As the Redblacks came into work for the final practice of the season, there’s a high possibility taht you wouldn’t be able to tell who the players really were. Yes, the team had been shaken around throughout the season, but at what point did we sign Forrest Gump?
Well, we all know Gump played some running back at the University of Alabama, but when he came to Ottawa as a kicker most were surprised.
Shown in the picture displayed is, Richie Leone as Forrest Gump, and Michael Klassen as Hulk Hogan.
On the football side of things, Leone was announced to be the Redblacks’ candidate for special teams player of the year. Along with Leone was Avery Williams (MOP, DPOY), Jerod Fernandez (ROY), and Nolan Macmillan (OLOY, CPOY) who will represent the Redblacks at the CFL awards during Grey Cup week this November.
Unfortunately for the Redblacks, the season will not be leading them to the Grey Cup as it did last season and the season finale will take place tomorrow at TD Place.
Going into the game, there are two noticeable changes, which are, Dominique Davis to start at quarterback and John Crockett will be back from injury and to start at running back.
Other than those two moves, there are not many changes to the team as the Redblacks will be focused on the future and looking at what we’ve got for the next season.
As mentioned before, the Redblacks showed up to today’s walkthrough in costumes, but in tomorrow’s game they will be wearing a game face as they fight for future roster spots.
Stay tuned to the Redblacks as they fight for their fourth win in their season finale against the Alouettes in Ottawa tomorrow.
With just 2 games left in the 2019 season, Redblacks fans are left with close to nothing to cheer about, although it has been a good learning year! In the past few seasons, Ottawa has been spoiled with 3 Grey Cup appearances, and this season was much needed for the city.
Ottawa Redblacks #22 Greg Morris during the first quarter against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at TD Place, Saturday August 17, 2019. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia
Although it may not seem very nice when you look at a 3-13 record, there has been multiple bright spots within the team this season. One of which would be the team’s depth. This season, the Redblacks have struggled with injuries. The team lost many big pieces like Antoine Pruneau, Jonathan Rose and John Crockett, but Marcel Desjardins’ scout team helped us out to fill those wholes.
At today’s Redblacks walk through, I was able to ask Morris about the system here in Ottawa which allows everyone to be ready for any opportunity given, he explains “Ottawa has a family system, they do their best to implicate everybody and putting them in the best position for them and the team. You’ve got to tip your hats to the coaching staff for going above and beyond with the preparation and its just one of many reasons for the success we’ve had.”
With the team’s top two running backs, Madu and Crockett battling the injury bug, every few games the team saw Greg Morris take the field.
OTTAWA, ON – AUGUST 17: Ottawa Redblacks running back Greg Morris (22) runs with the ball during Canadian Football League action between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Ottawa Redblacks on August 17, 2019, at TD Place at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire)
The 27 year old CFL veteran is in his second year with the team, and before his Ottawa days he played a role in Edmonton, and Saskatchewan where he totaled for 1,225 all-purpose yards on 80 touches and one went for a touchdown. Since his signing with the Redblacks, he added an extra 371 yards and 40 touches to his short CFL career!
Going into Tomorrow’s game in Toronto, Morris, a Toronto native, will be playing in front of family and friends. He points out, “Whenever I play there, its always like a home game. I’ve got a bunch of guys watching me, but I’m also playing against a lot of guys I know from Toronto. It has the atmosphere of a high-school game because of that, and I love playing there.”
Most of Morris’ teammates and friends call him by the nickname “Juice”, he touched on that, “When I was younger, I drank a lot of juice and I always had a lot of energy which led to me not sleeping well and I still don’t. They called me Juice as in a juiced up battery because of the energy I had.”
In Tomorrow’s game, Morris will feature as the number 2 back playing behind Gillanders for the second straight game. Tune into TSN, RDS or ESPN to view the game at 4:00 pm EDT.
Today at 4:00 pm EDT, the Ottawa Redblacks will be playing against the Hamilton Tigercats. As of now, the Tiger-Cats are the winners of the east division sitting at 12-3, while Ottawa is fighting for their 4th win of the season at 3-12.
When you put those two records side to side, it may look like a big win for Hamilton, although that’s not the case here. Ottawa may be out of the playoff picture, but the players are fighting to stay on CFL rosters and with that power, it should be a great divisional game to watch.
Today’s game is one of three left for the Redblacks, and all three are divisional games (@Hamilton, @Toronto, vs Montreal), meaning all three games could be good games to close the season with.
Last game in Arndt’s first start, he threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns. One of those touchdowns and 70 yards went to receiver Dominique Rhymes. With those 70 yards, Rhymes surpassed 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his career. The 26 year old Miami native could add to his totals with Arndt looking to start today’s game along with the other 2 to close the season.
