Edmonton And Ottawa To Battle For 103rd Grey Cup In Winnipeg

So this coming Sunday in Winnipeg, Ottawa will play in the Grey Cup Game for the first time since 1981, when the then Rough Riders lost 26-23 – to the Edmonton Eskimos.

The Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders agree Sunday’s CFL West Division final will be a bruising chess match between two defences that punish opponents in different ways.

It was 45-15 early in the fourth quarter before the Eskimos took their foot off the gas and almost gave the visitors a chance to climb back into it.

But the hole was too deep and the Stamps were too error (and penalty) prone to claw all the way back.

“You know, I still remember pictures of them jumping in front of our coach’s motorcycle for a picture in the newspaper and all that stuff, and not really thinking we were a viable threat to play against”, said Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly, who threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more in a masterly performance.

Yet no pair of players took up more of the offence in Edmonton than Bowman and Walker, and for good reason.

One year later, the gunslingers – both fully healthy this time – will go at it until sundown in Sunday’s West Final Part Deux at Commonwealth Stadium (2:30 p.m., TSN/News Talk 770), with a berth in next weekend’s 103rd Grey Cup in Winnipeg on the line. But now we have.

“I’ll never look past Calgary”.

“I’m disappointed that we lost”, he said. But that’s next year. To see the way all the guys love each other the way we do is very uncommon.

The field goal parade continued for much of the second quarter with Edmonton’s Sean Whyte kicking two and Parades responding in kind before the Eskimos broke the pattern with a 15-yard TD pass from Reilly to Adarius Bowman with 20 seconds left in the half to head into the dressing room up 20-12.

“I know it’s a big deal and I have a lot of respect for it”, Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell said.

“Everything we went through previous year, all the naysayers towards Henry Burris they can’t say anything after this”, Burris said. “Credit to them to continue to fight”. “We’ll be happy for a few more hours and tee it up one more time”.

Since regaining his starter’s role, Reilly has won nine consecutive games. But on Sunday, his receivers didn’t make any plays until late in the fourth quarter.

Even as handily as Edmonton won, it could have been more lopsided still. He was one of the first cuts, and his name appeared in the Ottawa Sun the next day between defensive back John Stevenson and receiver Lanear Simpson.

It was a sour end to an impressive coaching career for Hufnagel, who now hands the reins to his offensive coordinator, Dave Dickenson.

“I don’t put too much stock in (reports of a struggling offensive line)”, said Jones. “I’ll still be around”.

“It’s all about the players”, Jones said.

“(Hufnagel) has had a great run, he’s a tremendous coach, can’t take away anything from what he’s done”, he said.

“It was good to have direction, to be able to go out there and walk through the plays that we have for our game plan that are specifically set for Calgary”.

On a bright note, he expected the last 1,000 tickets to the game to be scooped up, putting a sold-out crowd of 36,634 fans in the stands at three-year-old Investors Group Field.