SLAM! SPORTS: 2000 IN REVIEW

Summary

By CHRIS STEVENSON -- SLAM! Sports
CALGARY - They lost for most of the season, both games and a coach.

They fought and they bickered.

But somewhere in the heat of August, through a tumultuous October, they found what they needed to get onto the turf of McMahon Stadium on a cold November night and lift the Grey Cup.

B.C. Lions' quarterback Damon Allen kisses the Grey Cup after the Lions beat the Montreal Alouettes 28-26 to take the CFL title in Calgary, Sunday, Nov.26, 2000. (CP PHOTO/Ryan Remiorz)

The B.C. Lions improbable CFL journey ended Sunday night with a 28-26 win over the Montreal Alouettes in another Canadian classic, making them the first CFL team to post a losing regular-season record (8-10) and win the Grey Cup.

"This is the best 8-10 team that ever made it to the playoffs. It took us a long time to get to eight wins, but by the time we got to eight wins, we were an awfully good football team," said Lions coach Steve Buratto, who had been out of football and without a job when he replaced head coach Greg Mohns in August, who left to join the fledgling Xtreme Football League.

"I feel so proud of the group of athletes in our lockerroom. I told them the first day I was here this team would do with it what they wanted to do."

But it was not easy, not the growing pains, not the internal bickering over how how the offence was being run, not Sunday's game itself.

The outcome Sunday was not decided until a pass by Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo on a two-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game sailed over the head of running back Thomas Haskins with 44 seconds left in the game.

There was contact between Haskins and B.C. defender Chuck Levy, but there was no flag on the play.

When the ball hit the ground, so did the Alouettes' hopes.

Calvillo had hit receiver Ben Cahoon with a 59-yard touchdown pass with 44 seconds left in the game to pull the Alouettes, who were dominated statistically by the Lions, within two points.

After fighting so hard to get here, after coming up short four years in a row in the Eastern Final, the Alouettes were left to wonder how it got away again.

They couldn't stop the Lions powerful running game which piled up 221 yards by the deadly 1-2 combination of game MVP Robert Drummond (122 yards) and Sean Millington, named top Canadian, who had 99.

Drummond had a couple of huge runs in third-and-one situations, including one for 44 yards and a touchdown early in the fourth quarter that put B.C. up 19-10. The Lions never trailed in the game, but the Alouettes refused to be put down, despite the pounding they were taking in the trenches.

"We were destined to win this. It was destiny," said Drummond.

"Me and Sean, neither of us was getting tired. We were putting a lot of pressure on them. They were sucking air when they were coming off. You get a couple of 220-pound guys running into you play after play and eventually they folded. We didn't."

There were so many stories when you looked around the Lions victorious lockerroom Sunday night.

Lui Passaglia, the 46-year-old kicker who went out a winner, despite not having one of his best days. He missed his first two field goal attempts, from 47 and 39 yards, but wound up putting up what turned out to be the winning points with a 29-yarder with a minute and 25 seconds left in the game.

Montreal Alouettes' slotback Jock Climie (left) celebrates his third quarter touchdown with guard Scott Flory. (CP PHOTO/Ryan Remiorz)

"This was not my best day today," he said, "but we all helped out for the win. I was hoping we would score a touchdown with about a minute or so to go (to make it easier). You have to make your plays. They made theirs and we made ours. Vancouver was just better today."

Veteran quarterback Damon Allen, 37, hoisting the Cup and savouring the moment, so sweet after fumbling in last year's Western Final and costing his team a chance to play in a hometown Grey Cup.

"I knew that once we made the playoffs, we were as good as anybody. I knew we were playing as well as anybody in the league," said Allen (18-for-31 for 234 yards).

"I think tonight I took away that fumble from last year."

How the Lions, unhappy with the club's conservative offence, voiced their concerns in what amounted to a mutiny and Buratto, rightly so, worked with them on a compromise.