"At the end of the day you're still playing football the game you love.. you gotta come out each and ever week and be ready to go."@StefLogan11 says that despite the losing season, the #REDBLACKS still have a job to do this weekend.#RNation#LetErRippic.twitter.com/tulUikOB6z
Last week, the Redblacks took on the Toronto Argonauts at BMO field in Toronto, unlike the rest of Ottawa’s games the quarterback under center had been William Arndt.
Arndt started the season as the 3rd string quarterback of the team, but as the season developed and our playoff chances getting slimmer he started to get higher up in the depth chart and gaining playing time. Going into last week’s game, the Redblacks needed a miracle to stay in the playoff hunt and sat at 3-11. As the team began to lose chances at the overall goal of every season at the Grey Cup, they started looking at the smaller things. The team took a look at what they have for the future, and they’ve decided to get the future to show their potentials now.
William Arndt is one of many players a part of the future, he’s been in the organization for just over 2 seasons and has one more year on his rookie contract with the Redblacks. With the Redblacks, Arndt only got closing time up until last week’s start in Toronto, therefore the Redblacks management were curious to see what he had for them in 0-0 game.
In Arndt’s first career start, he carried the Redblacks to multiple up and down situations which held the breath of most Redblacks fans watching, which means he kept them in the game. For the first quarter or so, Arndt performed well throwing the ball for over 50 yards on 6 completions holding the Redblacks to a close 3-3 tie, although that was not for long.
Just in the second quarter it self, the Argos scored two touchdowns while stopping Arndt and the Redblacks to just 29 passing yards with a 17-3 Argos’ lead at half.
Down 14 with just 30 minutes of regulation left, the Redblacks were in need of a spark, and they got it!
After throwing for just 84 yards in half one, Arndt was back firing it in the second half. He threw for his first two touchdowns of his career along with 204 yards passing which expanded his numbers on the day to 288 yards and 2 touchdowns.
After his first start, Arndt’s numbers on his short career now sit at a 61% completion percentage with 478 passing yards to go under his two touchdowns.
Going into the 2020 CFL season, the Redblacks quarterbacks would contain of Dominique Davis and William Arndt.
With Davis and Arndt the only quarterbacks under contract for next season, the Redblacks might be in the hunt for a quarterback this off-season. This season the Redblacks also played under no offensive coordinator, therefore a Quarterback and OC are most likely going to find themselves signing an Ottawa Redblacks contract this off-season.
Tonight at BMO field in Toronto, the Ottawa Redblacks will be playing the Toronto Argonauts for the second time this season.
Photo of Will Arndt at a Redblacks practice, photo taken by Jordan Zlomislic
In the first meeting, the Argonauts got the best of the Redblacks, but since then the Redblacks have made a few moves which are going to help change tonight’s matchup!
For tonight’s game, the Redblacks will be starting quarterback William Arndt. Arndt has spent the whole season behind Davis and Jennings getting just little playing time. In the situations that Arndt has been placed in this season, he’s always brought a spark to the offence helping them move the ball, therefore it’ll be interesting to see what he can do in a full game.
Photo of Sherrod Baltimore in game action vs the Hamilton Tiger Cats in the 2018 season
Just an hour before tonight’s game in Toronto, Redblacks defensive back Sherrod Baltimore will be staring in a documentary “Only the strong survive” which was filmed by TSN and will give Redblacks fans some information about Baltimore and his past. To watch the documentary, keep your eyes on TSN at 6:00 as it should be airing then.
Interviews with both Danny O’Brien and Trevor Harris below
In the month of September, the Redblacks played 4 games, and 3 of them were at TD Place. After coming off a 2-0 start to the season, the Redblacks have fallen to 3-11, losing 11 of the past 12 games. In those losses, it wasn’t easy to find bright spots, although there were many of them.
Throughout the 3 games played at TD Place this past September, the Redblacks hosted many former Redblacks players, two of which would be Danny O’Brien and Trevor Harris. On O’Brien’s side of things, it would be the third time back in Ottawa since his departure. Along with O’Brien, Trevor Harris who he claims his “pal” was back for the first time. To be coming back to Ottawa, they must have been here before, right?
The answer to that is yes, both Trevor Harris and Danny O’Brien spent some time as an Ottawa Redblack.
The Danny O’Brien Chronicles
Danny O’Brien with all his College and Professional level teams
On September 26th of 1990, the world welcomed a legend by the name of Danny O’Brien. O’Brien was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and that’s where he’d also spend a few years of his childhood before moving to North Carolina. Danny got more involved with football as they moved to North Carolina, where he played football at East Forsyth High School in Kernersville, North Carolina.
