THE SUPER SIX
Moments in CFL history Ottawa fans will never forget
Ottawa’s CFL history includes its share of playoff highlights.
Sometimes the old Rough Riders won, sometimes they lost, but at least they got to play divisional or conference contests that determined qualifiers for the Grey Cup game. The Renegades never got that far during their 2002-05 stint in the league.
The Redblacks are 1-for-1 in East playoff action after stunning the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 35-28 in last year’s East Division final at TD Place stadium. They’ll try to make it 2-for-2 Sunday against the Edmonton Eskimos with a berth in the Grey Cup showdown at Toronto’s BMO Field Nov. 27 on the line.
Last year’s classic merits a spot on a subjective list of the top-six Ottawa divisional playoff contests of all time. The collection was compiled with assistance from columnist Wayne Scanlan, former beat writer and sports editor Tom Casey, longtime radio broadcaster Dave Schreiber, sports historian Jim McAuley and former Rough Riders player Ted Smale.
Even those believing other individual matchups have been undervalued should agree with the overall assessments. Grey Cup games are not included, so there’s no mention of Clements to Gabriel in 1976 or Russ Jackson riding off into the sunset after he led the Rough Riders to the 1969 title.
Here are the super six in chronological order. 1.
Nov. 20, 1960, East final: Ottawa 21, Toronto 20
After defeating the Argos 33-21 at home in the opening leg of the two-game, total-point Eastern Conference final, the Rough Riders ventured to Toronto.
Smale, who played both defensive end and tight end between 1956 and 1962, wasn’t in the lineup that day because he was still recovering from a September knee injury, but he was on the sidelines at Exhibition Stadium.
The way Smale tells the tale, it was in the fourth quarter when quarterback Ron Lancaster urged the Rough Riders offence to huddle up quickly. Running back Dave Thelen noticed split end Bobby Simpson was on the field, but still near the sideline after blocking on a short run by Joe Kelly.
Thelen tried to alert Lancaster to Simpson’s absence from the huddle, but the quarterback had already caught Simpson’s signal.
“Get your ass in here!” Lancaster told Thelen. “We’re trying to run a play fast!”
Thelen complied, the Rough Riders snapped the ball and Lancaster threw it to Simpson, who after hiding from Argos defenders, ran 80 yards to help set up Joe Kelly’s go-ahead touchdown.
The CFL outlawed the “sleeper play” soon after that.
“It was a great thing to witness and the fans just went wild, as you can imagine,” Smale said.
2.
Nov. 22, 1969, East final: Ottawa 32, Toronto 3
The second-place Argonauts beat the Tiger-Cats 15-9 in the division semifinal, then upset the top-ranked Rough Riders 22-14 in Game 1 of the final at Toronto.
“Nothing can beat us now except an act of God,” Argonauts head coach Leo Cahill said before Game 2.
Cahill would have to eat those words. Faced with icy field conditions at Lansdowne, the Rough Riders obtained broomball shoes from Ritchie’s Sports Shop and all but a couple of players used them to great advantage against the slip-sliding Argos. Linebacker Wayne Giardino scored three touchdowns as an injury replacement at running back and Ronnie Stewart scored one as the Rough Riders triumphed in the final home game in the career of Hall of Fame quarterback Russ Jackson.
“Act of God, eh? … Meet God,” defensive back and returner Billy Cooper said, indicating Jackson.
Added defensive back Gene Gaines: “What he forgot when he said that is we are (all) God’s children.”
Jackson visited the visitors’ locker-room after the contest. He shook hands with players and with Cahill, who conceded he had said many things, hoping to motivate the Argos. Then the Ottawa Journal reported Cahill told Jackson, “You’re a helluva football player.” 3.
Nov. 19, 1978, East final: Montreal 21, Ottawa 16
Two years after winning the Grey Cup, the Rough Riders remained a powerhouse, with 11 Eastern all-stars leading them to an 11-5 record and first place.
However, the Alouettes shocked them in the division final at Lansdowne. Tom Clements completed 23-of-34 pass attempts, but the Rough Riders produced just 53 yards rushing, while the Alouettes ground out a five-point victory in what had become a one-game showdown for a Grey Cup berth.
