Bo Levi Mitchell has a long memory that served him well on Thursday.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback remembered last season’s trip to Winnipeg in September that ended with an embarrassing 40-3 loss.
The 14-year veteran decided to try to do something about it for Thursday night’s Blue Bombers’ home opener and it seemed to spark a 37-27 Ticats’ victory.
“I could see it the entire week of practice, I could see it on the travel — things were different, guys were locked in,” Mitchell said.
“I switched up literally everything that I do, like my routine I’ve done it for 14, 15 years. Superstition-wise, I’m like I’m changing everything.”
That included not going to the casino on game day. Instead, he went to a steakhouse and paid the bill for a number of his teammates. Instead of taking a ride share to Princess Auto Stadium with a couple of players, he jumped on the team bus.
“Just trying to change things up, change up the juju,” Mitchell said.
He ended up completing 19 of 24 pass attempts for 287 yards with three touchdowns — two to Kiondre Smith — and no interceptions. He even had a 15-yard run to keep a drive alive that ended with a TD toss to Max Mang.
“Got five yards in and my legs gave out,” Mitchell joked. “I would have loved to throw the ball for a touchdown, but it feels good on a second-and-long any time you can get a first down as a quarterback, especially as a 36-year-old guy, it felt good to help the team there.”
The Ticats were coming off an overtime loss to Montreal and moved to 1-1, the first time the team hasn’t opened a season 0-2 since 2019.
Winnipeg (1-1) was playing in front of a 15th consecutive capacity crowd of 32,343 in a game that featured on-and-off downpours.
Hamilton also got a touchdown off a quarterback sneak from backup Jake Dolegala. Marc Liegghio was good on field goals from 53, 46 and 23 yards and hit four converts.
“I thought Bo was amazing under the conditions, against a really good defence,” Ticats head coach Scott Milanovich said.
“The big run on second-and-14, I think ended with a touchdown if I remember correctly. We needed every point we could get tonight, so I thought Bo played a hell of a game.”
Winnipeg squeezed the score 34-27 with 2:12 remaining in the game, but the Ticats put in backup quarterback Tre Ford for the first snap and he peeled off 23-yard run.
Mitchell then led the offence down the field for a Liegghio 23-yarder to seal the victory with 35 seconds left on the clock.
Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros was 28-of-35 passing for 421 yards, two TDs and one interception.
“You know what, offensively we just left points on the field,” Collaros said of his huge yardage that didn’t come with a victory.
“Obviously, it starts with me turning the football over there in the second quarter, going into halftime. You can’t do that. That’s at least three points for us.”
Receivers Nic Demski and Ontaria Wilson scored for Winnipeg and backup quarterback Bryce Perkins plunged over the goal line. Sergio Castillo connected on field goals from 19 and 45 yards, but missed from 43 yards out. He made three converts.
Bombers receiver Tommy Nield led all receivers with eight catches for 126 yards.
Hamilton rookie American running back Larry Rountree III finished the game with 23 carries for 124 yards. Bombers veteran star Brady Oliveira was held to eight runs for 32 yards.
“I don’t think he took us by surprise,” Winnipeg head coach Mike O’Shea said of Rountree. “There’s no play design in defensive football that says we’re going to leave two gaps uncovered.
“So if it happens, if there’s a big space there, somebody’s not in the right gap. And then you compound it by missing a tackle, and those big yards are made.”
Winnipeg led 10-7 after the first quarter and the Tiger-Cats had a 24-10 edge at halftime. It was 24-13 heading into the fourth.
Notes: Hamilton defensive back Jamal Peters was taken off the field on a stretcher almost nine minutes into the first quarter. He was tackling Nield and his helmet hit Nield’s knee. The Ticats announced on social media Peters was conscious and in good spirits on the way to hospital. Milanovich said he didn’t have update.
