REDBLACKS win a thriller over the Argos (40 - 39) in home finale

The Ottawa REDBLACKS treated their fans to an absolute thriller in the club’s last home game of the 2026 season.

With just 30 seconds left on the clock, the Argos punched in the go-ahead touchdown to take a 39-33 lead and appeared to put the game to bed for good. But rookie quarterback Bryson Barnes led the REDBLACKS down the field, and a 21-yard scramble gave Ottawa the ball on the cusp of the red zone with 19 seconds left to play.

The rookie stepped up and lofted a ball towards the endzone and receiver Ayden Eberhardt climbed the ladder and made a fantastic grab to tie the game and set up a Paul Geelen extra point for the win.

“I don’t think it’s fully settled in yet. I’m just grateful for the opportunity that I was able to have to go out with the guys. Obviously the season hasn’t gone the way we would have liked, but I’m just happy for the guys that the hard work finally paid off with a win this week.” Barnes said following his first professional start.

“You get to enjoy it for about 12 hours and then you get right back to it for next week… So it will be everything focused (on Hamilton) tomorrow.”

Both Eberhardt and Grant DuBose were in the vicinity of Barnes’ final touchdown pass, but Barnes left no doubt about who his intended receiver was post-game.

“That was for Ayden,” he said with a chuckle at the back of the media room.

Barnes completed 27 of 37 passes for 339 yards including two touchdown passes, both to Ayden Eberhardt. He had 62 more yards on the ground and seemed exceptionally comfortable and made plays with his legs when he had to.

“I thought he played well,” head coach and general manager Ryan Dinwiddie said post-game. “For him in his first start, to play the way he did. You can see he can use his legs and we had some quarterback draws that we had dialled up. He’s a tough kid and a real good competitor.”

Eberhardt was Barnes’ favourite target on the evening, hauling in all nine passes thrown his way for 101 yards. He also eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in a season for the first time in his career.

“To be honest, I think the win just means more to me,” Eberhardt said of his personal milestone. “To get that first win this year, in the fashion and the way that we did… That probably meant more to me than any milestone or anything like that.” Eberhardt said post game.

The third-year receiver was impressed with his rookie quarterback throughout the game, but particularly during that final drive.

“He wasn’t (feeling) the pressure. Bryson did a great job of just being calm, cool and collected. We go through that same scenario all the time in practice and we knew that we could make a drive out of it. We dialled it up, the line did a great job of blocking, Bryson threw a dart and the receivers did a great job of reading the coverage. It just so happened that it went to me. Everyone did a great job of executing that whole drive and just having Bryson’s back.”

The REDBLACKS defence also had some impactful plays throughout the game, including Aaron Casey, who posted two quarterback sacks on the night. CJ Nunnally, who was also making his first start in the CFL, had a huge strip sack on Nick Arbuckle that landed in the hands of Lucas Cormier for the turnover.

Ottawa also got their first interception of the season from an American, with Kahzir “Buggs” Brown picking off a Nick Arbuckle pass in the final three minutes. Brown also added eight tackles on the evening.

Hometown pass rusher Luiji Vilain also had some standout plays on the evening, including forcing an intentional grounding call on Chad Kelly as he tried to avoid the sack shortly before exiting the game due to injury. He also made life difficult on backup Nick Arbuckle and registered an additional tackle for loss in the contest.

Barnes and the REDBLACKS will head to Hamilton for the regular season finale next Friday but the club will certainly feel a weight lifted off their shoulders when they take the field. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday at Hamilton Stadium.