A hard night in the Hammer.

It wasn’t the outcome the Stamps were hoping for during Friday night football, falling 23-17 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Tim Hortons Field.

The loss sets the Stamps record back to 2-5 on the season, while the Ti-Cats improve to 3-3.

Stamps quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell completed 16 passes for 170 yards. On the other side of the field, David Watford went 19-of-22 for 149 yards.

The Ti-Cats got on the board first following a fumbled Stamps punt return. The advantageous field position was good for a 47-yard field goal from Taylor Bertolet six minutes into the first frame.

The Stamps wasted no time answering back, though. What looked like a two-and-out on the following drive quickly turned into a field goal for the Red & White as the Ti-Cats’ Frankie Williams would fumble a punt return as well, the Stamps were awarded the football after Ramon Richards knocked it out of bounds. On the extra drive, Rene Paredes evened the score with a 31-yard boot.

The second quarter brought tons of defensive action, and only one scoring drive. With less than a minute remaining in the frame Bertolet capped off an eight play drive with an 18-yard field goal to put the home team on top.

Less than three minutes into the second half Bertolet hit again, this time a 49-yard field goal to widen the gap to 9-3 Ti-Cats.

But the Stamps struck shortly after. On the first play of the following drive Mitchell and Luther Hakunavanhu connected on a 74-yard attempt – his first CFL grab. Hakunavanhu would run it 46-yards after the catch to take it down to the 1-yard line. Jake Maier punched the ball in for the first touchdown of the evening. Paredes nailed the extra point to make it 10-9 for the visitors.

On their next possession, a Ti-Cats pick six put the home team back in the lead. Simoni Lawrence would get the interception for the major. A successful two-point convert after a Maleek Irons run made it 17-10 for the Tabbies to round out scoring in the third.

With 6:17 remaining in the match Bertolet kicked his third field goal of the night, this one from 19 yards. He would hit once again on the next Ti-Cats possession to make it 23-10.

For the final Red & White drive of the evening Maier would take over centre for the Stamps, and it paid off. After a perfect 9-of-9 play drive, Maier and Richie Sindani connected in the endzone to find paydirt. The extra point was good, but it wasn’t enough to secure a win.

The Stamps now head into a bye-week before they take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders at McMahon Stadium for the Family Day game on Oct. 2.