Who’s the choker now, everybody?
Stampeders capture Grey Cup after back-to-back championship setbacks
EDMONTON They did it. They actually did it.
After suffering heartbreak on Canadian football’s biggest stage the last two years, the Calgary Stampeders are Grey Cup champions.
This was a group that suffered through devastating injuries to its receiving corps and was picked by few at the beginning of the year to even be playing in late November.
Yet Sunday night they left their demons in the past and defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 27-16.
Forget all the rest of it for a second, though, and just soak it in: The Stampeders are the 2018 Grey Cup champions.
With the win, the Stamps shed the “choker” label that has haunted them the past couple years. With two Grey Cup championships in the last five years, the Stampeders are the most successful organization in the CFL over the past halfdecade.
A lesser team might not have been able to handle the pain of the last two Grey Cup losses, and we don’t know exactly how the Stampeders did it. They did, though, and now they’re the champions.
“It feels surreal. I know we talk that way, that it didn’t mean anything because we couldn’t make the game bigger than it was,” said QB Bo Levi Mitchell. “I think the guys that were on those two teams or even on the team last year, the emotions at the 30-second mark kinda hit, you really started to feel it.
“It wasn’t about redemption against anybody else or against the league or fans or nothing like that. It felt like as an organization we’d been on top too much not to finish the job for them.”
It wouldn’t exactly be accurate to say the Stamps started strong. It was more complicated than that.
The defence was great from the start, but after a promising opening drive, Mitchell — who finished the game completing 24 of 36 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns as well as two interceptions — had a pass intended for Bakari Grant intercepted by Ottawa DB Jonathan Rose.
A few minutes later, the Stamps struck first when Mitchell found running back Don Jackson, who leaked out of the backfield unnoticed and then took off for a 21-yard touchdown.
The Stamps defence was rolling and Redblacks QB Trevor Harris — who completed 20 of 38 passes for 288 yards and a touchdown, but also threw for three interceptions — was struggling to find his feet, although the Redblacks put three points on the board when Lewis Ward hit a short field goal.
On their next drive, the Stamps offence looked as good as it has in six weeks. Mitchell spread the ball out among his receivers and Lemar Durant made up for a couple drops by storming into the end zone for a 17-yard score.
It was 14-3 Stamps, but Calgary fans have learned better than to take anything for granted in the Grey Cup. Things happen, and there was a lot of football to play.
To their credit, the Redblacks started picking things up, too.
Harris seemed to find his groove, while Mitchell threw his second interception of the game — although Stamps linebacker Jameer Thurman forced a William Powell fumble on the Redblacks ensuing drive.
With a little over two minutes left in the half, the Redblacks struck when Harris found Julian Feoli- Gudino, who danced his way through tackles from Ciante Evans and Emanuel Davis for a 55-yard TD.
It felt, for a moment, like the game’s momentum had shifted.
Then, Terry Williams did his thing.
With only seconds left in the half, Williams took a Richie Leone punt at the Stamps’ 13-yard line and started running down field. He didn’t stop until he got to the end zone and had returned the longest punt return touchdown in Grey Cup history — 97 yards — to give the Stampeders a 21-11 lead heading into the halftime break.
“The punt return to end the half has to be the play of the game,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “One second left in the half, that’s big.”
Third quarters have been tough for the Stamps lately, and the Redblacks were the first team to put points on the board in the second half when Ward hit a field goal and cut the Stamps’ lead to seven.
From there, though, the Stamps began slowly but surely taking control, with Rene Paredes hitting two field goals and the Redblacks unable to move the ball when it mattered most.
By the fourth quarter, the Stampeders weren’t doing anything spectacular, but they were playing largely mistake-free football and were able to run the clock down with the luxury of a 27-14 lead.
It was a mountain too high for the Redblacks to climb, as Tre Roberson and Jamar Wall — both of whom were immense — picked off Harris passes in the final minutes.
When the clock hit zero, it was official.
The Calgary Stampeders were the 2018 Grey Cup champions.
“You see a lot of teams that lose with heartbreak like that, and they can’t get back, but to lose two times with heartbreak and be able to get back, it’s a testament to this organization and the structure of what we’ve got going on,” said defensive co-ordinator DeVone Claybrooks.