“We’d play like tigers and then we’d fall asleep for two or three plays,” head coach George Brancato said that day. “You can’t afford those lapses and expect to beat Montreal.”
Casey, who covered the game for the Citizen, said former Rough Riders linebacker Chuck Zapiec played a key role for the Alouettes.
“Zapiec was a really, really smart football player. He wasn’t just one of those big, tough guys,” Casey said. “He said the whole game plan was not to put a rush on Tom Clements because, when his feet were stationary, he wasn’t an accurate passer. He had to be rolling out and moving all the time. So Montreal came up with this super-passive pass rush and really clogged up the secondary and it just got (Clements) off.
“Nobody thought that Ottawa could be beaten by these guys.”
4.
Nov. 15, 1981, East final: Ottawa 17, Hamilton 13
The Rough Riders won just five of 16 regular-season contests, but somehow managed to finish second in the East.
They downed the Alouettes 20-16 in the semifinal at Lansdowne for the right to battle the favoured Tiger-Cats (11-4-1) in Hamilton.
The Ticats also led 13-10 and had the Rough Riders pinned deep in their own territory well into the fourth quarter when rookie quarterback J.C. Watts avoided onrushing defenders and threw a short pass to Pat Stoqua. After two Hamilton defenders collided, Stoqua rumbled 104 yards for a game-winning touchdown.
“It was just an innocent-looking play and it went 104 yards. Unbelievable,” Casey said. “That was a team that was 5-11. The expectations were just so friggin’ low.”
Tiger-Cats running back Rufus Crawford said then: “The worst part was that Pat Stoqua couldn’t run a seven-second-flat in the 40-yard dash ... but we couldn’t catch him.”
5.
Nov. 15, 1992, East semifinal: Hamilton 29, Ottawa 28
The Rough Riders had great hopes forged on a strong defence, reliable quarterback Tom Burgess and a 9-9 record that represented the most regular-season victories by an Ottawa CFL team in 14 years. On a snow-covered field in Hamilton, though, they suffered one of the most excruciating playoff losses in franchise history.
With fewer than seven minutes remaining, the Riders led 28-13, prompting a large contingent of Ottawa fans in the stands to sing, “Na-na-na-na, hey-hey, goodbye!” Bad idea.
Two Hamilton touchdowns and several Riders miscues later, the Tiger-Cats trailed by two as kicker Paul Osbaldiston lined up a 46-yard field-goal attempt with 11 seconds to go. Stepping carefully on the slippery surface at Ivor Wynne Stadium, he launched a low, wobbly kick that started straight, broke left and just cleared the crossbar.
“Travelled 47 yards,” he said, dryly, after the game.
Asked how many times out of 10 he could make that field goal. Osbaldiston replied, “Four. You just go out there thinking this is going to be one of the four.”
Adding to the pain of the Riders and their fans, former Ottawa players Ken Evraire, quarterback Damon Allen and running back Orville Lee played for those Tiger-Cats.
Longtime Rough Riders receiver Stephen Jones called it the toughest loss of any football game he played. He wasn’t alone. 6.
Nov. 22, 2015, East final: Ottawa 35, Hamilton 28
Henry Burris had thrown a pass that should have been intercepted and J’Micheal Deane was penalized for a chop block, so it was second-and-25 from the Redblacks’ 17-yard line with the score tied and 85 seconds remaining.
A shotgun snap nearly sailed over Burris, but he tipped and caught the ball, avoided a pass rusher and heaved one down the field.
Greg Ellingson jumped and caught the ball near mid-field, watched Tiger-Cats defensive back Ed Gainey fall, eluded Emanuel Davis and sprinted to the end-zone for a touchdown. The Redblacks were Grey Cupbound in only their second CFL campaign and one year after going 2-16.
“I’ll remember this game for the rest of my life. I’ll remember all these guys for the rest of my life,” Deane said.
Head coach Rick Campbell joked that the winning play turned out “just how we drew it up, huh?” A day later, Campbell added he relived the moment by watching a video recording with his wife Jeri.
“When my wife and I got home, we sat on the couch and we said, ‘Let’s watch the good parts.’ It was pretty cool to see it on replay. It’s fun to run it back and watch it four or five times, knowing something good is going to happen.”
I’ll remember this game for the rest of my life. I’ll remember all these guys for the rest of my life.