Menu
July 13, 2019

Stamps Tied 16-16 At Half

On a fairly warm and humid night in Hamilton, it took a while for the Stamps and Ticats to warm up.

But once they did, the points started piling up in dramatic fashion, with special teams living up to their moniker.

Nick Arbuckle continued his hot play in relief of injured starter Bo Levi Mitchell, going 14-21 for 179 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 Paredes 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.

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 Paredes 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.