The Saskatchewan Roughriders opposed the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 101st Grey Cup Sunday at Mosaic Stadium. The Roughriders were after their fourth Grey Cup in franchise history while the Ticats were chasing their ninth. Here’s the game log from the broadcast booth:
– The chants of “HENNNNNNRY! HENNNNNNNNRY!” started at 3:23 pm during warmups. The game didn’t kickoff until 5:36 pm.
– TV/movie stars Tom Hanks and Martin Short were on hand for the game, appearing on the TSN pregame show live from Pilsner Place in the north endzone.
– The scratches for the Riders from their 46-man roster were: LB Rey Williams, LS Cory Huclack, OL Devin Tyler and OL Corey Watman.
– Before the game CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon brought the Grey Cup into the stadium with hundreds of fans to punctuate the Fan March touching off a pregame concert on field by Saskatoon’s The Sheep Dogs.
– It was clear and +2 degrees Celsius at game time with a north wind at 45 km/h, making it feel like minus-5.
– The officiating crew was headed up by referee Kim Murphy.
– The Ticats were introduced individually on defense. The Roughriders were NOT. They all came out together. There were reports CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon was not impressed.
– The Riders were in their home green uniforms with white pants and green helmets. The Ticats were in road whites with black pants and helmets.
– Ticats centre Marwan Hage called heads on the coin toss. The Riders won the toss and deferred. The Ticats got the ball and the wind to open the game.
– Hamilton’s opening series began at their 40 with Henry Burris behind centre. 2-and-out.
– Riders’ first series began at their 26 with Darian Durant at the controls. On the second play Durant was sacked and fumbled, however the Riders recovered. Punt.
– Hamilton’s second series began at the 55 after a 43-yard Ricky Schmitt punt. They managed one first down on a C.J. Gable run before Luca Congi stroked a 45-yard field goal with Andy Fantuz holding for a 3-0 Hamilton lead at the 5:16 mark.
– Riders’ second possession began at their 35. On 2nd-down RB Kory Sheets picked up a Durant fumbled and raced 37 yards to the Hamilton 33. The Riders took the lead on a 15-yard Durant-to-Geroy Simon touchdown pass making it 7-3 Riders at the 8:23 mark. It was a 7-play, 75-yard drive taking 3:06 off the clock.
– Hamilton’s third series began at their 25 with 6:30 to go in the first. They managed two first downs and got to their 48 before punting.
– Saskatchewan’s third possession commenced at their 21. The game was going by quickly with only one penalty to this point (an offside on the Hamilton defense). They got one first down before punting.
– Ticats’ fourth series began at their 42. They were 2-and-out after two consecutive attempted passes to Andy Fantuz. Punt.
– Riders’ fourth series began at their 49. It was their best drive start. The series carried over into the second quarter.
AFTER ONE: RIDERS 7 TICATS 3
– They got down to the Ticats’ 13 before settling for a 20-yard Chris Milo field goal. 10-3 Riders with 12:46 left in the half.
– Hamilton took it at their 35, defending the south endzone in the second period and going into the wind. It was minus-6 with the windchill, which was at 34 km/h. On first down Burris fumbled the snap and fell on it for a 7-yard loss. 2-and-out. Their third.
– Riders’ fifth series began at the Hamilton 50 after a no yards penalty, with 11:36 to go. A very impressive drive ended with a 3-yard touchdown run by tailback Jock Sanders. It was a 7-play, 50-yard drive taking 2:36 off the clock. 17-3 Riders with 8:49 left in the half.
– Ticats’ sixth series began at their 34. It didn’t last long. A second down snap went right by Burris and the Riders’ Alex Hall jumped on it at the Hamilton 9. Turnovers: 1-0 in the Riders’ favour.
– Two plays later Darian Durant fumbled and the Ticats recovered at their 8. Turnovers: 1-1. They were 2-and-out for a fourth time.
– Riders took over at the Hamilton 30 with 6:01 to go in the half. 29-yard pass to Getzlaf to the Hamilton-1. On the next play Kory Sheets rumbled in from the one for a 24-3 Saskatchewan lead.
– Hamilton ball at their 32 with 5:11 left. Burris moved it all the way downfield, including a 48-yard pass to Bakari Grant, and capped the series with a 25-yard Luca Congi field goal with 2:47 left. 24-6 Riders.
– Riders took over at their 35. Sheets had 32 yards on the ground on the first two plays got them to the Hamilton 42. Then Durant heaved a 42-yard touchdown to Geroy Simon to break it open. 31-6 Riders with 1:56 to go in the half. Three-play, 75-yard drive taking 0:51 off the clock.
– 1:56 left the Ticats got it at their 33. 2-and-out.
– Rider ball at their 29 with 1:25 to go. They ran out the clock.
