Eskimos score late, hold on to capture 103rd Grey Cup

Reilly finished 21-of-35 for 269 yards and two touchdown passes and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player while Burris – a former Ticat who was critical of Hamilton head coach Kent Austin this week – threw for 220 yards on 22-of-29 passing, two touchdowns and the pick.

Late in the first half, Reilly connected with Akeem Shavers for another Edmonton touchdown. Edmonton’s offensive line finished fifth in sacks allowed with 47 but quarterback Mike Reilly is a very good runner and his mobility allows him to escape defensive pressure to either buy time, to look downfield or head upfield for costive yards.

The Eskimos defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 26-20 for their 14th Grey Cup victory – and first since 2005 – in a game that started out fast and furious with the teams combining for 23 points in the first quarter before evolving into a brutal defensive struggle with a lot of big hits in the second half.

That’s the same approach Eskimo head coach Chris Jones took afterward.

Having his daughters in Winnipeg made the win especially gratifying for Jones.

The Grey Cup game is indeed a matchup of the best teams in the East and West Divisions. He also had an interception and is now 1-2 in Grey Cup starts.

“Edmonton felt that it was a competitive disadvantage for them and their team, and essentially protested and the league had to concede”, Jeff Hunt, the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group’s manager of sports, told CTV Ottawa.

To make it this far after only two years in the CFL is a dream come true, he said.

“I mean, the guy sits in his room, I don’t know if he even sleeps, but he comes up with something”, Burris said following Ottawa’s walkthrough Saturday. “We were ready to play Monday but you’ve got to go through the process, you’ve got to go through your weekly preparation”.

Burris hit Lavoie on a three-yard TD pass at 11:38 as Ottawa opened the game with a seven-play, 73-yard scoring march. Sean Whyte booted a 25-yard field goal but missed two. Whyte booted a convert, single and field goal while Grant Shaw added another single.

He scored his first professional touchdown by catching a two-yard pass in the front corner of the end zone with 12 seconds left in the first half. In a game that Ottawa led so decisively for the first few minutes of the night, Edmonton took a 17-16 lead into halftime.

“We were down in the dumps for a decade so it’s nice to be back on top”, Ferguson said.

Then Ottawa forced a fumble and scored again.

“Yeah, I don’t think I woke up this morning doing my workout at about 5 a.m. thinking, ‘Man, I hope we’re down 13-0.’ That’s not how we planned it”.