CALL IT A MIRACLE
Coach Rick Campbell hoists the Eastern Division trophy after the Redblacks’ dramatic win over the Tiger-Cats at TD Place Sunday. The team will face the Edmonton Eskimos in next Sunday’s Grey Cup, Ottawa’s first since 1981.
Potential disaster lurked.
Henry Burris had just thrown a pass that should have been intercepted, but Arnaud Gascon-Nadon is a defensive end, not a linebacker or defensive back, and he dropped the ball that hit him right in the hands.
To complicate matters, J’Micheal Deane had been penalized for an illegal chop block against Ted Laurent, leaving the Ottawa Redblacks with second down and 25 yards. If they didn’t make it, they would have to punt the ball back to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who would then have a chance to win the game.
Then centre Jon Gott fired a shotgun snap that nearly sailed over Burris’s head. The veteran quarterback was able to tip the ball straight up and catch it before heaving a rainbow in the direction of Greg Ellingson.
Ellingson delayed, jumped and caught the ball. He watched as Ed Gainey fell and eluded Emanuel Davis before rambling into the end-zone for a 93-yard touchdown.
Not just any touchdown; one that gave the Ottawa Redblacks a 35-28 victory over the Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League’s East Division final at TD Place stadium on Sunday.
So the team that couldn’t get out of its own way in its first CFL season will play for a Grey Cup title next Sunday at Winnipeg’s Investors Group Field.
“Just how we drew it up, huh?” head coach Rick Campbell said after the Redblacks won a game in which they were dangerously against a tough-as-nails Ticats squad led by a guy who had been their fourth-string quarterback earlier in the season.
Jeremiah Masoli had completed three consecutive passes to Luke Tasker on a touchdown drive that, with Justin Medlock’s convert, had tied the score 28-28 with just 94 seconds remaining.
The Redblacks needed just 23 seconds of their own for Burris and Ellingson to make magic, and now they’ll all head to Manitoba’s capital for a showdown with the Edmonton Eskimos, who bounced the Calgary Stampeders 45-31 in the West final later on Sunday.
The Eskimos beat the Redblacks twice in a row in July. Another Edmonton team of the past, coached by Campbell’s father, Hugh, defeated the old Ottawa Rough Riders 26-23 in the 1981 Grey Cup final.
Rick Campbell, who was then only 10 years of age, didn’t attend that contest in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. Instead, he watched it at home in Edmonton.
“I’ll be rooting for the Ottawa team this time,” he cracked during a post-game media conference. “I wasn’t last time, but I will be this time.”
Cheering was also what Deane was doing as he sprinted — as fast as a 328-pound offensive lineman can sprint — to catch up to the teammates that were celebrating with Ellingson. Deane jumped into the pile and carried everyone through an advertising sign at the back-end of the end-zone.
“For our team to be able to bounce back from something like that, when I put us in a hole, I’m happy,” Deane said. “I’m so happy to be on this team.
“I’m proud. I’m just proud of my team. We bounced back from all the adversity that we went through last year and were able to get to the top this year. We have one more game, and this is unreal.”
One of five veteran CFL receivers acquired by the Redblacks during the off-season and a former Ticat on top of that, Ellingson finished Sunday’s game with five receptions for 186 yards, or more than half of the 326 total passing yards for Burris.
Ellingson described the final part of his journey across the goal-line and into the CFL history books as “surreal,” but also echoed his teammates’ talk about a job not yet completed.
“These guys are excited, the city is excited,” Ellingson said. “We’re going to soak it all in, but, as we go to Winnipeg, we’re going to regain that focus.”
The 40-year-old Burris, who would have been travelling to Manitoba anyway as the East nominee for the CFL’s outstanding player award to be presented on Thursday night, and tailback William Powell scored the Redblacks’ other touchdowns on running plays. Chris Milo kicked four field goals and the Tiger-Cats conceded two points on a safety.
“Once we got Greg in a oneon-one situation, we had to take a shot,” Burris said of the gamewinning play, “because the guy has made so many big plays through the year in jump-ball situations, and, man, he did it again.
“Who knew that he was going to catch it, stiff-arm the guy and then race another 60 yards for a touchdown?”
Tiger-Cats head coach Kent Austin said it wasn’t one play that beat his team on Sunday.
There were other plays that weren’t made by his squad, including the dropped interception by Gascon-Nadon and an offside penalty against Tasker that took another touchdown off the scoreboard.
“I have to give Ottawa a lot of credit,” Austin said. “They play hard, they’re well-coached, they make plays.
“As disappointed as I am for our guys, I’m happy for them; it’s good for them and it’s good for the league.”
Austin and Ticats offensive coordinator Tommy Condell cooked up an attack that featured liberal amounts of read-option plays for the mobile Masoli, screen passes to C.J. Gable and even a flea-flicker pass from Tasker to Andy Fantuz for a 39-yard gain.
Tiquan Underwood scored another touchdown for the TigerCats on a 66-yard pass play, and Masoli produced a third on a twoyard run.
Medlock made two field goals, and there was a single point on a miss from 42 yards early in the fourth quarter.
The Grey Cup game will mark a return to Winnipeg for former Blue Bombers Jovon Johnson, Moton Hopkins and James Green and for former University of Manitoba Bison Kienan LaFrance, who played three seasons at Investors Group Field before becoming a sixth-round draft pick by the Redblacks in May.
We bounced back from all the adversity that we went through last year and were able to get to the top this year.