As he got more involved with football, the better he got. Danny had a quite successful career at high-school which opened eyes for multiple universities. In his senior year of high school, O’Brien completed just 50% of his passes, although he showed off his arm and legs throwing for 1,640 yards and 16 touchdowns while running for 780 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. These numbers impressed some scouts of highly ranked universities as O’Brien got his shot at a few showcases.
Following his near perfect senior year, Danny received offers from North Carolina, North Carolina State, East Carolina, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Duke, Wake Forest, Maryland and Miami. Out of the offers received, he went on to accept a scholarship and go to the University of Maryland.
To start his time at Maryland, he was a redshirt freshman in 2009 and didn’t receive any playing time until the 2010 season opener.
In Maryland’s week one match up vs Navy, O’Brien played one snap, and lost a fumble on the play. A tough start may have been needed for Danny as the rest of the season he was lights out the best freshman of the season.
Being awarded the ACC Rookie of the Year award, O’Brien threw for 2,438 yards and 22 touchdown passes along with one rushing and one receiving touchdown.
After he had a historic freshman season, it seemed as if Maryland would be a top team in 2011 but things took a little turn. O’Brien played just 9 of 12 games, throwing for 1,648 yards and 7 touchdowns. Danny was in need of a bounce back, and that bounce back wasn’t going to take place in Maryland. O’Brien announced that he’d transfer from Maryland to Wisconsin for the 2012 season.
Danny O`Brien at Wisconsin
Unfortunately for O’Brien’s bounce back season, he suffered a season ending injury on October 27th vs Michigan State. Before the injury, he threw for over 500 yards and 3 touchdowns.
If he wouldn’t have been a redshirt in his freshman campaign, that would’ve been Danny;s last season of College Football, but with the redshirt season behind him he had a final shot at showing professional teams what he’s got.
O’Brien’s final shot was a little different from the past chances he’s had, as he found himself in a different division.
O`Brien at Catawba
Danny O’Brien played his final year of eligibility with the Catawba College Indians of the NCAA’s division 2. At Catawba, O’Brien excelled on his legs and with his arm combining for a total of 18 touchdowns to pair with his 2,490 passing yards.
As a conclusion, Danny O’Brien’s final shot gave him his shot at the professional level. Coming out of Catawba College, O’Brien participated in the Atlanta Falcons rookie camp. Unfortunately for him, things didn’t quite work out and he wasn’t offered a contract for the pre-season.
Once he was a free agent, he was signed by the Ottawa Redblacks to be a part of their inaugural season in the CFL.
As the backup quarterback of the Redblacks’ Danny got playing time in 8 of the 18 regular season games. In those 8 games, O’Brien threw for 421 yards and 2 touchdowns with a 53% completion percentage.
The cause for the playing time given in 2014 for O’Brien would be the 2-16 record that the Redblacks had on the season. As for that, things changed for the Redblacks and O’Brien in 2015. In just the second year of existence the Redblacks took the league by storm winning 12 of 18 games and making it to Grey Cup. Along with the Grey Cup appearance, O’Brien played just 3 games where he completed 16 passes for 98 yards.
After a heart breaking ending to the 2015 season with a Grey Cup loss to Edmonton, Danny found himself in the final year of his Redblacks’ contract. Unluckily for him, the Redblacks signed former Argos’ quarterback Trevor Harris which dropped Danny to the 3rd string spot.
That spot was not quite his spot for the season, as in week one’s matchup in Edmonton, Henry Burris suffered a hand injury sidelining him for multiple weeks. With Burris’ injury, Harris was brought in to be the starting quarterback, and O’Brien was back at number 2! With both Harris and Burris rotating, Danny appeared in just 3 games where he threw for a total of 41 yards. With just 41 yards on the season, he showed how the 2016 season was a team effort over a personal effort. That team effort brought them to the second straight Grey Cup, but this one in 2016 was different than the one before, as the Redblacks beat the Calgary Stampeders 39-33 in Overtime.
Fortunately for Danny, he got a ring to go on his finger, although he learnt that there was another path paved for his future. After a Grey Cup championship, Danny O`Brien was signed by the Edmonton Eskimos where he backed up Mike Reilly for both 2017 and 2018.
In the two years he spent in Edmonton, Mike Reilly stayed healthy which would lead to O`Brien getting very limited time at quarterback as he completed 4 of 5 passes for 44 yards while running it once for one yard.
After just getting time in 2 games with Edmonton, he was released by the Eskimos and signed by the Lions in the 2019 training camp where he would back up Mike Reilly for the second time in his career.
