Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca
OTTAWA – Through three quarters, Dustin Crum had already thrown an interception, and it looked like he was going to have to take the loss in his first CFL start.
But down eight with nine seconds left, the REDBLACKS quarterback ran a touchdown in himself, and after a two-point conversion, the team was breathing new life.
Two plays later, with the ball back in his hands and 29 yards away from a win, he managed to do it again.
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“Honestly, in that moment, I knew I had a chance,” Crum told TSN’s Matthew Scianitti after the win.
“I had one on one, two way to go on the open field and just tried to finish as a quarterback who likes to go to with his feet… I feel like whenever you get an open field, sliding it’s kind of not my go to, but in that moment just trying to finish for our team to get a W.”
The REDBLACKS were down 25-9 to the Winnipeg Blue Bomber, yet to find a score until Brandin Dandridge picked off Zach Collaros to record Ottawa’s first score of the game, making it an eight-point affair with less than a minute to play.
When Crum got the ball back and marched downfield, finding himself in the red zone with nine second in regulation, he ran into the end zone to trail by two, with a successful two-point conversion pushing the game to overtime.
Once the REDBLACKS got the ball back in overtime after forcing the Blue Bombers to settle for a field goal, Crum knew he had what it took to get the win.
“The defence fought their butt off, the o-line fought their butts off, the receivers did a great job, for me just trying to finish it for them there,” said Crum.
He ran the ball in himself 29 yards, sealing the victory where the REBLACKS scored 19 fourth quarter points, and beat a Blue Bombers team that dominated through three quarters of action.
But for Crum, it’s all just part of being a team player.
“You’re never out of it, especially when you’ve got guys who will compete until the very end, our coaching staff was going to keep fighting for us, we just kept battling,” said Crum.
