Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
The Toronto Argonauts had already punched their ticket to the East Division Final but were determined to finish the CFL regular season on a high.
They did just that beating the Ottawa Redblacks 27-22 to win its franchise-record 16th game Saturday night at TD Place.
Adding to their impressive 16-2 season record was the fact they finished the season with a perfect divisional record of 10-0, a CFL first.
“It’s pretty impressive, right?” said Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie. “It’s a long season to go through all the ups and downs and different battles and I’m just so proud of that room.”
The Redblacks (4-14) are at the opposite end of the spectrum, missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season. Toronto has more wins this season than the Redblacks 14 over the past four seasons.
Ottawa didn’t beat a division rival once this season.
“I felt this game was a microcosm of our whole season,” said Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce. “Showed the fight that the team had consistently throughout the year, but at the same time some of the challenges we faced showed as well.
“We’re tired of being the team that tries hard or is close, right. We have to execute and make the plays that we need to make at all times and we just didn’t find ways to do that tonight and through the season.”
The Argonauts will have next week off as they watch to see who wins the East semifinal between Hamilton and Montreal.
“The regular season is over now and now it’s time to play big-boy football in the playoffs,” said Dinwiddie. “You throw all the records out the window and now we’ve got to find a way to win the next game.”
The Argonauts sat a number of their starters, including QB Chad Kelly, but Toronto’s depth shone through.
Cameron Dukes finished the game 22-of-34 passing for 317 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Ottawa’s Dustin Crum was 22-of-35 for 261 yards with two TD’s and two interceptions.
The one highlight for the Redblacks was Devonte Williams reaching 1,003 yards for his first-ever 1,000-yard season.
Williams will be looking for a new contract next season and this is a nice stat to point to. Williams almost fell short of the milestone, but with 41 seconds remaining had a seven-yard gain to hit the mark.
“It meant a lot to me and to the guys around me as well,” said Williams after the game, holding his nine-month-old son. “It’s a collective effort and we all appreciate it.”
Toronto took the lead in the first quarter and never looked back, but the Redblacks did fight to the end.
Ottawa outscored the Argonauts 16-13 in the second half, but an eight-point deficit at the half was the difference.
“Obviously they’re a good team and when you make as many mistakes as we did and didn’t execute well enough you’re not going to be able to come out on the right side of it very often,” said Crum.
“We’ve just got to start faster as an offence. Defence gave us some opportunities early that we didn’t capitalize on.”
Ottawa’s Michael Domagala scored his third field goal, from 46 yards out, midway through the third to bring Ottawa within five, but a late two-yard TD by Toronto’s Deonta McMahon made it 21-9.
Boris Bede added a 37-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter to give Toronto a 24-9 lead sending many of the Ottawa faithful for the gates.
Crum picked up his first TD of the game connecting with Justin Hardy for a 30-yard pass with 6:21 remaining, but any hope of a comeback was dashed by Bede’s 38-yard field goal to put the Argos up 27-16.
Ottawa made it look closer than it was with Keaton Bruggeling scoring his first CFL TD by connecting with Crum for a 16-yard pass.
“It was so surreal,” admitted Bruggeling. “All year working hard, all of last year working so hard thinking about every touchdown celebration in the whole wide world. It’s just an amazing feeling.”
The difference in this one was the Argos jumping to a 14-0 lead on a pair of first quarter TDs.
“We talked about it in the locker room, the importance of starting out fast,” said Dukes. “We mentioned if we didn’t start fast, we’d find a way in the end. We trust in the guys around us and it’s a great team that we’ve got.”
Ottawa’s Alonzo Addae picked off Dukes early in the first quarter but on the next play the Argos came right back with Mason Pierce picking off Crum to run back a 35-yard TD.
With two minutes left in the quarter Dukes connected with Dejon Brissett, who was left all alone, for a 61-yard TD pass.
Ottawa managed to get down to Toronto’s 10-yard line, but settled for a 24-yard field goal early in the second quarter to get on the board. Domagala added a 39-yard field goal at the end of the half to get the Redblacks within eight.