The 2019 season hasn’t been very nice to quarterbacks injury wise, although the Lions can not quite relate. Mike Reilly has stayed healthy for the majority of his career, and this year has been a regular for him. Unfortunately for Danny, Reilly staying healthy means he has not gotten many chances at the quarterback position. Appearing in just two games thus far, he is 0 of 4 in passing, although without chances at quarterback, he has found himself on the field every game this season as the place kick holder. O`Brien and the Lions are apart of a 3 game win streak sitting at 4-10 on the season.
On the 21st of September the Lions played the Redblacks at TD Place in Ottawa, and I was able to catch up with Danny after the game, and interviewed him about his time here in Ottawa.
Catching Up with Danny O`Brien
Zlomislic: You spent three seasons here in Ottawa, what was it like to play here (Ottawa)?
O’Brien: “I loved it here! Great people in Ottawa, I remember a lot of great relationships that I have here. We went to two grey cups, which was awesome, lots of great memories here (TD Place) and a great locker room made up of a lot of good bonds with teammates. I keep in touch with a lot of guys that are here and with other teams, and I feel like we have an unforgettable bond almost.”
Zlomislic: Here in Ottawa, you built a lot of wonderful relationships, who have you been keeping in touch with from Ottawa?
O’Brien: “I have talked to nearly everyone! I just talked to Brad (Sinopoli) for a bit and looking back at it, I talk to a lot of guys, Greg (Ellingson), Trevor (Harris), Sir Vincent (Rogers), Willy P and the list keeps going, but the longer I play in the league the smaller the league gets as guys start to retire and enjoy their lives after football, but as I said before, our bonds will never be forgotten.”
Zlomislic: What is your favorite football memory?
O’Brien: “Well, winning the Grey Cup will always be number one! 2016 winning the Cup, the first one here in Ottawa, it was crazy! The franchise and its fans deserved it and it was all around a great experience.”
Zlomislic: How would you describe the 2016 Grey Cup?
O’Brien: “It was awesome to be there for sure! Coming up short the year before, to be in the same position we were a underdog and to play the way we did and actually bring one home, it was just the right end of the week. It felt great to bring it home especially how the game ended in Overtime.”
Zlomislic: This is now year 3 away from Ottawa, what do you miss most here?
O’Brien: “I would say the people, not saying that Edmonton and B.C have been nice but the fans here in Ottawa are great. The city of Ottawa is something I`ve missed, and I realize that every time I play here.”
The tale of Trevor Harris
Trevor Harris was born in Waldo, a small town in Ohio. In the small town, there wasnt much around, but Trevor found himself a few sports teams. In high school, Harris played both Basketball and Football, although he succeeded highly in football. By succeeding, Harris took high school football by surprise, throwing for over 1,500 yards and 23 touchdowns in his senior year. These numbers were great, although finding himself in the small town of Waldo, Ohio not many scouts were aware of his talents. A division two school in Pennsylvania named Edinboro University found him, and fell in love with him after his freshman season.
In just his first year of University, Harris threw the ball for 2,547 yards on just 313 attempts. He averaged 8.13 yards per attempt while throwing 20 touchdown passes which awarded him the starting job for the next few seasons.
After throwing for over 2,500 yards in his rookie campaign, Harris had eyes on him all around the NCAA, and if you watched him, he didn’t disappoint you. Harris threw for 11,899 yards and 100 touchdowns in his college career, and 630 of those yards came in his last game at Edinboro.
On November 21st 2009, Trevor Harris appeared in Edinboro`s playoff game vs West Liberty. Edinboro would find themselves losing the game 84-63, but it seemed like Trevor Harris left with a victory. Throwing for 630 yards and 5 touchdowns to pair with two rush touchdowns, Harris took the record for most pass yards in a playoff game and made the game a shootout throwing and running for a combined 7 touchdowns. Now that I look at it, it would have been nice to have him on a fantasy football team that day!
Coming off a great ending to his college career, Harris was brought in for the Jacksonville Jaguars 2010 pre-season. He didn’t appear in much games with Jacksonville, although had the opportunity to spend training camp with the team. After training camp, Trevor was cut by the Jaguars and would spend the rest of 2010, 2011 and part of 2012 on the following teams: The Arizona Rattlers, Hartford Colonials, Buffalo Bills, Sacramento Mountain Lions and the Orlando Predators.
After jumping on and off teams rosters in 2010 and 2011, it seemed as if Harris landed a job up north with the Toronto Argonauts. In the 2012 pre-season finale for Toronto, Trevor got a significant amount of playing time which he used to show off his talents. He completed 13 of 15 attempts for 160 yards and 2 touchdown passes and won his way onto the Argos roster for the 2012 season. In 2012, Trevor Harris found himself throwing the ball for 80 yards on 8 completions. The numbers weren’t great, but Harris had a different kind of win that season. In 2012, Harris was the third string quarterback of the Grey Cup Champion Toronto Argonauts led by future hall of famer Ricky Ray.
