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July 13, 2019

Stamps Fall In Hamilton

The Stamps two-game winning streak came to an end in Hamilton Saturday night.

The Ticats won their first regular-season game against the Red and White since 2011, prevailing 30-23 at home.

Calgary is now 2-2, while Hamilton improved to 4-1 and sit first in the East.

The game was a wild back-and-forth affair, with special teams living up to their monikor in the outing.

Nick Arbuckle, in his second start in relief of the injured Bo Levi Mitchell, went 24-40 for 268 yards.

Arbuckle was solid on the first possession of the game, tossing a dart to Markeith Ambles for a first down on his first throw.

The pivot was sacked on his second play before hooking up with Michael Klukas on a short five-yard pass.

That brought Rob Maver out to punt – but the wily vet instead tossed a 19-yard pass to Ante Milanovic-Litre on the fake.

Maver improved to 4-of-6 passing in his career for 74 yards.

Hamilton had a quick two-and-out on their first possession, with Rene Parades later in the first quarter hooking a 36-yard field-goal attempt wide left but picking up a point.

In the second quarter, Arbuckle led his team on a six-play drive down the field – avoiding a sack early on – and then handed off on a counter to Reggie Begelton, who ran in six yards for the major.

It was his second TD of the season, first on the ground.

The pivotal play on the drive was a quick two-yard throw to Terry Williams, who then ran for 27 yards before Eric Rogers made a seven-yard play to set up the Begelton score.

The Stamps – who were 5-of-6 on two-point conversions coming in – went for the double, but couldn’t convert.

Then it was time for some heroics by Ka’Deem Carey, who swept in off the left side to block a Ticats punt deep in their own territory, recovering the ball and scampering in for the TD to make it 14-0.

The Ticats answered back on the kickoff, with Will Likely III running it right up the gut and all the way down for six points.

Jeremiah Masoli then hit Brandon Banks for the two-point convert to put the homeside right back in it.

With less than three minutes left in the half, the Stamps defence stepped up big to pin the Ticats on their one-yard line, with Hamilton giving up two points instead of risking the punt.

However, special teams continued to be huge for the Ticats, with Parades missing a 51-yard field goal left again, Banks running it down the sideline all the way for another TD.

They capitalized on another two-point convert to round out the scoring in the half.

Things settled down for a bit in the third quarter before getting wild again.

The Stamps were making their way down the field but after a catch-and-run, Begelton was stripped of the ball.

The Ticats then battled down to the Stamps one-yard line (originally spotted at the two which led Hamilton to think field-goal before changing their minds), going for the go-ahead score.

But DaShaun Amos picked off a pass in the endzone, denying the Ticats any points.

Hamilton took its first lead of the game in the fourth quarter when Masoli threw his first career TD pass against the Stamps, finding Banks in the endzone on a 22-yard strike.

Two Stamps possessions later, though, after a short Ticats punt, Arbuckle hit Eric Rogers on a 22-yard pass and then Carey scampered three yards for the major on the next play.

Masoli answered right back, leading his team on a nine-play drive down the field, hitting Banks for the game-winning major, his third of the night.