HAMILTON — The first-place Hamilton Tiger-Cats were a lot of things this season, but bulletproof isn’t quite one of them.
While the Edmonton Eskimos weren’t among the teams that handed the Tabbies their three losses in 2019, getting swept in the season series against Hamilton 2-0, the underdogs of Sunday’s East Division final (11 a.m., TSN, 630 CHED) came about as close as it gets.
While no one managed to defeat the Ticats on their home turf, the Eskimos took Hamilton to the limit at Commonwealth Stadium in September, losing 30-27 on a last-second field goal that barely made it.
“It hit off that upright,” Logan Kilgore, who started both games against Hamilton this season while quarterback Trevor Harris was injured, said in the south end zone at Commonwealth Stadium before the team flew out Friday afternoon.
After that game, the Eskimos knew they could run with the big dogs … or ’Cats, as it were. Especially after trailing 24-0 in the second quarter before answering back with 24 points of their own.
“When you look at the season as a whole, that’s the kind of team that we are,” said Kilgore. “A lot of people who have been predicting and the percentage and all the other things that you have out there, that’s why you play the game.
“And when you’re down 24-0 to a really good team on all three phases, I’m sure there wasn’t that many people thinking that we were going to come back in that game.”
Just like there aren’t many favouring the Eskimos to come out of Hamilton with a win Sunday.
“At the end of the day, there’s four teams left in these playoffs right now and we’re one of them,” said Kilgore, who went 2-2 as a starter to secure Edmonton’s crossover spot in Harris’s absence. “Obviously, they’re a really good team. They’re exceptionally good at home.
“But at the same time, we’re confident and they’re extremely well coached. They’re not going to walk into this one thinking it’s not going to be a game, that’s for sure.”
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On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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