In just his first CFL season, Trevor won a Grey Cup, but he had to wait a while to get the chance to go to a Grey Cup as a starter, in fact it took 3 seasons for him to start just one game. In both 2013 and 2014, Harris served as a backup quarterback of the Argos, throwing for 564 yards and 2 touchdowns on 50 completions.
After holding up a 70% completion percentage in the previous two seasons, the Argos looked at Harris to start 16 games of the 2015 season. He wasn’t given the job, as Ricky Ray suffered an injury in the pre-season which sidelined him for the majority of the season. As the backup of the Argonauts, it was time to step up for Trevor Harris and that’s exactly what he did. In the final year of his contract, he led the CFL in passing touchdowns with 33 which paired with 4,454 yards and a 9-7 record as a starter.
Leading the Argonauts to the playoffs, Harris was being looked at as a starting quarterback during free agency and that’s what the Redblacks signed him as, sort of.
In the 2016 off-season, the Ottawa Redblacks signed Harris to be their future starting quarterback, but due to a Henry Burris thumb injury in the first game of the 2016 season, Harris was Ottawa`s starter earlier than expected. The first game he appeared in Red and Black, the ball hit the ground just twice. Harris completed 17 of 19 passes for 292 yards and 3 touchdowns in Edmonton in week one of 2016.
After coming off a crazy first game, it was time for him to start a few games, and things looked pretty good for Harris in the few starts he had. With Burris missing 12 games, Harris started 11 of 18 games in the 2016 season, completing 73% of his passes he finished the regular season with 3,301 passing yards and 16 touchdowns to pair with just 4 interceptions. Though he didn’t play the entire season, it seemed as if Harris was ready to be the starter of the team, but Henry Burris still had gas left in the tank. For the remainder of the 2016 season, Harris sat behind Burris where he watched Burris lead a 8-9-1 recorded team to a grey cup championship.
Behind his 2nd Grey Cup win, it was announced that Harris would be the starting quarterback of the Redblacks in the 2017 season following Henry Burris` retirement.
Without a mentor on the sidelines, Harris started 15 of 18 games in the 2017 season as he battled injuries for the other 3 games. In the 15 games started, he threw for 4,679 yards and 30 touchdowns. Unfortunately for Harris and the Redblacks, the 2017 season ended after a loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the East Semi Final.
Coming his first season as the starting quarterback, Harris was back in Ottawa with a little different terms. He was more experienced going into the 2018 season, as the previous season was just his first game as the starting quarterback of a franchise, he proved that he was still new to it. Now as the starting quarterback for the second straight season, Harris had no excuse if he didn’t play well as he is experienced enough. Although thing were on Harris`side in 2018, winning 11 of 18 games and going to the Grey Cup, Harris didn’t need an excuse.
In 2018, Harris threw for over 5,000 yards and 22 touchdowns and was in the talks for MOP especially after his big East Final performance which set records.
On November 18th, 2018 the Redblacks hosted the Hamilton Tiger Cats for the 2018 East Final and the Redblacks took Hamilton’s chances at the Grey Cup and won 46-27. Of those 46 points scored by Ottawa, 36 of them came from Harris`arm.
Trevor Harris set the record for most touchdowns thrown in a CFL playoff game with 6 touchdown passes, as he led the Redblacks to a heart breaking loss in the Grey Cup.
As Redblacks` fans know, the 2019 free agency period hit Ottawa hard, as Trevor Harris signed with the Edmonton Eskimos, although for Harris everything has been great since his departure from Ottawa.
After being signed by Edmonton, Harris started the first twelve games of the 2019 season throwing for 3,706 passing yards and 15 touchdowns with just 4 interceptions. Since then, he has been battling a arm injury as he and the Eskimos look to cross-over for the 2019 CFL playoffs.
In the Redblacks and Eskimos matchup here in Ottawa last week, I was fortunate enough to catch up with Trevor Harris.
Trevor Harris Interview
Zlomislic: Throughout your career, you have had some great times, what would be your favorite football memory?
Harris: “I have won two grey cups, so those are the favorite moments, although the real favorite moments are the relationships I have made and the friendships I have because of football. I have so many bonds with teammates, and those are the things that will last forever.”
Zlomislic: Having spent 3 seasons in Ottawa, this is the first time back on the visitors side, what do you miss most about Ottawa?
Harris: “You know, I didn’t know how I was going to feel coming back and when I came back, as much as Edmonton feels like home, this (Ottawa) still feels like home to me, and its a great place to play football, I got a chance to talk to fans and the players I played with and I have realized that I miss it more than I thought I would’ve.”
