HAMILTON - Richie Williams threw three touchdown passes -- Hamilton's first of the season -- to lead the injury-plagued Tiger-Cats to a stunning 45-21 win over the Toronto Argonauts on Thursday night.

Williams, making his second straight start in place of injured incumbent Casey Printers (thumb), registered Hamilton's first TD strike of 2008 with a four-yard completion to Robert Pavlovic in the second quarter. He then found Terry Caulley on a three-yard completion to cap Hamilton's first possession of the third for a 25-18 advantage.

Williams finished 15-of-24 passing for 293 yards and the three TDs. He also rushed for 59 yards on eight carries.

Caulley ran for 125 yards on 13 carries in place of Ticats rushing leader Jesse Lumsden (ankle).

The game marked the first time Hamilton had scored 45 points in a game since a 65-15 thrashing of Winnipeg on Sept. 18, 1999.

The third quarter was huge for Hamilton (2-5), which snapped a four-game losing streak with its second win in as many meetings this season against Toronto (3-4). The Argos remain tied atop the East with idle Montreal (3-3).

The Ticats beat the Argos 32-13 at Rogers Centre in July and have won the three-game season series. The final contest will be the annual Labour Day clash here.

Toronto was expected to have little difficulty handling the ailing Ticats but the home team broke the game open in the third, outscoring the visitors 17-0 to snap an 18-18 half-time tie.

Hamilton also got the benefit of a big review on an apparent acrobatic catch by Toronto's Arland Bruce III at the sidelines. Officials gave Ticats' defensive back Chris Thompson credit for the interception to erase the play.

Later in the quarter, Thompson laid out Argos receiver Nathan Hoffart with a bone-crunching hit, delighting the sparse but vocal Ivor Wynne Stadium gathering of 19,423.

And Williams had them on their feet at 6:54 of the fourth, hitting Chris Bauman on a 63-yard TD strike to emphatically cement the win.

Caulley's TD capped a smart five-play, 76-yard drive, and Hamilton put another solid march together on their its next possession. But the home team had to settle for a point on Setta's errant 24-yard field-goal attempt.

However, all was forgiven seconds later when Markeith Knowlton returned a Kerry Joseph interception 44 yards for the TD at 8:41 for a 33-18 lead. And the Hamilton faithful were on their feet on the ensuing kickoff when Sean Manning recovered Jamal Robertson's fumble at mid-field.

Robertson and Dominique Dorsey scored Toronto's touchdowns. Mike Vanderjagt added a convert and two field goals. Arland Bruce III had a two-point convert.

Caulley had two touchdowns for Hamilton. Nick Setta kicked five converts, two singles and a field goal. The other points came on a safety.

After a rather lacklustre opening quarter that featured just a Setta field goal on Hamilton's first possession, both offences opened up in the second although Hamilton was lucky in that two turnovers were negated by Argos penalties. Still, Toronto rallied impressively to make it 18-18 at halftime.

After Caulley's 20-yard TD run and Setta's booming single off the kickoff put Hamilton ahead 18-10 at 13:54 of the second, the Argos countered with a six-play, 75-yard scoring march that Dorsey capped with a three-yard run at 14:44. Then Joseph found a wide-open Bruce for the two-point convert.

Hamilton made it 10-10 at 9:32 when Williams found Pavlovic after he reported in on a short-yardage formation to be eligible despite wearing No. 49.

NOTES@ -- Reggie McNeal, Toronto's No. 4 quarterback, started at receiver due to an abundance of injuries at the position. He finished as the team's leading receiver with over 100 yards . . . There was a moment of silence prior to the game to honour the memory of Leif Pettersen, a former Ticat and football broadcaster who died last week at the age of 57 . . . Linebacker Kevin Eiben returned to Toronto's defence after missing two games with a knee injury.