THE CANADIAN PRESS
CFL.ca Staff
With files from Stampeders.com
CALGARY — Corey Mace only recorded one stat in the 102nd Grey Cup, but it may have been the biggest in the game. His fourth-quarter sack on Zach Collaros stopped a fast-moving Ticats drive in its tracks, leading to a Justin Medlock field goal and maintaining Calgary’s four-point lead.
“[Juwan Simpson] and I had a play called and we’d been running it all week, actually for a few weeks now,” said Mace, playing for his first championship in his hometown of Vancouver. “I looked around and I think somebody got in Zach Collaros’ face first, and I got my hand out there on him and Lemon helped clean it up as well.”
“So if that’s the play that helped us secure the game, then that’s what it is but there were lots of other plays and now we can walk away as champions.”
The big play came with just over two minutes left in the game, in a fourth quarter dominated by the Ticats. The Stamps built a 17-0 lead out of the gate, but couldn’t move the ball in the second half, amassing up to that point only four plays throughout the entire quarter.
But right after Collaros and the ‘Cats moved into scoring range on a 19-yard pickup by Bakari Grant down to the Calgary 24, Mace came through with the takedown – the second of three against the Ticats’ starting quarterback on the night.
“One of the last series’ of the game with Hamilton threatening, we had some great pressure,” said Mace. “We knew the situation was close and nobody panicked.”
“I don’t know what else to say — we made big plays when it counted and we’re champions,” he continued. “We’ve been in different situations all season and all we wanted to do is play our defence.
“Nobody was panicking at the end of the game.”
What happened next became the topic of discussion for the next week and could be for the entire off-season, as the Ticats got a quick defensive stop and responded with a Brandon Banks punt return touchdown – only to be called back on a blocking foul.
The Ticats were pinned deep in their own end as a result, while a sack by Shawn Lemon put them in deeper. By the time Hamilton’s offence crossed midfield, time had run out and the Stampeders were Grey Cup Champions.
Bend but don’t break is a trademark of the Rich Stubler-coached CFL defence, and the Stamps’ defence never let anything cross the goal line in the second half. It was a gratifying performance for a defensive line ravaged by injury all season but still making a significant impact.
Charleston Hughes didn’t get to play in the game after seemingly re-aggravating an injury in the Western Final against Edmonton. Demonte Bolden was back in the lineup for the first time since the summer and blocked a Medlock first-half field goal. Mace himself missed eight games over two separate stretches due to turf toe.
“This has been something that has been in the making,” said Mace. “Specifically with myself when I’ve been out, seasons at a time.”
“Guys like Junior Turner and Freddie Bishop have stepped in and now all together, we’ve played unreal amounts of time and there is no drop-off of play when any one of us rotates in.”
“Every single one of us up front made big plays. I have so much faith in everybody out on that field and it held true and now we’re Champions!”
While Stampeders’ quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell took home Grey Cup MVP honours, he owes a lot of credit to his defensive line. Collaros put up stronger numbers than Mitchell, but couldn’t finish drives as a result of constant pursuit from Calgary’s front-seven.
The numbers don’t do it justice, and without the Stamps’ defensive pressure it surely would have been Collaros on the podium with the Grey Cup and MVP trophy.
