Posted on 11/27/2005 7:04:07 PM PST by Loyalist
VANCOUVER (CP) - Sean Fleming kicked a 36-yard field goal in the second round of overtime to give the Edmonton Eskimos a thrilling 38-35 win over the Montreal Alouettes in the 93rd Grey Cup on Sunday.
It was Edmonton's second Grey Cup title in three years and 13th overall.
In the first round of OT, Als quarterback Anthony Calvillo connected with Dave Stala from 30 yards out for a 35-28 lead before Ricky Ray hit Jason Tucker on an 11-yard TD pass to tie it.
Fleming then booted his field goal, putting the pressure on Montreal to score.
After a bizarre play in which Calvillo was penalized for an illegal pass, Charles Alston pushed the Als back to the Montreal 54 with an 11-yard sack.
Facing second-31, Calvillo threw an incomplete pass before scrambling and punting the ball on third down only to have Edmonton recover and end the game.
Eskimos coach Danny Maciocia, the seventh CFL head coach to win a Grey Cup in their first season, then fell to his knees and wept at the bench.
It was just the second Grey Cup decided in overtime. The other was Winnipeg's 21-14 win over Hamilton 21-14 at Toronto in 1961.
The Alouettes sent the game into overtime with a dramatic 27-yard field from Damon Duval on the final play of regulation.
After Ray's one-yard touchdown plunge put Edmonton up 28-25 with 1:03 left to play, Montreal put themselves into position to tie it when Jonas Lewis returned Fleming's kickoff to midfield.
Calvillo methodically led his team to the Edmonton 20 before Duval tied it.
Ray, pulled from Edmonton's previous two playoff wins in favour of backup Jason Maas, went the distance in the championship game and made his presence felt with the Eskimos down 25-20 in the final minutes.
Ray completed a 35-yard bomb to Derrell Mitchell on a third-down gamble from the Montreal 50 and two pass interference penalties then put the Eskimos on the one-yard line, where Ray plunged across on second down.
He then completed a two-point conversion to Tucker for a 28-25 lead with 1:03 remaining.
It was a game marked by dazzling kick returns by Montreal's Ezra Landry and Edmonton's Tony Tompkins, who set a Grey Cup game record with a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown in the third quarter.
Ed Hervey also had a TD while Fleming booted two other field goals for Edmonton.
Eric Lapointe, who had three TDs in an East Division final win in Toronto last week, added two more in the championship game.
And Calvillo faked to Lapointe and carried one in himself in the fourth quarter. Duval added a second field goal and a single.
Mr. Duval, the New York Football Giants are on the phone.
You will be up after Mr. Fleming.
What was the attendance figure?
lol...i was gonna ask why you overlooked mr. fleming.
The Boyz need a consistent kicker, btw.
In PC Canada, I'm surprised that Edmonton can keep the "Eskimos" team name.
59,000.
Yeah, I know. Be nice.
I'm just glad they finally got away from having two teams called "Roughriders."
I'm waiting for the PC police to go after the Eskimos for using a Native American mascot for a sports team. Even though the Eskimos aren't at all related to the other indigenous people also called Native Americans. And the name Eskimo itself is a racist slur by other Native Americans about their neighbors to the north - "Eskimo" is a French translation from a Cree word meaning "eaters of raw flesh," which is no compliment, but since the slur was made by an oppressed group against another oppressed group, maybe it's not a slur at all, but allowable as a mascot. Personally, I blame the French.
Did Shania Twain do the halftime show? LOL!
Wow.
I also heard that the St Vincent High Matadors downed the Wilson City Beavers last friday!!!
(I love obscure football victories!)
We used to have a term for a team whose defense was so
bad that it was called the "matador" defense, cause they
would let the other team player go by them like a matador
allows the bull to get past him. So it's kinda funny to
say something like...."yeah, the Matador defense is really good
tonight"..like a sports oxymoron....
Hey, it's Canada - fewer people, but a larger field.
Did you know there is a Canadian Football team that's your namesake?
Sorry they lost - wait'll next year!
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