Esks bring the Grey Cup back home to Edmonton

Centre Jon Gott, top, and punter Ronnie Pfeffer of the Ottawa Redblacks exit the plane in Ottawa after returning from a loss in the Grey Cup game at Winnipeg.

“It’s not anger, it’s disappointment”, Ottawa coach Rick Campbell said. “For them being able to see us win a championship and be involved in it”.

Redblacks’ Henry Burris completed seven of eight passes on those two drives for 88 yards and two touchdowns. First Abdul Kanneh was penalized, a 28-yard gain for the Eskimos.

Lynch successfully converted the third-and-one situation to cap a five-play, 78-yard drive. Upon review, the officials agreed that it was indeed pass interference and suddenly the Eskimos had the ball on the Ottawa 10-yard line with destiny calling. Two plays later, Jordan Lynch ran in for a one-yard TD.

Even still, “I even brought my wheelbarrow to bring back that Grey Cup home to Ottawa”, he said.

Ottawa had a big play – a fumble returned for a touchdown – wiped off the board by an offside penalty but extended their lead with a Chris Milo field goal midway through the second.

He said other Redblack players “absolutely” shared his view.

Let me once again offer congratulations to both teams and to the CFL on another great season.

So with first and goal at the 10, Edmonton got it to the one on a completion to Nate Coehoorn and then on third-and-one, Reilly took it in himself. “They finally got it done”.

The Ottawa locker-room was understandably quiet, save for the sounds of a few bearhug embraces between players.

Lavoie argued in favour of keeping this Redblacks team together “for all my life, for all my moments”.

“We’ve been inundated with positive feedback from local fans and fans who came here from across Canada, telling us about what a tremendous time they had all week long”.

Eskimos general manager Ed Hervey said Monday that he’s “most proud that our culture of the Edmonton Eskimos is back”.

You don’t hear anyone talking about the obvious hold that occurred on Edmonton’s second offensive touchdown. Club president Len Rhodes complained to the league in advance about the RedBlacks’ signature lumberjacks who for two seasons have chainsawed a logoed “cookie” off a log after every scoring play.

“Last year we learned how to win those close games but we learned how to lose the big games”. For Ottawa, who came in the game as a decided underdog, it was the ideal start. The team had not lost since a 38-35 defeat at the hands of Toronto on October 6.

The road to the Grey Cup hasn’t always been a smooth one for Reilly and the Eskimos. Its last win was November 28, 1976, when the Rough Riders defeated Saskatchewan 23-20.

The Redblacks’ Grey Cup appearance capped an awesome transformation for the franchise, .

Grymes said the team was confident heading into the fourth quarter despite trailing thanks to their final-frame success this year. We didn’t tackle very well and I’m really disappointed about that. “We’re extremely excited for the future in Ottawa”.