Grey Cup 2015: The win that nearly was for the Redblacks

They came with cowbells, painted faces and layers of long underwear under their parkas to watch the Canadian football showdown of the year.

Ottawa corner Brandon Sermons was fingered for a late pass-interference penalty that set up the game-winning TD.

The Grey Cup is back in Edmonton. “We are proud that we qualified for the finals”, he said. “It was just a matter of time before we put it all together”.

This coming Sunday, November 29th, 2015, the Ottawa Red Blacks (Rouge et Noir) and the Edmonton Eskimos (yes, another culturally insensitive team name) will meet in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for a football clash that will have Canadian football fans glued to their TV screens.

He had to survive some hellacious hits to get to the big finish.

“For them to be on the field with the confetti flying and seeing that Grey Cup and being able to give me a hug, that meant a lot”, said Reilly. “I probably won’t really feel it until then”.

Eskimos coach Chris Jones doesn’t think his team has reached its potential yet. But there was noothing prettier than what we saw today. “They get paid to”, Johnson said of the Eskimos.

This was a bitter ending to the season for Ottawa, appearing in its first Grey Cup since a 26-23 loss to Edmonton in 1981. He lost his voice “for about a week” because he was screaming so much at the eastern final.

One Redblacks player who won’t go anywhere, and shouldn’t, is quarterback Henry Burris.

But the Esks’ defence yielded very little after that early Ottawa outburst.

After an Edmonton drive stalled to open the third quarter, Ottawa took the ball at its own nine and with the help of a 40-yard pass interference call, moved the ball into field goal range.

The games use real sports equipment and track scores, while leveraging SwingTrack™ Mobile’s capability for customizing game formats, stadium environments, team jerseys and players.

Ottawa had mounted a 13-0 lead by 6:09 of the first quarter, but Edmonton climbed back and went ahead 17-16 at halftime on a two-yard touchdown catch by rookie running back Akeem Shavers, who had five catches for 26 yards and eight carries for 37 yards.

Edmonton punter Grant Shaw had a 69-yard single in the third, and Milo countered with a 72-yarder in the fourth to make it 20-18. Reilly passed to Shavers for a two-point convert and the final margin.

There will be a rally for the Eskimos at noon Tuesday at Churchill Square. Redblacks assistant GM Brock Sunderland is among the candidates for that position; even if Sunderland doesn’t get it, Eskimos head coach Chris Jones might be lured to Regina by the money and power of being coach-GM, thus creating a vacancy in Edmonton and speculation about Jason Maas, widely and deservedly credited for helping turn the offence around in his first season as Redblacks offensive co-ordinator.

Rhodes protested that the demonstration was a “competitive advantage” and new commissioner Jeffrey Orridge, still feeling his way along as the official arbiter of small-minded disputes, brokered a compromise allowing the lumberjacks but not the lumber.

The RedBlacks made no excuses.