AT THE BREAK: RIDERS 31 TICATS 6
– The Riders elected to take the wind in the fourth quarter at the outset of the second half, giving Hamilton the ball and the wind to open the third quarter. It was 0 degrees Celsius by now, minus-8 with the windchill. The wind was northwest at 26 km/h. Rider tailback Kory Sheets had 128 yards rushing at the half.
– The Ticats’ first series began at their 31. On first down Burris was sacked for a six yard loss by John Chick. 2-and-out.
– The Riders’ first series began at their 39. They got to the Ticat 53 before punting.
– Ticats’ second series started at their 22 at the 3:25 mark. They managed one first down before punting from their 40.
– With 9:48 left the Riders took over at their 36. Sheets was at 141 yards by this point, a new Rider record in the Grey Cup. The CFL record is 169 held by Johnny Bright of the Eskimos. On this series they were 2-and-out.
– Ticats’ ball for a third time at their 23 with 8:04 to go in the third period. They moved it well on some C.J. Gable runs but the drive ended when Rider LB Weldon Brown picked off Burris at the Rider 35. Turnovers: 2-1 in the Riders’ favour.
– So the Riders got it for a second time. However they were 2-and-out.
– Ticats ball at the Rider 40 with 4:21 to go. A no yards penalty set them up there. Rider fans wanting a roughing the punter penalty against the Ticats on the play, but didn’t get it.
– It wasn’t a long series, and Burris ended it with an 18-yard touchdown run with 2:52 to go in the third making it 31-13 Riders. 4-plays, 40-yards.
– Rider ball at their 45 after an illegal kickoff by Ticats kicker Luca Congi. 2-and-out.
– Hamilton ball at the Rider 51 with 1:11 to go after a 25-yard punt return by Brandon Banks. 25-yards in the air to Luke Tasker to the Rider 26. The series carried over into the fourth.
AFTER THREE: RIDERS 31 TICATS 13
– The first play of the fourth quarter was a 33-yard Luca Congi field goal for Hamilton cutting the Riders’ lead to 31-16 with 14:18 to go. Riders outscored opponents 26-0 in the fourth quarter in the playoffs coming in.
– Rider ball at their 35. 2-and-out.
– Hamilton got it, going into the wind, at their 23 with 13:22 left. They got to their own 45 before punting.
– Saskatchewan took over at its 28 with 11:13 left in the game, and a 31-16 lead. They took it to the Ticat 49 before lining up a punt. However a roughing the kicker penalty gave the Riders an automatic first down to the Hamilton 34. A 29-yard toss to Weston Dressler got them down to the Hamilton-5 with 5:42 left. Next play Kory Sheets takes it around the left end for the score. 38-16 Riders with 5:02 to go! It was an 11-play, 82-yard drive taking 6:11 off the clock. In the process Sheets set a Grey Cup rushing yards record.
– TSN’s Darren Dutchyshyn says on CKRM Radio at this point, “Other than the birth of my kids, this is the greatest day of my life!”
– Ticat ball at their 35 with 4:35 left. On first down John Chick sacked Burris for a fumble and Ricky Foley recovered at the Ticat 26. On the very next play Durant tossed a 26-yard touchdown to Weston Dressler in the back left corner of the endzone with 3:48 left. 45-16 Riders.
– The decibel meter hit 113 on the touchdown.
– Ticats ball with 3:36 to go from their 46. Why are we even keeping score anymore? Nice drive by Burris though, and they ended the series with a 2-yard touchdown run with 1:56 left. 45-23 Riders.
– Ticats tried an onside kick with 1:56 to go. Geroy Simon recovered it at the Ticats 53. They got all the way down to the Hamilton 8-yard line before Darian Durant knelt down twice and ground out the clock.
GAME OVER! RIDERS 45 TIGER-CATS 23
POSTGAME NOTES/QUOTES FROM THE RIDERS
SB CHRIS GETZLAF
– Darian is nothing but a pro. He got better every year and you can’t question his work ethic. No one deserve it more than he does.
– The O-line are the warriors. They’re in the trenches and they were monsters in the playoffs and all season long.
– It being here was extra special. I got a ring in 2007 but this is the first time my name will be engraved on the trophy. This is the first time to do it at home so that’s extra special.
HEAD COACH COREY CHAMBLIN
– I’m gonna tell you I never felt pressure of winning this game. I had anxiety to be champ, nothing about Kent Austin. I wanted to close it in the right way. BC shook us up but from that favourite the guys turned it up and the guys knew what it took to win. I’m sure now that they won it, they’ll have a lot sex.
– The one thing that led us to a dominant performance was the fans. They were unreal. I looked at Hamilton in warmups and thought ‘I wouldn’t want to be you guys’. The stars aligned in that room and it was a positive for us.
– I told the guys behind closed doors is all the distractions came and they broke us. Sometimes it’s okay to break if you come back together. When we broke the losing streak we came together and stayed together.
– That’s it. We’re the champs!
