Burris throws two TDs as Ticats thrwart Argos comeback bid with road victory

TORONTO – Henry Burris threw two touchdown passes as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats beat Toronto 33-19 on Friday and snapped the Argonauts four-game win streak.

Burris’s 15-yard TD strike to Bakari Grant at 8:08 of the fourth quarter staked Hamilton to a 30-19 advantage after Toronto rallied from a 22-3 halftime deficit to pull to within 23-19. Burris capped an eight-play, 75-yard drive by finding an open Grant in the end zone before 28,467 spectators with the Rogers Centre roof closed.

It was Toronto’s second-largest gathering of the season behind the 29,852 that watched the defending Grey Cup champions open their season with a 39-34 win over Hamilton.

Burris then marched Hamilton 49 yards on 11 plays, setting up Brett Lauther’s 29-yard field goal at 14:44 to cement the win. Burris finished 19-of-31 passing for 274 yards with the two TDs and an interception.

Toronto (9-5) had rallied to win each of the four road games it had played the past four weeks but suffered its second straight home loss. The Argos made their first Rogers Centre appearance since a 20-9 setback to Montreal on Sept. 3, the contest after starter Ricky Ray suffered a shoulder injury in a home defeat to Calgary.

Ray returned to the lineup Friday as the No. 3 quarterback behind starter Zach Collaros and backup Trevor Harris. Collaros was 21-of-32 passing for 277 yards, no TDs and one interception.

Hamilton (7-7) pulled to within four points of front-running Toronto in the East Division standings, with the two rivals capping their home-and-home series Oct. 14 at Alumni Stadium in Guelph, Ont. Ticats linebacker Brandon Isaac made his first appearance against the Argos after being released by them earlier this season.

After a dismal opening half, Toronto opened the third with a smart nine-play, 80-yard march that culminated with Swayze Waters’ nine-yard field goal. The Argos then got the ball at the Hamilton one-yard line when Curtis Steele blocked Josh Bartel’s punt that Marcus Ball recovered. Collaros’s one-yard TD run at 6:37 cut the Ticats’ lead to 22-16.

After Lauther’s single off a missed 42-yard field goal try, Waters pulled Toronto to within 23-19 with a 42-yard boot at 4:05 of the fourth.

Luke Tasker, C.J Gable and Dan LeFevour had Hamilton’s touchdowns. Lauther booted the converts, a field goal and single while Bartel also had a single.

Waters kicked four field goals and a convert.

An opportunistic Ticats squad took advantage of Toronto miscues en route to a 22-6 half-time advantage.

Gable’s 25-yard TD run at 6:55 of the second was set up by a 22-yard punt from Waters, who had to go high to grab the snap before being forced to boot on the run, giving Hamilton possession at the Toronto 32-yard line. LeFevour scored on a one-yard touchdown run at 13:02, two plays after Simoni Lawrence first deflected a Collaros pass, picked it off and returned it to the Argos’ three-yard line.

Toronto had few answers for an aggressive, attacking Hamilton defence that sacked Collaros twice and continually harassed him as the Argos managed just six first downs and two Waters field goals.

Hamilton opened the contest with an impressive seven-play, 81-yard scoring march capped by Burris’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Tasker, the son of former NFL star Steve Tasker. It marked just the first time Toronto had surrendered an opening-drive TD this season, the only other time being in its season-opening 39-34 home win over the Ticats.

Getting off to a strong start is nothing new for Hamilton, which has scored a CFL-high 47 points on its opening possession this year.

NOTES — Burris moved past the late Ron Lancaster into fourth in all-time passing yards with a 34-yard completion to Dobson Collins in the first . . . Toronto receiver John Chiles, who has a team-high eight TD grabs, didn’t play due to a cut on his hand that required 10 stitches to close. But receiver Chad Owens, the CFL’s outstanding player last year, returned to the lineup after missing four games with a rib injury . . . Special-teams standout Marc Beswick was among Hamilton’s pre-game scratches. Receiver Romby Bryant was one of Toronto’s four scratches . . . Isaac, offensive lineman Joel Reinders and defensive back Evan McCullough all earned Grey Cup rings with Toronto last season but are all now Ticats . . . Hamilton offensive lineman Tim O’Neill appeared in his 100th CFL game.