Montreal, QC (My Sportsbook) - Henry Burris threw for 328 yards and a score and Sandro DeAngelis hit all five of his field goal attempts, including two in the fourth quarter, to help the Calgary Stampeders capture the 96th Grey Cup championship with a 22-14 victory over the Montreal Alouettes at Olympic Stadium.
Burris was 28-of-37 passing with an interception but also ran for 79 yards on nine carries and garnered Most Valuable Player honors for Calgary, which downed the B.C. Lions 22-18 in the West Division final to qualify for its first Grey Cup berth since 2001 - when it beat Winnipeg also at Olympic Stadium. The win marked Calgary's sixth Grey Cup title in franchise history.
DeAngelis, who was the regular season scoring leader with 217 points, finished with 16 points and drilled kicks of 50 and 30 yards down the stretch to help ice what was a 16-14 game and earned Most Valuable Canadian honors for his effort.
Nik Lewis caught 11 passes for 122 yards and Brett Ralph hauled in a TD catch in the victory.
The Stamps finished the regular season with the league's best mark at 13-5 with a defense that gave up an average of just 21.5 points per game to lead the CFL. Calgary's defense gave up just one second-half point after trailing 13-10 at halftime and was led by defensive end Mike Labinjo, who recorded a sack and three tackles in the win. Shannon James came up with a huge fourth- quarter interception in the end zone with Montreal threatening.
Labinjo also ran wild against the Lions with three sacks and eight tackles - two huge ones for losses coming on a crucial goal-line stand - as the Stampeders managed to keep B.C. from scoring a touchdown in the West final.
Anthony Calvillo was 29-of-38 on pass attempts for 352 yards but threw two interceptions for Montreal, which defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 36-26 in the conference final to advance to its sixth Grey Cup championship since 2000. However, the Alouettes have just one CFL title over that stretch, that coming in 2002.
Damon Duval hit on both his field goal attempts and added a single, while Avon Cobourne scored the lone Alouette touchdown and had 40 yards rushing. Jamel Richardson had six catches for 123 yards and Ben Cahoon caught eight balls for 95 yards but the league's best offense couldn't find the end zone more than once against a stout Stamps defense.
Montreal took a 13-10 lead into the second half but Burris led a drive from his own 30 on Calgary's second series and reached the Alouette 10 with a 10- yard scramble. Burris then hit Ken-Yon Rambo for a five-yard gain on second down but Demetrius Summers dropped a sure TD pass and the Stamps settled for a game-tying, 12-yard boot from DeAngelis.
Duval nailed a 63-yard single on the Als' next series but Burris again moved the Stamps into field goal range with a 35-yard completion to Rambo and DeAngelis was true from 21 yards to end the third quarter up 16-14.
Calvillo's pick on the first play of the fourth quarter led to another DeAngelis boot -- this time from 30 yards -- and on Montreal's next series James came down with an interception in the back left corner of the end zone on a poorly thrown ball from Calvillo.
DeAngelis boomed a 50-yard field goal on Calgary's ensuing possession to make it a 22-14 game with 4:12 left to play. The Als were forced to punt after reaching midfield and Calgary was able to run all but 14 seconds from the clock -- leaving Calvillo enough time for just two plays to reach midfield and end the game.
Duval booted a 14-yard field goal to account for the first quarter scoring and DeAngelis evened the score with a 44-yard field goal early in the second.
Montreal took a 10-3 lead with the game's first touchdown following a Burris pick. The Als used the short field to go 52 yards with Cobourne polishing off the drive with a 16-yard scoring run.
Calgary was forced to punt and Duval came back on the next series to hit a 19- yard boot for a 13-3 advantage with 2:43 left until halftime.
Burris, however, completed passes of 12 and 18 yards to Lewis, then hit Joffrey Reynolds for 12 yards, before lofting a 20-yard score to Ralph inside the left pylon to move within three at the half, 13-10.
Game Notes
Montreal won the East with an 11-7 regular season mark and led the league in scoring (32.4 points per game), total yards (429 per game), pass attempts (712) and completions (495)...The Als accumulated 374 yards of total offense in the loss...Reynolds had 29 yards rushing and 49 receiving on four grabs...Rambo finished with five catches and 84 yards...Calgary's Jeremaine Copeland had seven receptions for 53 yards...The Stamps racked up 443 yards of total offense against a very capable Montreal defense which allowed just 23.5 points per game during the regular season.