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OTTAWA - It was far from pretty, but the Toronto Argonauts finally picked up their first win of the CFL season with a 29-16 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks on Sunday.
"I thought the defence, you know, pretty much dominated the game," said Argos coach Ryan Dinwiddie. "They played really well. You know Derek (Slywka) changed the game with those two touchdowns."
Those two touchdowns were keys to the Argos (1-3-0) victory.
Slywka scored two defensive majors for the Argos, one off a fumble recovery and another on a blocked field goal return.
"It's kind of crazy," said Slywka. "Going into this game I was just thinking, like, whatever it takes and when you get an opportunity to make a play you gotta try to take advantage of it."
Argos' quarterback Nick Arbuckle had a decent night going 18-for-25 for 269 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
"Well he did some decent things, but, I mean, we couldn't get in a rhythm," said Dinwiddie. "And, you know, the receivers didn't help him out much either."
Ottawa's Dustin Crum didn't have much help on his side either, although the Redblacks' quarterback put up decent numbers going 20-for-30 for 235 yards and one interception., He ran the ball eight times for 60 yards and one TD. Crum endured a punishing night though, taking five sacks.
"I think we made mistakes at costly times, and they did a good job taking advantage of it," said Crum. "I don't think you can expect to win (when you) make that many mistakes, especially in the moments when we did."
With the Argos leading 4-0 Ottawa appeared ready to score early in the second quarter when Crum hit Kalil Pimpleton for a 15-yard gain, but as Pimpleton fought for extra yards, he fumbled at the Toronto five-yard line. Slywka scooped it up and raced the length of the field for an Argos touchdown.
"There are a lot of plays throughout the game and, you know, opportunities to win the game," Pimpleton said. "But, you know, at the end of the day protecting the ball is part of my job and that's my number 1 priority."
The Redblacks also failed to capitalize on a punt block that allowed them to recover the ball deep in Toronto territory, but failed to generate any points.
Down 18-3 at the half, Ottawa got into field goal position on the opening drive of the second half only to see Lewis Ward's kick blocked and Slywka return it 120 yards for a touchdown, stretching the Argos' lead to 25-3.
Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce looked visibly frustrated as he addressed the media.
"At the end of the day I gotta do a better job of teaching these guys the urgency of opportunities, because at the end of the day you can't think we'll get it next time," he said. "You know what I mean, you've got to seize every opportunity, to grasp it and squeeze it and make the most of it."
Ottawa went on to add a field goal and finally had success in the red zone late in the third, as Crum led a seven-play drive capped by his one-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 25-13.
Lirim Hajrullahu added a 43-yard field goal in the fourth and Ward responded with his own 40-yarder to make it 28-16 and Ottawa conceded a single on a missed Argos field goal to round out the scoring.
With identical records, the Argos and Redblacks both spoke of trying to find their game and start to build momentum moving forward.
"You can only hope one win leads to another and that's all we need," said Toronto's DaVaris Daniels. "It's good to see this on the road. Never easy to get a win on the road, and we're happy with the results."
For the Redblacks it's back to the drawing board as they try to find some much needed consistency to their game. Jovan Santos-Knox spoke about the difficulty of getting wins after Labour Day.
"We got to definitely put the foot on the pedal and, you know, ramp it up a little bit," said Santos-Knox. "You know try to make something shake."
UP NEXT
Argonauts: Host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday.
Redblacks: Visit the Edmonton Elks on Sunday, July 6.
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