Zlomislic: In the 3 seasons that you spent as a Redblacks quarterback, you saw first hand how great Ottawas fans are, and a few have been cheering you on in Edmonton, what do you have to say about RNATION?
Harris: “I couldn’t be more grateful for the fans that have continued to support me. The fans here in Ottawa are hard on the players, and they should be. They expect greatness and when you have a caliber team like they’ve had in the few years its just like that. To me its been phenomenal to have these fans still support me on a different team.”
Zlomislic: In the 2016 season, you and the Redblacks won the Grey Cup, what was this experience like for you?
Harris: “It was a lot of fun. As much as the Grey Cup was awesome, it was more about the bonds I created with guys on my team and its the first time I saw a two quarterback system work before. Hank and I both shared time, and for it to work was unreal how we got it done together. Its all about the relationships you make, the rings you get are cool, but they also tell a story, and the story contains all your friendships made within your team.”
Zlomislic: How would you describe the 2016 Grey Cup?
Harris: “It was up and down. When Hank went down in warmups it looked like I was going to go in for a little bit. It was kind of stressful situation but leaving with the win was awesome!”
Zlomislic: When you step onto the field, is there any certain quarterback you try and copy your game after?
Harris: “I know of a few guys that mimic some quarterbacks, but for me, I don’t, I just try and be me and do my best to get the ball in the end-zone.”
Today, the Ottawa Redblacks hosted the Edmonton Eskimos. For the first time on the other sidelines, Trevor Harris and Greg Ellingson found themselves at TD Place.
Going into the game, the Redblacks were 3-10, fighting their way into the playoffs as the 3rd place team in the East. At the same time, the Eskimos were 6-7 finding their way to the West-East crossover.
It took the Redblacks 13:37 through the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead, and the lead only lasted a few drives. Going into the second half, the Eskimos were up 7-3. The scores containing of 2 field goals and a rouge towards a Lewis Ward field goal.
With both teams gaining momentum going into the second half, the fans at TD Place got to see the game that they paid to see. In the second half, the Redblacks scored 13 points, but it wasn’t enough to compare to Edmonton’s 14 points.
Leaving the stadium today, the Redblacks are finding themselves one game away from elimination (3-11) with 4 games remaining.
Redblacks players of the game
Dominique Davis
Scoring the only Redblacks touchdown of the game, and creating a spark on the field, Davis threw the ball for 215 yards on 15 completions while running in a touchdown and 7 other rush yards.
Dominique Rhymes
Rhymes found himself as the favorite target once again today, catching 5 of 7 targets for 104 yards including a 45 yard catch from Davis on the 4th quarter scoring drive.
J.R Tavai and Michael Wakefield
The two defensive linemen caught eachother having one of their best performances of the season. Each of them racking up 5 tackles and a quarterback sack each, while Tavai also had a 10+ yard tackle for loss in the second half. Both defenders gave Ottawa’s offense some momentum and had great games.
Things may not be the brightest here in Ottawa when you look at our record and what’s happened in the last few games, but if you look closely, there are many good attributes when it comes to the Redblacks. Sitting at 3-10, the Redblacks are in need of a miracle to make it into the playoffs. That miracle being, winning 4 of the last 5 regular season games, while Edmonton loses their final 5 games. If that miracle happens, the Redblacks would be 3rd place in the East playing in the East Semi-Final game on November 10th.
Well to most of us it seems impossible, so I’ll give you some good news. Our special teams is elite. Not only this year, but every single year.
Lets all go back to July 18 2014, the Toronto Argonauts came to Ottawa to play the Ottawa Redblacks for the first time ever. While the Redblacks sat at 0-2, Ricky Ray and his Argos were the favorite winning one of the previous three games. Getting ready for the first Ottawa Redblacks home game was kicker, Brett Maher. Making only 3 of 5 field goals already on the season, the fans were worried for his week 4 performance. The positive point, Maher wasn’t worried. Bringing his positive mentality onto the field, Maher went 6 for 6 on field goals while punting the ball 6 times for a total of 307 yards. Brett Maher’s six field goals won the game for Ottawa, scoring just 18 points, the Redblacks won their first franchise home game 18-17 against the Toronto Argonauts.
Unfortunately for the Redblacks, it was one of just two wins that season. The 2-16 season may have been tough for the team, but Maher went on to the NFL. After going 6 for 6 in the home opener, scouts must have had an eye on him. Once he went 25 for 25 on his converts, it must’ve been a no brainier.
