Lumsden rushed for 189 yards and two touchdowns while Hamilton amassed 311 yards on the ground en route to a convincing 32-13 win to spoil Toronto’s home opener. And the timing couldn’t have been worse as the Rogers Centre gathering of 30,822 was the largest crowd for an Argos home opener since 1992.

“We wanted to establish the run because they’re a very tough defence to get after,” Lumsden said. “This is a big win for us, but it’s just one win.

“We’ve got to hold on to this and keep going after it.”

Hamilton (1-1) earned just its second win in 19 regular-season meetings with Toronto (1-1) and halted a nine-game losing streak against its arch rival. And the Ticats did it with the most basic of approaches: the zone read.

That’s when quarterback Casey Printers sticks the ball in Lumsden’s gut, then based on the defensive rush either completes the handoff or yanks the ball out and throws a pass downfield. It’s a play Printers and Lumsden worked to near-perfection against Toronto’s three-man defensive front.

“Jesse and I had a good chemistry,” Lumsden said.

“It was good from the standpoint that it kept them on their heels and not on their toes,” Printers said. “It makes my job a lot easier to have one-play drives and keep watching his (Lumsden’s) back.”

Hamilton’s offensive performance (482 total yards, possession of the ball for nearly 35 minutes) was in stark contrast to last week when the unit struggled mightily in a 33-10 loss to Montreal. Printers certainly did his part, running eight times for 33 yards and two TDs that helped stake Hamilton to a 14-6 half-time lead. He also finished 16-of-23 passing for 171 yards.

But it was Lumsden who cemented the victory emphatically with a 57-yard touchdown run at 11:33 of the fourth to round out the scoring.

“It makes all the difference in the world when you can run the football,” said Hamilton coach Charlie Taaffe. “To me, it’s a mental thing because if you can pound the football it takes a toll on the defence.

“A big part of it (zone read) is deception and that’s something we tried to emphasize this week. Casey does a nice job of putting the football into the running back and it freezes the defence and when he pulls it out it’s tough for them to adjust.”

Now, Printers says, it’s up to the youthful Ticats - a team that posted a CFL-worst 3-15 record last year - to keep things rolling and try to string some victories together.

“We have to come back down, continue to work hard and come back and do it again,” he said. “This has to be part of our psyche.”

Toronto has to now deal with a bruised psyche after being badly outplayed on both sides of the ball.

“Three hundred yards rushing? It could’ve been 600,” said Argos head coach Rich Stubler. “We couldn’t tackle anybody out there tonight.

“There was no intensity on our part.”

For the second straight week, Toronto’s offence struggled to establish any sort of consistency, mustering just 238 total yards against a Ticats defence that gave up 472 yards against Montreal. Last week in Winnipeg, the Argos managed 230 total yards in a 23-16 victory.

A big difference this time was Stubler stuck with starter Kerry Joseph after last week having both Joseph and backup Michael Bishop play in the season-opening victory.

Joseph was 20-of-31 passing for 196 yards and added 21 yards rushing, including an eight-yard TD run in the third that capped a nice 95-yard, 14-play drive and cut Hamilton’s lead to 21-13. But Joseph was also the victim of some dropped passes and an Arland Bruce III fumble in the third that snuffed out a promising drive.

“It’s no secret, they outplayed us,” Joseph said. “We have to correct the mistakes we made.

“If we do, we’re a better team than what you saw tonight.”

Added Stubler: “It doesn’t matter who’s calling the plays. We aren’t performing.”

The contest was as hard-hitting and intense as a usual Hamilton-Toronto encounter is.

Argos defensive tackle Adriano Belli was ejected on the final play of the third for rough play. Then with 8:38 remaining to play, Toronto’s Kenny Wheaton knocked Hamilton’s Jason French silly with a bone-crunching hit.

Hamilton’s Nick Setta booted four converts, a field goal and single.

Toronto’s Mike Vanderjagt added two field goals and a convert.

Notes: Defensive end Nautyn-McKay Loescher (back) was one of Hamilton’s four players that didn’t dress for the game. Defensive back Willie Middlebrooks (foot) didn’t suit up for Toronto. Veteran Wayne Shaw started in his place. Middlebrooks was the CFL’s defensive player of the week … The Argos honoured both Joe Krol and the recently retired Damon Allen prior to the game … Marko Cavka replaced the injured Cedric Gagne-Marcoux (shoulder) at left guard for Hamilton.