Alouettes battle back for Grey Cup title
It turns out the 13th man was the difference.
Damon Duval got a second chance, and now he has his first Grey Cup ring.
And the Saskatchewan Roughriders have nothing but heartbreak after prematurely celebrating a win.
With a two-point lead in the final seconds, the Riders forced Duval to try a 43-yard field goal for the win.
He missed.
The Riders had 13 men on the field and were flagged for too many men.
On his second try from 33, Duval hit it and sent a crushing blow to the Riders with a in the 97th Grey Cup in front of 46,020 spectators at McMahon Stadium.
Darian Durant threw a eight-yard touchdown Andy Fantuz and had a 16-yard run for a major, Luca Congi hit on field goals of 23, 40, nine, and 44 yards, and the Riders defence forced two turnovers.
Alouettes quarterback threw touchowns to Jamel Richardson and Ben Cahoon, while Avon Cobourne had a rushing TD and Damon Duval kicked field goals of 28 and 33 yards.
The Riders owned the first half, but Durant finally made a mistake fitting a quarterback in his first Grey Cup midway through the third quarter.
In trying to go deep to Rob Bagg, Durant was picked off by Billy Parker, but the Alouettes didnít get anywhere from their own five-yard line.
On the ensuing possession, Durant ran for 14 yards and Wes Cates had rushes and receptions of eight each to set up another Congi field goal to make a 10-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Late in the final frame, Durant made another horrible mistake, throwing up a prayer at midfield that was picked off by Jerald Brown.
The Als went straight down the field and scored as Ben Cahoon dove into the endzone for a 11-yard touchdown, but the two-point conversion failed and the Riders had a two-point lead.
To start that final frame, the Riders took control with a five-play, 75-yard run that was capped by Durantís 16-yard touchdown run on a straight draw play.
That put the Riders up 16, but the Alouettes quickly answered as Cavlillo went 71 yards in six plays to set up Cobourneís three-yard run. The two-point conversion was good and the deficit was eight.
The Alouettes came out in the second half more focused that the first, as Anthony Calvillo put together a nine-play, 74-yard drive and hit Jamel Richardson on a eight-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-10 Riders.
At the end of the half, Fantuz caught a 28-yard pass and stepped out at the one-yard line. It was ruled in complete but Ken Miller challenged and won, so Congi hit on a nine-yard field goal to make it 17-3.
After three straight two-and-outs and a fumble, the Alouettes finally got moving towards the end of the first quarter, putting together a 44-yard drive for a 28-yard Damon Duval field goal to cut the deficit to 10-3.
Montreal had another great drive going, but fumbled away a chance at points. Fullback Kerry Carter had the ball stripped by Riders linebacker Rey Williams and Chris McKenzie at his own 17-yard line.
On the Als fourth possession, and before the East Division champs had a first down, Marcus (Chunky) Adams stripped Calvillo as the Als QB was trying to evade the pressure.
Keith Shologan picked up the ball and rumbled to the eight-yard line, where Durant hit Fantuz on the next play to give the Riders a 10-0 lead.
The Als didnít get any help from their punter in the first half, as Duval shanked two punts, the second one going just seven yards late in the second quarter that let the Riders get a 44-yard field goal to go up 13-3.
Riders defensive back Lance Frazier nearly had an interception on the Alouettes second possession, as he knocked a pass loose from Jamel Richardson, but that forced a second straight punt.
After forcing a second straight two-and-out to start the game, Saskatchewan took the ball with good field position and then used three Wes Cates runs to set up Luca Congi 40-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
The Riders made some progress on their first drive, using as 26-yard pass to Cates and a 12-yard run by Rob Bagg to get into position for a field goal.
But Congi missed a 42-yard attempt and Larry Taylor returned it out of the endzone.
The Alouettes won the coin toss and elected to receive, but they went two-and-out after Riders linebacker Mike McCullough made a great tackle on Ben Cahoon to drop him short of a first down.
Categories