Photo: Bob Butrym/RFB Sport Photography / 3DownNation. All rights reserved.

Under a bright Hamilton sun, the Toronto Argonauts turned Hamilton Stadium into their own stage, rolling past the Tiger-Cats 37–22 to clinch the season series and lift the Harold Ballard Trophy.

Here are my thoughts on the game.

Kelly’s going to Kelly

3DownNation Newsletter

Today’s CFL news in your inbox every day at 3 p.m.

By signing up you agree to receive daily emails from 3DownNation, as well as our
terms of service and
privacy policy. Unsubscribe anytime.
1900 Rose St, Regina SK S4P 0A9.

After last week’s performance in Regina, when Chad Kelly couldn’t do much of anything in the second half, he fared much better this week in the Labour Day Classic. Although his lone interception was a lowlight of the day, Kelly finished with a stat line of 23-for-35 for 319 yards and three touchdown passes on the afternoon.

“It’s huge,” Kelly told me post-game. “We get to go home after this now and enjoy our home crowd. We’ve got to be ready for Ottawa; their backs are against the wall, too. We’ve got to be ready for whatever they throw.”

Performances like this, now that the calendar has turned to September, can be huge confidence builders as the room for error shrinks and every game matters. Today’s win helps build separation from Hamilton, but with an 0–11 Ottawa squad up next, no opponent can be overlooked.

Hajrullahu-jah, they’ve got a kicker again

In his first game action since the Argonauts’ visit to Hamilton in July, Lirim Hajrullahu faced immense pressure to rediscover his confidence and put Toronto’s kicking woes behind them, especially after the release of Brady Lidster. He responded emphatically, drilling two early field goals, including a dead-straight 52-yarder through the uprights.

Hajrullahu finished the day a perfect three-for-three on field goals and did not miss an extra point, delivering the kind of confidence-boosting performance he and the Argonauts desperately needed.

“As a kicker, you always want to forget those things that happen,” Hajrullahu said of his struggles earlier this year. “And you want to build off them, go back to the tapes, see what you can do to make it better.”

Having a great day, as he did, can go a long way towards earning back the trust of your coach, as well.

“Felt good about him throughout the week,” Mike Miller said post-game.

“I thought he had a solid week each day, climbing up to this game. I think he’s feeling better now and he’s a pro; he goes in and attacks it one play at a time.”

Run game off the milk carton

If you read my recap, you know that the Argonauts’ run game was glaringly absent last week, even after Isaiah Smith rushed for 99 yards the week before last. In this game, Toronto found its missing ground attack and used it to its advantage/

Smith carried the ball 13 times for 36 yards and one touchdown. After last week’s negative-one-yard performance, Qualan Jones also found his footing in the run game, rushing five times for 30 yards.

This balanced offensive approach is what the Argonauts do best, and it’s what Coach Miller needs to continue relying on if this team wants to be successful down the home stretch and earn a shot at returning to the playoffs.

1K Damonte

Week in and week out, Damonte Coxie has been a constant in the Argonauts’ offence, and Labour Day was no different. He recorded his fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season, capping the first half with a difference-making touchdown catch. Coxie finished the day with six receptions for 100 yards and that score.

The 100-yard performance pushed him over 1,000 receiving yards on the season; he now sits at 1,043 yards, which has him in third place in the CFL behind Tyson Philpot and Tyler Snead. With six regular-season games remaining, the sky is the limit for where Coxie can go from here. One thing is certain: if he keeps up the level of play he’s shown in 2026, he won’t just be the best receiver on the Argonauts; he’ll be mentioned among the league’s best.

They had us worried for a second

When the score became 30–22 after a Kurleigh Gittens Jr. touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter, the Tiger-Cats looked to pounce, like any cat that senses its prey is in danger. However, the Argonauts knew that if they could drive down the field and add another score, victory would be all but certain.

Five plays later, a 21-yard touchdown pass to David Ungerer III essentially secured that victory, and Argonauts fans everywhere breathed a sigh of relief.

This moment wouldn’t have felt the same had the Argonauts not blown a 10-point lead to the Roughriders last week, but the past is the past. It seems the Argos have put that disaster behind them, earning their sixth win of the year, already more than all of 2025, and giving fans the warm feeling that, when you want us to close a game out, you can now trust us to. Again, that is.

Ballard is coming back up the QEW

Harold Ballard is smiling somewhere, knowing the Argonauts honoured his legacy by celebrating this victory and capturing the Harold Ballard Trophy for the 2026 season. A trophy won is a trophy earned, and defeating a rival like the Tiger-Cats to claim it could be the spark this Argonauts squad needs.

For a team whose 2026 campaign has been a roller coaster, this win might mark the start of something bigger: building momentum, confidence, and perhaps earning a few more trophies before the season is done.

A visit from an old friend

The Argonauts have a very quick turnaround this week. In just five days, they’ll host Ryan Dinwiddie and his 0–11 Redblacks at BMO Field on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. EDT, kicking off the CFL’s quadrupleheader.

This one has trap-game written all over it. Ottawa is coming off a bye week, and you can bet Dinwiddie would love to secure his first win as Redblacks head coach against the Argonauts, exactly 364 days after his last CFL victory at BMO Field.

Griff can’t get enough of football. He’s the man that keeps fans up to date on everything Toronto Argonauts.