Bo Levi Mitchell was breathing a huge sigh of relief Saturday night.
James Butler and Destin Talbert scored touchdowns set up by turnovers as Hamilton held on to beat the Toronto Argonauts 27-24 for their first win of the season.
“Relief is a great word,” Mitchell said. “That makes us 1-1 in the East.
“I know we’re 1-5, it’s not pretty. I told the guys to go celebrate but still realize what the situation is. Learn from what we did, there were some good things that happened … there’s a lot of things we can clean up and try to make it where those games don’t end up close.”
Hamilton (1-5) earned just its second win in 12 games against its longtime rival. The Ticats narrowly averted dropping to 0-6 for the first time since 2017 (0-8 start).
Hamilton’s defence came into the game having forced a CFL-low three turnovers.
But the Ticats put the Tim Hortons Field gathering of 22,910 through the ringer late.
Janarion Grant’s 96-yard punt-return TD at 12:34 of the fourth pulled Toronto to within 27-24.
Grant contributed to a wild finish by fumbling a punt return the Argos recovered at their own 21-yard line with 26 seconds remaining.
On a third-and-seven pass, Hamilton was flagged for pass interference that put Toronto at its 50-yard line with 14 seconds to play.
But Nick Arbuckle’s pass to Damonte Coxie on the final play was incomplete.
“If you’re 5-0 at that point I think you’re pretty confident,” Mitchell said. “When you’re 0-5, it’s pretty tense.
“To make it that close right there in front of the fans again, it just feels dangerous letting it get like that.”
Mitchell completed 20-of-29 passes for 270 yards with a TD and interception.
But unlike his starter, head coach Scott Milanovich didn’t categorize the win as a relief.
“I don’t know if relief is the right word, I feel happy for them (Ticats players),” he said. “The fact they got it tonight, even though it was tense (that) might make it even sweeter.
“I’m proud of the way they fight, the way they work. They deserve to win and now we’ve got to start stacking them.”
Butler ran for 50 yards on 11 carries while adding four catches for 53 yards.
Milanovich said the outcome was especially sweet for the six Ticats players and many team officials — including Milanovich — who played or were previously associated with Toronto. Milanovich guided the Argos to the ’12 Grey Cup in his first season as a CFL head coach.
Toronto (3-3) had its six-game win streak against Hamilton snapped and suffered its third loss in four contests overall.
Starter Cameron Dukes finished 20-of-27 passing for 180 yards before giving way to Arbuckle in the fourth.
Arbuckle completed eight-of-14 passes for 118 yards with a TD and interception.
He hit DaVaris Daniels on an 18-yard scoring strike at 10:18 of the fourth but the two-point convert was unsuccessful.
“We’re not a good enough football team to have those mistakes,” said Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie. “Good football teams don’t have those mistakes so we’ve got to get better. “Too many mistakes at the wrong time … We didn’t play winning football tonight.”
Dinwiddie said it was too early to say whether Dukes will remain Toronto’s starter.
“We’ll look at it,” he said. “I’m not going to make a judgment until I watch the film.”
Hamilton moved to within four points of third-place Toronto in the East Division.
Idle Montreal (5-1) stands first ahead of the Ottawa Redblacks (4-2).
“Honestly I’m not really looking, and I hope our players aren’t either, at the East Division standings at this point,” Milanovich said.
“We needed to get a win, period, against anybody, any time.
“Obviously it coming against Toronto makes it a little bit more special.”
Luther Hakunavanhu had Hamilton’s other touchdown. Marc Liegghio added the converts and two field goals. Ka’Deem Carey scored Toronto’s other touchdown.
Lirim Hajrullahu kicked two converts and a field goal while John Haggerty added a single.
Haggerty’s 50-yard single at 4:27 of the fourth made it 27-11 for Hamilton.
Mitchell’s 23-yard TD strike to Hakunavanhu with eight seconds left in the third staked Hamilton to a 27-10 advantage.
Liegghio’s 29-yard field goal at 10:57 of the third stretched Hamilton’s lead to 20-10.
Toronto opened the second half with Hajrullahu’s 43-yard boot at 3:00.
Hamilton converted the Toronto turnovers into touchdowns to take a 17-7 halftime advantage.
Butler opened the scoring with a nine-yard TD run at 3:51 of the first.
It followed Ante Litre’s blocked punt that gave Hamilton possession at the Toronto nine-yard line.
Following Liegghio’s 20-yard field goal at 1:09 of the second, Talbert scored on a 31-yard fumble recovery to put Hamilton ahead 17-0 at 5:05.
Talbert recovered Dukes’ fumble on a second-and-one keeper and ran in untouched.
Carey cut Hamilton’s lead to 17-7 with an 11-yard TD run at 9:18.
The Ticats will battle the Edmonton Elks on Sunday, July 28.