TIGER CATS DRUB SWOONING LIONS

The Hamilton Tiger Cats may not be among the elite teams of the CFL, but they’re definitely a scrappy, up and coming squad.  They’re also a major thorn in the side of the BC Lions, whom the Ti-Cats defeated for the second time this season on Friday night.  Hamilton used a productive rushing game and a stout defense to upend BC at home by a 30-18 margin less than a month after stealing a 31-28 win in Vancouver.

The Ti-Cats won outright as +2 home dogs, with the combined 48 points staying UNDER the posted total of 51’.  Hamilton improved its record to 3-2 SU, 4-1 ATS with four of their five games this season playing UNDER the total.  BC dropped to 1-4 SU and against the spread, with a 3-2 OV/UN mark on the young CFL season.
 
Hamilton rookie running back DeAndra’ Cobb ran for 167 yards and two touchdowns. Cobb had been out of football for two seasons before being discovered at a free agent camp in California, and has quickly become a valued member of the Ti-Cats offense.  In his postgame comments, Cobb gave most of the credit for his big outing to the Hamilton offensive line:

"There's something about playing the B.C. Lions that inspires our offensive line. There were a lot of big holes out there and I was just running with the ball. I made a few guys miss, but more so I was running with the ball five yards before I had to."

It was also the Hamilton debut of receiver Arland Bruce III, who was acquired midweek from the Toronto Argonauts.  Bruce had no catches on the afternoon, but Ti-Cats coach Marcel Bellefeuille was quick to point out that he was still a factor drawing double coverage and filling in on kickoff and punt returns:

"It won't show up on the stats sheet but we used Bruce on a certain formation a few times and he was double-covered and gave us some room on the short side. He had an impact in which we didn't think they'd give him any special attention but they did. The thing that was critical was when (return specialist Marquay) McDaniel got nicked up, he had to come in and do returns. DeAndra was our second returner and we didn't want to use him in the return game . . .so we actually fell into a pretty good situation when he became available."

Still, Cobb’s continued effective play upstaged Bruce.  Cobb ran for 100 yards in Hamilton’s week 2 victory at Vancouver and earned the ‘Offensive Player of the Week’ nod for his achievement.
 
Lions head coach Wally Buono pointed to turnovers and mistakes as the reason for his team’s loss and general substandard performance year to date:

"Turnovers were a big factor and when you put the ball on the one-yard line and you fumble, it's tough. This is why you're losing. This is why we're 1-4. That was huge. At halftime we talked about making plays when we had opportunities. When you have plays like that at different times in your season it changes your season sometimes and sends momentum the other way. It was a 10-point swing because we went down and got a field goal so that's critical, obviously."

The Lions will try to change their luck as they host the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday night in Vancouver.  Hamilton will look to keep their winning ways intact as they welcome the Edmonton Eskimos to Ivor Wynne Stadium on Saturday.