Winnipegger Kienan LaFrance calls Ottawa win the ‘craziest day of my life’

The result was Ottawa winning its first CFL title since the Rough Riders were victorious in 1976 thanks to Tony Gabriel’s fourth-quarter catch. Then, after backup quarterback Andrew Buckley was sent in to try and run in his second touchdown of the game, Kanneh tripped him, forcing Calgary to settle for a 10-yard field goal with nine seconds to play that forced overtime and gave Ottawa another life.

Calgary was a league-best 15-2-1 and was coming off a 42-15 West Division final win over B.C.

Midway through the third quarter, the 8-9-1 REDBLACKS seemed to have the game firmly in hand with a 27-7 lead. Just turning the ball over, taking too many shots that weren’t there. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack and now I feel great, good, awesome”, said Karen Greenwood-Milne.

“There was nearly a situation where I was nearly unable to play today”, said Burris.

With the Stampeders clawing back to within three points and with an onside kickoff the only real option for Calgary with 1:38 left, punter Rob Maver lofted a ball toward the left sideline.

But Burris, last year’s outstanding player, stole the show by outperforming Mitchell, who finished 28-of-41 passing for 391 yards and two TDs, but also had three interceptions after throwing just eight all season. The former Temple star also ran for two scores after injuring a knee in warmups.

And despite Toronto’s apparent indifference to the CFL, it’s nearly as if the Grey Cup gods said, “Who cares what you think?” He would go on to be named the MVP for the 104th Grey Cup.

The expectation throughout the world of three-down football was that Sunday night would provide a memorable finish to a historic season for the Calgary Stampeders.

The Stampeders trailed most of the game – only forcing OT after rallying from a 20-point deficit against the Redblacks. “You don’t know exactly how each year will go and the first year obviously was a little more hard than we had hoped, but again the plan was still there even though the wins weren’t there in the first year. We looked bad. If we would have played half as good as we did in the second half, I think we would have been okay”.

The Stampeders scored their other touchdown on a four-play, 79-yard drive in the first quarter highlighted by a 51-year pass to Marquay McDaniel. Needless to say, the players were anxious heading to overtime (which is a lot like American college football overtime rules, but drives start at the 35-yard line).

Forty-one year-old Henry Burris, the only member of the Redblacks who was alive when Ottawa won their most recent Grey Cup, limped off the field after warm-up.