#3 Brett Maher practices his kick during the Redblack’s practice in Ottawa, June 26, 2014 at Keith Harris Stadium, Carleton University. (Jean Levac / Ottawa Citizen) ORG XMIT: 0627 redblacks
Once Maher was gone to the NFL, it was time to get ourselves a new kicker. The Redbacks went out and got Chris Milo. Chris Milo, who was already in the league for four years at the time kicked for Ottawa in both 2015 and 2016. In 2015, Milo kicked the ball 34 times, making 31 of them and went on to lose in the Grey Cup. Along with his 2015 season, he also won the Grey Cup with Ottawa in 2016. In the 2016 season, Milo made 47 of 58 field goals while kicking a career long 55 yard field goal in the season opener against the Edmonton Eskimos.
Just before the 2017 training camp, Milo had been released by the Redblacks and piced up to be a scout of the Edmonton Eskimos. For the Redblacks, a familiar face came in. Brett Maher was back to take care of all kicking duties for the Redblacks. Maher showed excellence in Ottawa, punting the ball 111 times for 5189 yards, which averaged 46.7 yards each punt. Punting the ball seemed easy for Maher, but kicking field goals were a little bit of a challenge. Maher made 41 of 50 field goals, missing nine on the year, but showed off distance with a 53 yard field goal. His leg wasn’t enough to secure a spot in the Grey Cup, but did enough to secure the kicking job with the Dallas Cowboys.
With another departure of Maher, we were back looking for a kicker. Luckily for Ottawa, they found 3. Sergio Castillo, Lewis Ward and Richie Leone were all signed by the Redblacks to kick in training camp. Castillo, who spent time with both Winnipeg and Hamilton before coming to Ottawa had played 18 CFL games, making 39 of 47 field goals while Leone played two seasons with B.C making 65 of 90 field goals and punting the ball 216 times averaging 49.4 yards per punt. To go with the pair of kickers at training camp was rookie kicker, Lewis Ward. Lewis Ward played University for the Ottawa Gee Gees where he set records. Setting a Gee Gees record, Ward tallied up 412 career points, which also marks him at 3rd best in U Sports history. Ward also went 24 for 29 on field goals in his 2017 season at Ottawa.
In the 2018 pre-season, Richie Leone took punting responsibilities while Castillo and Ward fought out the kicking job. Going 4 for 4 in the pre-season opener, Lewis Ward won the job to kick field goals for Ottawa while Leone punted.
In week two, Ward missed his second kick of the day, which was a 48 yard field goal attempt. Luckily for Ward, this was the only miss of the season. Throughout the season, all Ward did was make field goals. Lewis Ward went 51/52 on the season, extended the “Consecutive field goals” streak from 33 to 50. Lewis also won the Rookie of the year award along with Special teams player of the year award at the awards ceremony in November.
Ward’s streak lasted until August 17th of this year when he missed which would’ve been his 70th consecutive field goal against the Hamilton Tiger Cats in Ottawa. In Lewis’ short career, he is already on pace to break more records. Ward is 83/87 hitting a career long 53 yard field goal setting his kicking percentage to 95%.
To pair with the kicking, the Redblacks’ kick return game has also been gifted. In both 2014 and 2015, Redblacks’ fans had no kick/punt return touchdowns to cheer about. Although, the wait was worth it. In 2016, Tristan Jackson returned the first punt return touchdown in Redblacks’ history. After that, return touchdowns came in bunches, in week two of the 2017 season, newcomer Diontae Spencer returned a punt 96 yards for a touchdown. Also in 2017, Spencer returned 70 punts and 25 kickoffs for a grand total of 1,536 return yards. Inside those yards, 363 of those yards came in a 41-36 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on October 27th. In that game, Spencer also broke a football record. To pair with 363 return yards, Spencer also received for 133 yards, which tallied in 496 all-purpose yards. With 496 all-purpose yards, Spencer broke the record for most all-purpose yards in a single game in all leagues (CFL, NFL, NCAA).
Last night at TD Place in Ottawa, the Redblacks and Lions faced off for a 7:00 Saturday Night Football matchup, and the Lions got the best of it. With the Lions going 2-0 against Ottawa, they now share a 3-10 record with the Redblacks.
On Ottawa’s side of things, Mossis Madu came up on top early, running for over 50 yards on just the first drive. Madu’s running game stayed on the first drive, ending the day with 57 yards it seemed as if the Lions defense knew the plays we’d be running.
With the run game denied after the first drive, both Jonathon Jennings and William Arndt split time at quarterback totaling 14 completions for 182 yards and two interceptions as a group. Both Dominique Rhymes and R.J Harris shared 7 targets each which they’d catch a total of 5 passes for 102 yards while Dedmon who was back from injury caught 2 of 3 targets for 42 yards, including a 41 yard reception.
