Stamps finally exorcise Grey Cup demons

The Canadian Press
Dan Ralph

EDMONTON–A slick turf couldn’t derail Bo Levi Mitchell, Terry Williams, and the Calgary Stampeders.
Mitchell threw two TD passes to earn game MVP honours while Williams had a record 97-yard punt return touchdown as Calgary ended two years of Grey Cup misery with a 27-16 win over the Ottawa Redblacks in the CFL final last night.
Mitchell, who finished 24-of-36 passing for 253 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, said the Stampeders exorcised their demons by beating Ottawa in the aftermath of two-straight Grey Cup losses.
Calgary lost 39-33 in overtime to Ottawa in 2016 and dropped a 27-24 decision last year to the Toronto Argonauts after two campaigns in which the Stampeders were the CFL’s dominant regular-season club.
“It feels surreal,” said Mitchell, also the Grey Cup MVP of Calgary’s 2014 win over Hamilton.
“I know we talked that [the two previous losses] didn’t mean anything but we couldn’t make the game bigger than it was,” he noted.
“We had to understand that this was one game, and you can only win one game and win only one Grey Cup.
“I think the guys who were on those two teams, even on the team last year, the emotions at the 30-second mark kind of hit,” Mitchell added.
“It wasn’t about redemption against anybody else or the league . . . it felt like as an organization, we’ve been at the top too much not to finish the job.
“It feels amazing to get it done for the city of Calgary.”
A Commonwealth Stadium gathering of 55,819 watched the opening kick-off in one C conditions with an 11 km/h wind. But the field conditions quickly became the story as a hard, slick Commonweath Stadium turf made traction near impossible.
During pre-game warm-ups, many Stampeders wore shoes featuring short, traditional turf cleats or those with a flat rubber sole. Before the contest, Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell downplayed the field conditions but it became apparent early that footing would be an issue.
That was especially clear with 38 seconds left in the first quarter when Williams had both feet slip from beneath him while returning a missed 47-yard Lewis Ward field goal try.
“It [the field] was terrible, to be honest it was really bad,” said Calgary receiver Lemar Durant, the game’s top Canadian with four catches for 30 yards and a TD.
“I couldn’t get my footing on anything.
“On a lot of stuff, yes [the slick surface was an advantage for receivers],” he conceded. “But at the same time, you’re trying to bust out of your cuts quick because you feel you have that advantage and you don’t.
“Either way, if you slip, advantage other team.”
Ottawa running back William Powell, who ran for a game-high 94 yards on 16 carries, was more to the point.
“It wasn’t pretty icy, it was very icy,” said Powell, who opened the game wearing neon orange shoes before going to traditional white in the second half.
“But both teams had to play on it.
“Hopefully in the future, we can make better conditions for the Grey Cup but that’s just how it was today,” he added.
The field conditions nearly prevented Williams from delivering the game’s biggest play. After taking the punt, Williams nearly slipped heading upfield but an Ottawa defender engaged with a blocker slid on by.
Once Williams regained himself, it allowed him to hit the open field, then run past punter Richie Leone to put Calgary up 21-11.
“I thought I was going to land on my butt for a second but I caught myself,” Williams recalled.
“I saw the opening, hit it at full speed.
“It was big because we needed a spark,” he added. “We were battling all game and needed to make it happen, and I’m happy we did.”
Calgary head coach Dave Dickenson said the slippery surface forced him to change his plan.
“We knew it was going to be tough to make sharp cuts so we had to try and adjust our play-calling,” he noted.
“For me, I didn’t think we ran as well as we could have and I thought they ran the ball quite well.
“It looked like we were a bit on a skating rink but we were both one the same field, same advantage,” Dickenson added.
“It seemed like we just made more plays.”
Ottawa, in its third Grey Cup game in four years, never seemed to get into an offensive rhythm on the slick surface.
Quarterback Trevor Harris was 20-of-38 passing for 288 yards and a TD but also had three interceptions.
The previous Sunday, Harris threw for 367 yards to 10 different receivers and had a playoff-record six TDs in Ottawa’s 46-27 East Division final win over Hamilton.
Harris came into the Grey Cup having thrown for 2,262 passing yards with 17 TDs and just two interceptions over his prior seven starts.
Even with a receiving corps featuring three 1,000-yard receivers, including CFL top Canadian Brad Sinopoli, Ottawa’s offence had few answers for a Calgary defence that was tops in the CFL in fewest offensive points allowed (17.8 per game), offensive touchdowns (27), and passing TDs (11) and tied for most sacks (45).