Chad Kelly's 4 TD passes lead Argos past Redblacks in East semifinal

Quarterback Chad Kelly tossed four touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Toronto Argonauts to a 58-38 win against the Ottawa Redblacks in the East Division semifinal on Saturday.

A last-minute Ottawa touchdown allowed the teams to match the CFL playoff record with 96 points combined, set when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeated the Montreal Alouettes in the 2011 East Division semifinal.

Kelly's heroics propelled the Argonauts to a fourth-straight appearance in the East final. They'll meet the defending Grey Cup champion Alouettes in Montreal next Saturday.

Redblacks quarterback Dru Brown set CFL playoff records with 46 completions and 61 pass attempts.

He threw for three touchdowns, 476 yards and two interceptions. The visitors were in the playoffs for the first time since 2018, but the semifinal defeat gave them six losses in their final seven outings.

Kelly finished with 358 passing yards, completing 18 of 20 before 18,060 at BMO Field. He also rushed for 29 yards on two carries.

Kelly's fourth touchdown toss, a 13-yard completion to Jake Herslow, arrived 2:56 into the fourth quarter.

Ottawa's short-yardage quarterback Dustin Crum scored on a one-yard plunge after the Argonauts' defence held on the goal line on the two previous plays, rallying the Redblacks to within nine points with 8:16 left.

Trailing by three points at the half, Toronto scored two touchdowns before the midpoint of the third quarter to snatch a 34-23 lead.

Kelly hit Davaris Daniels for his second touchdown, this time with a nine-yard strike. The drive was set up by a 15-yard rush down the middle from Kelly. The Argonauts quarterback was drilled by Redblacks linebacker Frankie Griffin, resulting in a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty.

Kelly