The University of Toronto Varsity Blues football team won its fourth straight Argo Cup with a 45-18 victory over the York University Lions in the 47^th Red & Blue Bowl under rainy skies on Saturday (Sept. 17) at Varsity Stadium.
 
The win was Toronto's first of the season to improve its record to 1-3. The Lions fell to 2-2 with the loss.
 
Second-year running back Kayden Johnson (Kerrobert, Sask.) set an Argo Cup record with 32 carries and accumulated 207 yards on the ground to lead all players. He chipped away at the U of T defence relentlessly, with his longest run of the game coming in at just 16 yards.
 
The two teams traded drives back and forth to start the game but neither could find the scoreboard until late in the first quarter, when a five-yard run by Toronto quarterback Marcus Hobbs gave the Blues a 6-0 lead.
 
Offence picked up slightly in the second quarter, as Nick Naylor (Abbotsford, B.C.) kicked a pair of field goals and his Toronto counterpart Ethan Shafer added one for a 10-6 Blues advantage. But with 55 seconds remaining, Hobbs connected with Rahul Madan on a 76-yard catch and run play for a touchdown that gave the Blues a 17-6 lead at the half.
 
The Lions scored on their opening drive of the third on another Naylor field goal, but the Blues increased their lead again on another Hobbs touchdown run to make it 24-9.
 
The Lions finally started to roll late in the third quarter when quarterback Brett Hunchak (Calgary) led his team on a three-play, 72-yard drive that ended with an 18-yard touchdown pass to his brother Colton Hunchak (Calgary) that cut the deficit to 24-15 when the two-point conversion attempt fell incomplete.
 
Naylor kicked his fourth field goal to start the fourth quarter to make it a one score game at 24-18 and it seemed as though the Lions had all the momentum. However, on Toronto's next drive they took an unnecessary roughness penalty on a play that otherwise would have stopped the Blues at midfield, and the Blues capitalized on the mistake to score another touchdown, this time a three-yard run by Kaleb Leach, for an insurmountable 31-18 lead.
 
The Blues scored twice more before the end of the contest, on a 65-yard touchdown catch by Anthony Naccarato and a two-yard run by Hobbs, to round out the scoring.
 
Hunchak finished 25-of-39 for 315 yards, with the one touchdown and an interception. Hobbs was 7-of-12 for 210 yards and two touchdowns and also added 70 yards on 11 carries and three touchdowns on the ground.
 
The Lions will be back in action next weekend for their annual Homecoming game when they welcome the Carleton Ravens to Alumni Field for the first time. Kick-off is set for 1pm on Saturday, Sept. 24.