By: Adamo Marinelli
August 7th, 2018
On August 2nd, we witnessed one of the best fourth-quarter comebacks in CFL history. The Toronto Argonauts, who trailed 38-14 with only four minutes remaining in the third quarter rallied back to erase a 24 point deficit in the final 17 minutes of the game thanks to three passing touchdowns by the third-string quarterback Mcleod Bethel-Thompson in his first start in the CFL including the game-winner with 0:01 left on the clock to Armanti Edwards and a rushing touchdown from James Franklin to start the comeback with two minutes left in the third quarter.
The Redblacks got started early and got into the end zone for a touchdown with a pass from Harris to Sinopoli less than three minutes into the game. This was their first touchdown in nearly 65 minutes of football. The Redblacks added a two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead. After James Franklin, the Argonauts’ starting quarterback rushed for a one-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 8-7, Dominique Davis, the second string quarterback for the Redblacks rushed one yard for a touchdown to increase the Redblacks’ lead to 14-7 in the second quarter. Then Richie Leone punted 41 yards to the Toronto seven-yard line after a two-and-out and Martese Jackson muffed the punt for a loss of seven yards and Anthony Cioffi recovered it in the end zone for a Redblacks touchdown to lead 21-7. Then with 31 seconds left in the half, Harris threw a 17-yard pass to Diontae Spencer to increase the Redblacks’ lead to 28-7. It was a very dominant half by the Redblacks.
The Argonauts answered back with a major 3:19 seconds into the third quarter with a five-yard pass from Bethel-Thompson to S.J Green to cut the lead in half. The Argonauts only trail by 14; the score is now 28-14 for the Redblacks. Then, with just under six minutes left in the third quarter, Lewis Ward tacked on a 17-yard field goal to make it 31-14 for the Redblacks. After another two-and-out by the Argonauts, Zach Medeiros punted the ball 48 yards down the field to Diontae Spencer who returned it 87 yards for a touchdown. The offence, defence and special teams were excellent for Ottawa. Ottawa now led 38-14, with 4:15 to go in the third quarter. The game should have been over. But this is when the defence for the Redblacks started to fall asleep and where the Argonauts’ comeback started to come into fruition.
With two minutes remaining in the third quarter, James Franklin, the Argonauts’ normal starting quarterback after Ricky Ray’s injury scored his second rushing touchdown of the night, both being one-yard runs. The two-point conversion was batted down by Redblacks’ defensive back Antoine Pruneau, the Redblacks now led 38-20. Toronto didn’t stop there. They had a very successful drive down the field early in the fourth quarter which set up an 11-yard touchdown pass to S.J Green. With the touchdown, the Argonauts only trailed 38-26 due to a missed extra point kick that ricochet off the right upright. After both teams exchanged field goals, it was 41-29 for the Redblacks. When the Redblacks were up 38-26, they had a chance to get a touchdown and go up 45-26 to potentially seal the game, however, after a pass from Trevor Harris to R.J. Harris, the receiver ran with the ball all the way to the Toronto 15 yard line before getting tripped up by his own teammate. There were no Argos in his way, so if he wasn’t tripped up by his teammate, the Redblacks wouldn’t have been forced to kick a field goal. After an Ottawa two-and-out followed by a punt and a great run-back by Martese Jackson, the Argo that muffed the punt into his own end zone to the Ottawa 30 yard line, Bethel-Thompson found a wide open James Wilder Jr. for a 20 yard touchdown pass on a play action pass for his third passing touchdown of the night. With the extra point, the Argos only trailed by five points; 41-36 for the Redblacks with 3:09 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Redblacks only needed a pair of first downs to seal the game, but failed to get a first down and punted the ball to the Argonauts. After a long drive down the field, including a third-down conversion at the Redblacks’ 35 yard line, on a 2nd & 10 from the Ottawa 23, Bethel-Thompson took the snap with nine seconds left in the game and found Armanti Edwards for the game-winning touchdown with 0:01 remaining in the fourth quarter to lead by one point. The Redblacks sent their punter, Richie Leone to receive the Argos kickoff so he could try to punt it to the back of the Argos’ end zone to try and tie the game with a touchback, but a punt from the Ottawa 50 yard line was fielded at the Toronto 11 yard line and the Argos held on to win a wild game 42-41. Not only did the Argos erase a 24 point second half deficit (mostly in the fourth quarter) to come back and win a much needed game to keep their playoff hopes alive in a close east division race between Ottawa, Hamilton and Toronto; but they also outscored the Redblacks 22-3 in the fourth quarter and 35-13 in the second half after being outscored 28-7 in the first half.
After a tumultuous first half, the Argonauts were on their way to losing six of seven games to open up the 2018 season. But an exhilarating second-half comeback which saw the Argos erase a 24 point Redblacks’ lead, led by quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, starting his first CFL game, may have saved the defending Grey Cup champions’ season.
The Redblacks’ offence responded and was excellent compared to last week’s game against Hamilton in which Lewis Ward’s seven field goals contributed to all of the Redblacks points in a 21-15 win. Trevor Harris went 27-35, with 381 passing yards and two touchdowns and an interception. However, the Argonauts’ quarterback had a better game than Harris as Mcleod Bethel-Thompson went 25-37 with 302 passing yards, four touchdowns and an interception. A marvellous performance in his first CFL start. Toronto won the running game considering James Wilder Jr. had 17 carries for 73 yards compared to William Powell with 14 carries for 35 yards. The Argonauts also won the receiving game as S.J. Green had nine receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns compared to Diontae Spencer’s eight receptions, 145 yards and one receiving touchdown (excluding his 87-yard punt return). Although, James Wilder Jr.’s four receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown was surpassed by Brad Sinopoli’s 7 receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown, so the receiving game was great on both teams but the Argos got the slight edge with more clutch plays. Despite the Redblacks' offence had an amazing game against the Argos, their defence, especially their secondary, was subpar, at least in the second half. It’s just a new problem every week for the Redblacks: some minor, but some major.
This isn’t the first time the Argonauts have come back from a large deficit to beat the Redblacks. In week three of the 2017 season, the Argos came back from a 12-1 halftime deficit and outscored the Redblacks 25-13 in the second half to win 26-25 in Ottawa.
The Redblacks are set to face Johnny Manziel and the Montreal Alouettes in week nine, while the Argos get a two-week break to rest and prepare for the B.C. Lions, who will visit BMO Field on Aug.18th, 2018.
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