STAMPS HOLD OFF LATE TI-CAT CHARGE
Calgary running back Rob Cote celebrates his team’s win during the 102nd Grey Cup in Vancouver on Sunday, a game that looked like a breeze in the early going.
The Calgary Stampeders had not lost a game this season when leading by two touchdowns, and they rode that streak to the franchise’s seventh Grey Cup title Sunday.
But the 20-16 win over Hamilton Tiger-Cats was the championship that almost wasn’t, after Hamilton’s electric return specialist Brandon Banks brought the BC Place Stadium crowd to its feet with a dazzling 90-yard punt return touchdown in the final minute.
To the crushing disappointment of the Hamilton faithful, however, the scoring play, which would have given the Ticats the lead, was nullified on an illegal block by Taylor Reed, right at the point where Banks fielded the punt from Rene Paredes and headed upfield.
The Tiger-Cats, who trailed 14-0 early in the second quarter and 17-7 at the half, clawed back in the second half with four field goals by kicker Justin Medlock. But some key defensive stops allowed the Stampeders to deprive the TigerCats of an end-zone score.
Defensive lineman Freddie Bishop made a pivotal stop on second down at the Calgary two-yard line, when he stopped Nic Grigsby for a three-yard loss. The Ticats were forced to settle for a 12-yard field goal by Medlock to cut the Stampeders lead to 20-13 with 5:35 left. Medlock hit his fourth field goal of the second half, from 37 yards away, to cut Calgary’s lead to 20-16 with 2:05 left.
Then came the touchdown that wasn’t, perhaps costing the TigerCats their first Grey Cup title since Hamilton defeated Calgary 32-21 in the 1999 Grey Cup at BC Place. The title was Calgary’s first since the Stampeders defeated Montreal 22-14 in the 2008 Grey Cup.
Earlier, Paredes converted a kick from 20 yards out to put the Stampeders ahead 20-7 in the third quarter, but the Tiger-Cats refused to go away.
After a Medlock field goal cut Calgary’s lead to 20-10, Calgary’s Bo Levi Mitchell made his only egregious mistake of the game, when quarterback was intercepted by defender Delvin Breaux. The
The Tiger-Cats, who trailed 14-0 early in the second quarter and 17-7 at the half, clawed back in the second half with four field goals.
pick led to a Hamilton field goal.
A late touchdown in the second quarter — a 45-yard bomb from quarterback Zach Collaros to Banks — stopped Calgary’s relentless momentum after the Stampeders had taken a 17-0 lead.
Following a 19-yard run by Grigsby, Collaros stepped into the pocket and launched his strike to Banks, who caught safety Joshua Bell taking a peek at Terrell Sinkfield. That moment of hesitation allowed Banks to get a couple of steps on Bell and score to staunch the bleeding in a first half the Stampeders dominated almost from start to almost the finish.
With the Stampeders ahead 14-0, the Ticats were dealt an unexpected psychological blow, when Medlock’s 26-yard field goal attempt was blocked by the Demonte Bolden to wipe out Hamilton’s deepest penetration of the game to that juncture.
Mitchell moved the Stampeders 87 yards after the block. But after Marquay McDaniel was stopped four yards short of the goal-line, Paredes booted an 11-yard field goal to give the Stamps a 17-point cushion with 2:17 left in the first half.
The opening 30 minutes were an unmitigated success for Calgary’s offence, considering that feature back Jon Cornish was held to just five yards on four carries.
Cornish may have been a nonfactor, but Mitchell wasn’t.
The Calgary starter threw for 220 yards and missed on only three of 17 passes.
Mitchell had passes of 28 yards to Eric Rogers and 13 yards to Nik Lewis, the latter to the Hamilton
The opening 30 minutes were an unmitigated success for Calgary’s offence.
one-yard line. Short down yardage specialist Drew Tate then ran in untouched to put the Stampeders on the board with a one-yard touchdown run.
Tate scampered in untouched again, this time to the left side, from the one-yard line to complete a 10-play, 66-yard drive on Calgary’s next possession to put the Stampeders ahead 14-0 in the first minute of the second quarter.
Mitchell was named the game’s most outstanding player as he threw for 334 yards to lead the Calgary win. At one point, Mitchell threw 10 straight completions, tying him for the third-longest streak in Grey Cup history before a boisterous BC Place Stadium gathering of 52,056 — 1,423 short of a sellout.
Ticats receiver Andy Fantuz was named the oustanding Canadian.