October 2, 2008

The Story of the 2005 Grey Cup

Rick Matsumoto
Special to CFL.ca

It was undoubtedly one of the wackiest finishes in the long history of the Grey Cup game.

At the same time, it was that bizarre ending that also made the 2005 battle between the Edmonton Eskimos and Montreal Alouettes as exciting a finish as there has been in the annual clash for Earl Grey’s silver chalice.

Sean Fleming’s 37-yard field goal gave the Eskimos a 38-35 victory, but that didn’t come until the game had gone into overtime for only the second time in the 93 years of championship clashes. The previous fifth-quarter game came in 1961 when Winnipeg beat Toronto 21-14.

The nail-biting drama began to unfold in the third quarter for the more than 59,000 fans in the seats under the white, woven fibreglass roof of Vancouver’s B.C. Place Stadium and the millions more who were tuned into their television and radios.

The Alouettes fought back from a 10-1 halftime deficit to turn a sluggish affair into an entertaining contest worthy of a title match. They got a pair of one-yard touchdowns from Canadian running back Eric Lapointe early in the third quarter to take the lead.

However, the Esks went back in front when returner Tony Tompkins broke loose for a 96-yard touchdown on the kickoff following Lapointe’s second major. Tompkins’ run broke the record of 95 yards for the longest return in a Grey Cup game set by Toronto Argonauts’ Adrion Smith in 1997.   

The Als went back in front 25-20 when defensive end Anwar Stewart stripped the ball out of Eskimo quarterback Ricky Ray’s hands deep in the Edmonton end of the field to set up the go-ahead touchdown.

By then there was some grumbling among Eskimo followers who felt their team should have iced the game long before that and called for Coach Danny Maciocia to replace Ray with backup Jason Maas.

Maciocia had yanked Ray in favour of Maas in each of the divisional playoff games and on both occasions he had produced the winning touchdown that put the Eskimos in the championship game for the third time in four years.

Maciocia, however, gave no thought to a quarterback switch this time.

“The guy (Ray) was doing great,” he said. “It wasn’t his fault the protection broke down up front and he got stripped of the ball. That could have happened to any quarterback. I just looked at him and said ‘you’re going to do it.’”   

And do it Ray did.

With less than two minutes left in regulation time Ray, who set a Grey Cup record by completing 35 of his 45 passes and was ultimately named the game’s most valuable player, completed a pressure-packed 35-yard pass to slotback Derrell (Mookie) Mitchell on third down with four yards needed to retain the ball. That put the Esks on the Montreal 15-yard line and four plays later Ray barrelled in from a yard out for the touchdown. A successful two-point convert put the Esks ahead 28-25.

That meant the Als had to score at least a field goal to prevent an Eskimo victory. They did just that.

Although Eskimo defenders narrowly missed intercepting two of his tosses, Montreal’s unflappable quarterback Anthony Calvillo passed the Als into position for Damon Duval to nail a 27-yard field goal.

Overtime. And the weirdness began.

Under the CFL’s overtime rules the Als, who won the coin toss, went first and scrimmaged at the Esks’ 35-yard line. Calvillo promptly found receiver Dave Stala in the end zone with a strike for the go-ahead score.

However, Ray promptly responded by finding Jason Tucker open in the Montreal end zone. The toss was a trifle overthrown and Tucker had to make a diving catch to tie the score at 35 points apiece.

Edmonton got first crack for the second round and this time had to settle for Fleming’s 37-yard field goal and the go-ahead three points.

Now it was the Als’ turn. Calvillo dropped back to pass, but his throw was tipped by an Eskimo defensive lineman. However, the ball deflected back to Calvillo, who calmly caught it and, looking downfield, spotted receiver Kerry Watkins wide open with nary an Eskimo defender near him.

Calvillo lofted the pass towards his unattended receiver, but Watkins, perhaps unnerved at being totally alone, dropped the ball.

But it didn’t matter. Even if Watkins had made the catch and trotted into the end zone it wouldn’t have counted.

By catching the tipped ball Calvillo had, in fact, caught a completed forward pass and thrown a second forward pass – an illegal play. The Als were assessed a 10-yard penalty for the illegal manoeuvre.

The goofiness didn’t end there. On the next play Calvillo’s pass was knocked down by Eskimo defender Malcolm Frank.

That caused Edmonton head coach Danny Maciocia to rip off his headset and rush onto the field with his arms raised in jubilation.

But, whoa. That was only second down. The Als had one more kick at the can. Fortunately, Calvillo’s final desperation toss went for naught and an embarrassed Maciocia could finally celebrate.