CFL: BC Lions Cap Playoff Run With a Grey Cup

In one of the most exciting Grey Cup games the Canadian Football League has ever seen, the BC Lions capped off a Cinderella playoff run.

Written off by almost every critic and football poobah at the beginning of the playoffs, the Lions captured the Grey Cup as they upset the Montreal Alouettes, 28-26 on Sunday afternoon at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. The Lions, who finished 8-10 with an overtime loss during the regular season, became the first team ever to finish with a regular season record below .500 and win the Grey Cup.

Robert Drummond was the game's most valuable player after racking up 122 yards on only ten rushes against an Alouette defense that was second-ranked in the league this past season.

The big difference in the contest was in the running game. The Lions used their powerful running game and ran for 264 yards, 122 that were Drummond's.

The game started off slowly. There was no score until Lui Passaglia's missed field goal produced a single for the Lions that got them off to a 1-0 lead. A little more than three minutes later, Damon Allen scored a touchdown on a one yard run that made the score 8-0. Montreal finally got on the scoreboard at 11:38 when Terry Baker hit a nineteen-yard field goal to cut the score to 8-3. There was only one score in the second quarter, as Passaglia missed another field goal that produced another single for the Lions. It was 9-3, Lions going into the half.

In the third quarter, the Alouettes cut the score to 12-10 after slotback Jock Climie caught a one-yard pass from Anthony Calvillo. That would prove to be the only score of that quarter. However, it opened up a load of possibilities for the final quarter of the 2000 CFL season.

Only: 55 into the fourth period, Robert Drummond broke through the Als defense for a forty-four yard score to increase the Lions' lead to 19-10. Terry Baker his second field goal of the day to bring the Als a little closer back, 19-13. But the Lions weren't about to let the lead slip away. Damon Allen ran for his second touchdown of the day. The two-point conversion failed, but the lead was now twelve with 11:01 on the clock.

Alouettes running back Mike Pringle, who ran for 115 yards on the day, ran in a five-yard score to shrink the score once again to 25-20 with 3:42 left in the game. Lui Passaglia's 29-yard field goal with 1:25 left gave the Lions' an eight-point lead. Anthony Calvillo and the Als only had a small amount of time to work with to possibly tie up the game and send it into overtime. Calvillo hit receiver Ben Cahoon across the middle and Cahoon raced fifty-nine yards to pull the Alouettes to within two with: 44 left in the game. The Alouettes went for two to tie the game and send it into overtime. But Calvillo's pass sailed over the head of a falling Ben Haskins, and the score remained 28-26.

Montreal attempted an onside kick, but Lions' receiver Arnold Jackson leapt over several Alouettes players to grab the ball and give the Lions' the chance to run out the clock and claim their second Grey Cup in six seasons.

This ending is just what the Lions wanted to give to Lui Passaglia, who is ending his stellar twenty-five-season career in BC. It also could be the perfect ending for Damon Allen, who might also retire after sixteen seasons in the CFL.

Many questions are abounding for the Canadian Football League after this season. It was a profitable one for the league, but there is much competition from leagues such as the Arena league, who is rumored to have their majority ownership taken over by the NFL in the next couple of months, and the Vince McMahon-headed XFL which begins play in February 2001. This may tempt both American and Canadian players alike to head south. But with leadership in new commissioner Mike Lysko and the news of a five- percent increase in revenue, there could be brighter times ahead for the league. Sunday afternoon's game was just small piece proof of that promise.

The next Grey Cup will be at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec on November 25, 2001. (And this reporter hopes to be there!)