In a crisply-played first half, the Lions won the battle in the trenches and set the tone for the day with their offensive line consistently opening up holes for Millington. He carried the ball14 times for 94 yards. With the Lions controlling the ground game, they controlled the ball for 19:32 in the opening half as they opened up a 12-3 lead.

The Lions defence, meanwhile, limited Calvillo to 13 receptions on 26 attempts with two interceptions and two touchdowns, the first a one-yarder to Jock Climie at 6:40 of the third quarter to keep the Als alive.

They kept battling back and looked to be in good shape when Calhoon slipped behind Central McClellion to grab that last-minute touchdown, but they couldn't get the crucial two-point conversion o that controversial play.

"This is worse than losing in the (Eastern Final). You put your body through another week of turmoil. You got this close...you lose in the Eastern Conference final and you've got six months and a week to think about it. Now we've just got six months to think about it."

Summary

CFL     GREY CUP AT CALGARY

        FINAL             1ST  2ND  3RD  4TH     TOTAL
                          ---  ---  ---  ---     -----
        MONTREAL            3    0    7   16      26
        BC                  8    4    0   16      28     FINAL

    SCORING SUMMARY

    1ST QUARTER: BCL - SINGLE, LUI PASSAGLIA 51 YD OFF A MISSED FIELD
                           GOAL, 4:10. BC 1-0
                 BCL - TD, DAMON ALLEN 1 YD RUN (LUI PASSAGLIA KICK),
                           7:49. BC 8-0
                 MON - FG, TERRY BAKER 19 YD, 11:38. BC 8-3
    2ND QUARTER: BCL - SINGLE, LUI PASSAGLIA 42 YD OFF A MISSED FIELD
                           GOAL, 0:17. BC 9-3
                 BCL - FG, LUI PASSAGLIA 23 YD, 11:10. BC 12-3
    3RD QUARTER: MON - TD, JOCK CLIMIE 1 YD PASS FROM ANTHONY CALVILLO
                           (TERRY BAKER KICK), 6:49. BC 12-10
    4TH QUARTER: BCL - TD, ROBERT DRUMMOND 44 YD RUN (LUI PASSAGLIA KICK),
                           0:55. BC 19-10
                 MON - FG, TERRY BAKER 51 YD, 4:30. BC 19-13
                 BCL - TD, DAMON ALLEN 1 YD RUN (TWO-POINT CONVERSION
                           FAILED), 8:59. BC 25-13
                 MON - TD, MIKE PRINGLE 5 YD RUN (TERRY BAKER KICK),
                           11:18. BC 25-20
                 BCL - FG, LUI PASSAGLIA 29 YD, 13:35. BC 28-20
                 MON - TD, BEN CAHOON 59 YD PASS FROM ANTHONY CALVILLO
                           (TWO-POINT CONVERSION FAILED), 14:16. BC 28-26

        ATT: 43,822

	Mtl	B.C.
First downs	21	26
Yards rushing	131	260
Yards passing	242	234
Total offence	373	494
Team losses	11	18
Net offence	362	476
Passes made-tried	13-26	18-31
Return-yards	142	118
Intercepts-yards by	0-0	2-7
Fumbles-lost	0-0	1-1
Sacks by	2	2
Punts-average	6-42.2	3-43.0
Penalties-yards	6-54	5-55
Time of possession	26:18	33:42

Net offence is yards passing, plus yards rushing, minus team losses such as yards lost on broken plays.
Individual
Rushing: Mtl -- Pringle 20-115, Calvillo 4-16, Haskins 1-0; B.C. -- Drummond 10-122, Millington 17-99, Allen 9-39.
Receiving: Mtl -- Climie 6-97, Cahoon 2-73, Alexander 2-39, Heppell 1-16, Haskins 1-10, Pringle 1-7; B.C. -- Blair 6-87, Drummond 3-41, Millington 3-38, Jackson 3-33, Oliver 2-24, Graham 1-11.