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SLAM! Sports 2001 in Review A LOOK BACK INTERACTIVE ALSO ON SLAM! 
| Sunday, November 25, 2001 Stampeders 27, Blue Bombers 19Underdog Stampeders win 89th Grey Cup gameMONTREAL - It's not so much how many, but how and perhaps, most importantly, when. The Calgary Stampeders wear the crown of Grey Cup champions, the second-straight team with an 8-10 regular season record to win when it matters most in the Canadian Football League. They came far, and quickly, from a team that floundered to an 0-4 start and had but one win come Labour Day. The Stampeders rolled over the favoured Winnipeg Blue Bombers Sunday 27-19 in front of a crowd of 65,255, the second-biggest crowd in Grey Cup history, joining last year's British Columbia Lions as the only teams to win the Grey Cup after a sub-.500 season. Regular-season records, like the Bombers' 14-4 mark? Who cares? Regular-season winning streaks, like the Bombers' 12-game run? Forget about it. In the one game that mattered most, the Bombers could not match the Stampeders ability to rise to the occasion. "Their attitude cost them," said Stampeders defensive back Aldi Henry, whose blocked punt which led to a touchdown was one of two key Calgary plays in the game and earned him Outstanding Canadian honours. "They were not paying attention to detail." The game, in a sense, mirrored the Stamps' season. There was a slow start, but when it mattered most, they were the team that did not flinch, but watched the other stumble. "I told them three weeks ago they had 180 minutes to glory," said Stampeders head coach and general manager Wally Buono as the team was starting the playoffs. "I asked them if they had six minutes in them, because when you break it down that's about what each individual player plays (in a game)." They had those six minutes and to tell you the truth it was more like six seconds which defined this game in two plays: "We worked on that play twice in practice. It worked perfectly. I just had to buy some time and step up. He was wide open on the sidelines," said Crandell of the sideline pattern which got Boerigter open down the left side behind Bombers defensive backs Marvin Coleman and Dave Donaldson. Crandell lofted a pass which the big slotback hauled in and Mark McLoughlin's convert made it 10-4 for Calgary as the Bombers fizzled on offence and placekicker Troy Westwood's season-long funk continued. Another blown coverage by the Bombers with just under a minute to go in the first half resulted in an uncontested nine-yard touchdown pass by Crandell to receiver Travis Moore to give the Stamps a 17-4 lead at halftime. The Bombers, meanwhile, could lament points left on the field. Westwood, who had struggled all year and kicked only 60 percent, hit on his first attempt from 29 yards on the Bombers opening possession, but missed from 38 yards and hit the right upright from 41 yards. Out of nine possible points, he earned but four. "You know anybody who can kick?" Bombers coach Dave Ritchie asked reporters in his post-game press conference. "It's bad. We'll definitely be looking hard (at Westwood's performance). "In that first period, we didn't make the points," he said. "It should have been nine-to-whatever. Our guy was struggling all year. He kicked 60 percent. You can't win doing that. He's like a player. You got to go out and make plays." Quarterback Khari Jones, meanwhile, the CFL's outstanding player, struggled at the Bombers' controls, overthrowing a wide-open Arland Bruce in the corner of the endzone on that opening drive. He wound up 19-for-40 for 286 yards and two touchdowns. The first, a 23-yard touchdown pass just past the four-minute mark of the third quarter which, with Westwood's convert, made it 17-11 for Calgary. Westwood missed again later in the third quarter, this time from 53 yards, and then the Stampeders put their stamp on the game when Henry swept through and blocked Cameron's punt. "I had a smile from ear to ear when the coach called the block," said Henry. "They put a rookie on me and he wasn't blocking me. I took one step and went inside and dove for the ball. I wasn't supposed to come free." Henry said that play typified the Bombers approach to the game. Winnipeg receiver Robert Gordon bristled when it was suggested the Stampeders came up with the big plays. "We let them come up with the big plays," he said. The Bombers had one last gasp, but it was not enough. With Winnipeg backup quarterback Brian Ah Yat loosening up on the sidelines, Jones went back in and moved the club 50 yards, ending with a 23-yard touchdown toss to Milt Stegall, who made a great adjustment, looking first over his right shoulder and then his left to pull in the pass behind Ricky Bell and a hard-charging Greg Frers. That pulled the Bombers to within five at 24-19. But again, the Stampeders got the big play when they needed it. Stuck on their 11 with a couple of minutes to go, Crandell hit running back Kelvin Anderson with the one play that was working for the Stamps, a little sideline pattern. Anderson slipped the tackle of Coleman and scampered 44 yards to get Calgary out of the hole. Three plays later, McLoughlin kicked a 24-yard field goal to close out the scoring. "The guys in that room are fighters," said Henry. "The house could have crumbled easy when when we were 1-6 on Labour Day. It could have crumbled easy. Wally sat everybody down and told us we got to believe in ourselves, that the guys who could win the Grey Cup were in that room. The vets took over the rookies followed." Buono, the Montreal native who won his third Grey Cup at the Stampeders' helm, said he had confidence in the young group he had assembled. "It's easy to succumb to pressure and make changes to make yourself look good," he said. Buono future is now up in the air. Because of the change in Stampeders ownership, Buono's contract allows him to shop himself around and there are rumours he could be bound for the Edmonton Eskimos, B.C. Lions or the new Ottawa Renegades franchise. Ritchie, who will be back with Winnipeg next season, vowed the Bombers would return for next year's Grey Cup in Edmonton. "We"ll be back next year," he said. "They better tie it on in the East because we are going to take care of our business." On this day, the Stamps gave the business to the Bombers. SummaryMONTREAL (CP) -- CFL Grey Cup Sunday night: SUMMARY First Quarter Wpg -- FG Westwood 29 3:57 Wpg -- Single Westwood 49 7:20 Second Quarter Cal -- FG McLoughlin 37 9:41 Cal -- TD Boerigter 68 pass from Crandell (McLoughlin convert) 12:15 Cal -- TD Moore 9 pass from Crandell (McLoughlin convert) 14:06 Third Quarter Wpg -- TD Bruce 23 pass from K.Jones (Westwood convert) 4:05 Wpg -- Single Westwood 54 10:38 Fourth Quarter Cal -- TD Fells 11 returned blocked punt (McLoughlin convert) 5:37 Wpg -- TD Stegall 23 pass from K.Jones (Westwood convert) 9:35 Cal -- Cal FG McLoughlin 24 14:12 Winnipeg 4 0 8 7--19 Calgary 0 17 0 10--27 Attendance -- 65,255.
Net offence is yards passing, plus yards rushing, minus team losses such as yards lost on broken plays. Individual Rushing: Wpg -- Roberts 8-70, K.Jones 5-28, Mills 3-11, Blount 1-1; Cal -- Anderson 8-22, Crandell 5-22, Warren 3-21, Deibert 2-9. Receiving: Wpg -- Stegall 11-118, Bruce III 5-81, Gordon 5-75, Mills 1-7, Blount 1-5; Cal -- Boerigter 4-114, Danielsen 5-73, Anderson 2-57, Moore 3-29, Regimbald 1-15, Cummings 1-10, Warren 1-6, Peterson 1-5. Passing: Wpg -- K.Jones 19-40, 286 yds, 2 TDs, 0 ints, Roberts 0-1-0-0-0; Cal -- Crandell 18-35-309-2-0. |