Edmonton Eskimos top RedBlacks to win Grey Cup

On Thursday, head coach Rick Campbell (coach of the year), quarterback Henry Burris (outstanding player), receiver Brad Sinopoli (top Canadian) and SirVincent Rogers (lineman) were honoured at the league’s awards banquet.

“It’s disappointing not to come out with a victory, especially when you fought so hard and got this thing turned around with all these young guys in this locker-room”, Burris said afterwards.

“With the GM we have, the coaching staff we have and the players they brought in, we’ve been built to do this multiple times”.

There’s precious little Burris hasn’t already seen over his 16 CFL seasons.

The 40-year-old Burris was 22 of 29 for 220 yards.

The Redblacks scored two quick touchdowns on their opening two drives to start the game and held a 13-10 lead following the first quarter.

It’s not the first time a Grey Cup team has had to do without a touchdown celebration.

The Eskimos then put together a long touchdown drive in the final three minutes of the half.

“He’s pretty good”, Jones said of his quarterback.

“We had lost every single challenge up until last week”, said Jones, who was 0-for-6 on challenges during the regular season. “But it may be from six weeks or eight weeks ago”.

The drive was aided by Edmonton head coach Chris Jones challenging an incompletion that was ultimately changed to pass interference against Ottawa’s Brandon Sermons. Whyte spent four years in Montreal but was let go during training camp before joining the Eskimos in September.

In 2012, the Calgary Stampeders and league came to a compromise on the team’s mascot for the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto.

Ottawa went ahead 19-17 in the third on another Milo field goal. Whyte made all 14 converts he tried while Milo finished 34 of 38. Justin Capicciotti led the Redblacks with 12 sacks to finish third overall. Reilly also ran for 66 yards. They looked set to retake the lead after a successful fake punt moved them into Ottawa territory but Whyte clanked a 35-yarder of the right upright and the Redblacks to a one-point advantage into the fourth.

Simply put, Edmonton’s receiving corps are big.

Adarius Bowman has the league in receiving yards for two years running – tallying 1,346 this year. Ottawa likes to spread the ball around.