OTTAWA — If you going to win in dramatic fashion, you might as well do it with some pizzazz.
Chad Owens made a one-handed catch in the end zone with 25 seconds left to play to give the Toronto Argonauts a key 38-35 win over the Ottawa Redblacks on Tuesday night.
Owens was left virtually unmarked with Toronto trailing 35-31 in the final minute of play. He broke open in the end zone but still had to make an acrobatic play to bring the pass from Trevor Harris down and in control.
"I just told myself to dig, dig, dig, dig and at the very last second give it a shot," said Owens. "I practise one-hand catches. You never know when the work you put in, when that moment it’s going to pay off and it did for me right there."
Owens’s head coach was very impressed with the effort and skill it took to haul in the high pass from Harris.
"Unbelievable. I was watching it the whole way and I thought there was no way he would get to that. Just an amazing play by a great player and that’s what you count on," Argonauts coach Scott Milanovich said, thinking the pass was overthrown.
"I’m proud of the win, how we stuck together and found a way to have a three minute drive at the end to get the win against a real good team.
Harris passed for five touchdowns — including Owens’s late 10-yard strike — to give the Argonauts (8-5) their second straight win lead and a share of the division lead with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Ottawa had a scary moment in the dying seconds of the game after Owens’ highlight-reel play. Quarterback Henry Burris was hit awkwardly as he went to throw on the second-to-last play of the game and was down for a while. Thomas DeMarco came in to finish the game.
"I’m going to be fine. It was just scary on impact when I kind of felt the shoulder move. It’s a good thing I have good offensive training in the off season. It helped keep me healthy in this case," said Burris, who is coming off Top Performer of the Week and Month honours.
"I’ll be back next week."
Burris threw two TDs and 250 yards for the Redblacks (8-6). Chris Milo had four field goals and converted three touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough as the Redblacks fell to third place in the division.
Toronto was officially the home team for the crucial CFL East matchup even though the game was held in Ottawa.
The Argonauts could not play at home because Rogers Centre was being used by the Toronto Blue Jays who are in Major League Baseball’s playoffs for the first time since 1993.
Following a three-yard touchdown run by Ernest Jackson that gave the Redblacks a 35-31 lead with less than three minutes to play, Harris led the Argos downfield for the winning score.
"They ended up making one more play than we did to win a tough football game," Redblacks coach Rick Campbell said. "We’re very disappointed, but there’s a lot of important football games coming up. We’re going to take a couple of days to catch our breath here and get right back at it."
The Redblacks got off to a flying start, driving 57 yards on the opening possession of the game.
Jeremiah Johnson ran the ball in from two yards out for the touchdown right after Ernest Jackson completed a 38-yard catch and run play with Burris, 15 of those yards coming with a pair of Toronto defenders on his back.
The Argonauts responded immediately, taking their first possession 79 yards down field, culminating in a six-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Kevin Elliot.
The big play on that drive was a 55-yard completion from Harris to Elliott, plus another 15 yards that was tacked on for a horse collar tackle by Ottawa defender Domaso Munoz.
An Ottawa punt on the ensuing series pinned the Argonauts deep in their end, but they moved the ball 98 yards on nine plays including the 15-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Tori Gurley that gave Toronto its first lead of the game at 10:06.
Milo kicked field goals of 20 and 21 yards before the end of the quarter, and then both teams traded field goals in the second quarter. Justin Palardy gave the Argonauts a 17-13 lead at 11:10 with his 27-yard three-pointer before Milo cut the lead to 17-16 with a 46-yarder on the last play of the half.
The Argos took the opening drive of the second half and turned it into a 16-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Vidal Hazelton.
At one point they were facing a first-and-25 scenario, but in two plays went to second-and-12 and then the touchdown.
The Redblacks finished the quarter strong thanks to a 46-yard field goal from Milo and a 32-yard touchdown pass from Burris to Greg Ellingson to give the Redblacks a 26-24 lead after three quarters.
Harris connected with Brandon Whitaker on a four-yard scoring play early in the fourth quarter to give the Argos a 31-26 lead.
