just 10 times for 29 yards overall.
Hamilton's defence registered seven sacks and a forced fumble. In Saskatchewan's season-opening 30-13 home win over the Ticats on June 11, the Riders had eight sacks.
"When they drop back that much you're going to have more opportunities," Steinauer said. "I think the D-line will be the first to tell you they were waiting for a game like this.
"I thought we contained Cody for the most part … he's pretty elusive back there."
Hamilton starter Dane Evans completed 11-of-24 passes for 214 yards with two interceptions. The Ticats' most effective offensive weapon was running back Wes Hills, who rushed for 132 yards on 28 carries.
"I don't even have the vocabulary to explain how great they (Hills and Ticats offensive line) were," Evans said. "When Wes and the offensive line are eating, you just get out of the way and let them do their thing.
"I think we showed something we haven't shown in a long time but that doesn't mean we can't do things that we've done in the past either. It will be a fun one preparing for this next one (against Calgary) next week."
On a cool night, the six-foot-one, 218-pound Hills said Hamilton's game plan was to run the ball.
"No one wants to hit in cold weather so we had the plan to run the ball and that's exactly what we did," said the second-year Ticat, who has spent most of '22 on the practice roster. "The line did a great job up front and handled them and I was able to have daylight.
"Everyone did their part, everybody did their job and we were able to walk out with a win."
Hamilton took the wind to start the second half and managed two Small field goals to erase a 14-9 deficit and take a 15-14 lead into the fourth. Small hit from 30 yards out at 14:03 after making a 42-yard try at 4:33.
"There was enough wind to affect the punts so we decided to take the football right away," Steinauer said. "We didn't feel like the lead could get stretched out … I thought we did a decent job there.
"I thought we could've stopped them a little bit more but we stopped them when we needed to."
Kian Schaffer-Baker and Justin McInnis had Saskatchewan's touchdowns. Brett Lauther added the converts.
Evans scored Hamilton's touchdown.
The Riders led 14-9 at halftime as the second quarter ended with a bizarre play.
After a three-yard punt, Saskatchewan's Kaare Vedvik tried kicking the loose ball. He got just enough to bounce it off a Ticat before Riders linebacker Jordan Herdman-Reed recovered at the visitors' 42-yard line at 14:59. Had Hamilton recovered, it could've attempted a late field goal.
Small's 40-yard field goal at 10:17 cut Saskatchewan's lead to 14-9 as the Riders rode a successful challenge and special-teams turnover to their advantage.
Fajardo put Saskatchewan ahead 14-6 with a nine-yard touchdown pass to McInnis at 5:10. It was set up by Blace Brown's blocked punt that put the Riders at Hamilton's 13-yard line.
Evans' one-yard TD run at 11:07 of the first against the wind pulled Hamilton to within 7-6 as Small missed the convert. Evans capped a 56-yard, four-play drive in response to Saskatchewan's scoring drive.
Fajardo's 10-yard TD strike to Schaffer-Baker opened the scoring at 8:47. The most decisive point in the seven-play, 77-yard march was Saskatchewan's successful challenge when faced with punting, resulting in a face mask call against Hamilton's Tunde Adeleke that allowed the Riders to keep the ball.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2022.
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press