To pair with his receiving yards, Dedmon was back in the return game. Dedmon returned one kickoff for 45 yards. Although 45 yards was in Dedmon’s hands, Stefan Logan returned 10 total kicks (punts & kickoffs) for 172 yards, including a 19 yard punt return and a 32 yard kick return.
Pointing out bright spots are tough in big losses, although there’s a few that came out of this game. Chris Randle, who we signed in the off-season has shown to be one of our best free agency pick ups, had his first interception as a Redblacks defensive back! Along with Randle’s first interception, we were very close to see Will Arndt’s first career touchdown pass. Arndt played quarterback for the entire fourth quarter, and found himself in a groove where he could’ve thrown a touchdown, this also would’ve been the Redblacks only touchdown of the day.
The Redblacks will be facing a few familiar faces next week against Edmonton, hosting both Trevor Harris and Greg Ellingson since their departures in the off-season.
Last week, the Ottawa Redblacks had an unsuccessful road trip to Vancouver, after losing 29-5 to the B.C Lions, there has been a variety of negativity going around the league about the Redblacks. Luckily for the Redblacks, they have another shot at it. The Lions will be making their ways to Ottawa for this week’s rematch from last week. It wasn’t just last week’s game that the team would like to have back, as the Redblacks are nearing the 10 loss mark of the season it seems like we’d like more than the one game back. Unfortunately for us, that can’t be done. For the last 4 seasons, the Redblacks have made it to the playoffs, this year we’ve taken it one win at a time.
As we reach week 15 of the CFL season, us fans find ourselves in a different position than usual. About a year ago, the Redblacks had beaten the Edmonton Eskimos 28-15 as they were marching their way to the Grey Cup. Now what are we doing? We just handed two teams their second win, and trying to fight adversity on getting win number 4.
Lets all get rid of the negativity and look at the positives, like what we can look for at the next few games along with what to look forward to next season.
A healthier roster
This season, we’ve suffered enormously in the injury department. Just a few weeks in, we lost R.J Harris, Seth Coate, Jonathan Rose and Antoine Pruneau who were all ready to play big roles on the team. Just when it seemed like we’d be on a roll to the playoffs, we were hit by the bug again.
Jennings hands the ball to Madu, photo taken by Jordan Zlomislic
Just a week after Pruneau had been back from his first injury, he was hit by another one that would sideline him for the remainder of the season, John Crockett faced an injury in Saskatchewan and is likely out for the season, and both Caleb Holley and R.J Harris have been battling injuries on a weekly basis.
As we’re gaining DeVonte Dedmon, and Rafael Araujo-Lopes in the receivers group this week, we’re starting to see what the future has in store for us. Both Dedmon and Araujo-Lopes are two rookie receivers that have combined for a few great games, for example DeVonte Dedmon’s two return touchdowns in Montreal. It gave us all something to cheer about, and now that he’s back in the lineup, we hope to cheer again. Along with Dedmon, Araujo-Lopes is back in the receiving core, Araujo-Lopes has just played one game in the organization, and was just getting the hang of the offense. In just the one game, he caught 6 of 8 targets for 57 yards recording a long of 19 yards.
As mentioned, both Holley and Harris have also struggled with injuries this season. When battling an injury, they weren’t playing at their full potential and both added up 677 yards in 8 games together. Next season, once they are injury free we will have a packed house in the receiving core and should be a good reason to keep cheering for Ottawa.
Will Arndt is young, and ready
This season, our quarterbacks group has struggled to air the ball out at their full potential. With injured receivers and no chemistry built within the offense, it has been tough to be successful in the air. There could be a cure to that, both Jennings and Davis are playing with the first string offense and have built chemistry with all of the starters, but once the starters are injured it seems as if we have no hope. That is when we look for William Arndt, he’s been practicing with these receivers all year and has only gotten a shot in 3 games completing 14 passes for 124 yards.
William Arndt posing for the camera at practice, photo by Jordan Zlomislic
In the last home game against Toronto, he had the opportunity to play the last few drives and he went on a rally. Arndt threw the ball 7 times, completing in 6 times for 54 yards while also running the ball for 7 yards. Arndt seemed in control, and deserves more chances.
The 6’5 26 year old quarterback has spent the past 3 seasons with the Redblacks and has yet to start a regular season game. With the games meaning nothing, and the risk of injuries being so high with our luck, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Arndt start a few games to cap off the season. He is signed until the end of the 2020 season, and has a chance at a 2nd string job next season depening what happens with both Davis and Jennings.
Gameday Saturday!
Remember, the Redblacks will be facing off against the B.C Lions this Saturday at 7:00 EDT at TD Place in Ottawa. Hope to see you there!
JZ MEDIA 