For the second straight year, the Calgary Stampeders were in the Grey Cup Final against a less than a favoured team from Ontario. And for the second straight year, the Calgary Stampeders were ousted by that Ontario underdog. The Toronto Argonauts defied the odds and defeated the Stamps 27-24 to claim their 17th Grey Cup title.

Bo Levi Mitchell and co. looked in control throughout the game, always staying that one step ahead as far as the score was concerned, and doing their best to keep Ricky Ray‘s crew off the board. But the Argos defence did their bit to ensure their group was still within striking distance, setting up one of the biggest fourth quarter turnarounds of the season.

Feeling Blue: Toronto Argonauts win the 105th Grey Cup

Mitchell got on the board in the opening quarter by completing a third down pass to Kamar Jorden, and Jorden ran down the field 35 yards to score the touchdown. The second quarter opened up with Ricky Ray and Devier Posey combining for a 100-yard touchdown catch.The teams continued to trade scoring plays, with Calgary leading 24-16 with five minutes left.

1st and goal on the 8-yard line with a chance to go ahead by 11 or 15 points late in the 4th quarter. That was the moment for Calgary to more or less put this game away. Then, the unexpected happened, an absolute worst-case scenario. It was a one-in-a-million play. The 15-point swing play. Kamar Jorden makes the catch in the backfield, on a play that looked destined for a stop on the line of scrimmage. Jermaine Gabriel makes the tackle to hold him in place, and then Cleyon Laing got his hand on the ball and poked it out of Jorden’s grasp before he got his knee down. The ball rolls forward right toward Cassius Vaughn at the 1-yard line, who proceeds to pick it up and charge down the sidelines to move the ball all the way across the field from just in front of his end zone to inside theirs. 109-yard scoop-6. It was the second 100-yard play of the game and the longest in Grey Cup history.

Follow that with a scramble play by Ray to find Declan Cross for a two-point conversion catch, and this game is suddenly all tied up.

After the Tie

Calgary gets the ball back and is forced to punt after another two and out. Inside the three minute warning, it’s Ray time. He moves the ball up 45 yards on four completed passes, and sets up Lirim Hajrullahu to hit the go-ahead field goal and give the Argos their first lead of the night with 53 seconds left. Mitchell matches Ray in driving down the field, but on a 2nd and 4 from the 24 with a shot to tie and force overtime, Mitchell decides to go for broke and throws to Marken Michel in the end zone. Sadly for him, Matt Black reads the play perfectly and moves across the end zone to make the game-winning interception.

For Toronto, it was their 23rd appearance in the Cup final, putting them one behind Winnipeg’s league-leading 24 Grey Cup games. Against Calgary, the Argonauts are now 3-1, including title wins in 2012 and 1991, with their only loss to the Stamps coming in 1971.

Calgary was in their fifth title game in 10 years, winning two in 2008 and 2012. They are 7-9 all-time in Grey Cup games.

Game notes

Stamps running back Jerome Messam was the game’s Most Outstanding Canadian. He rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, while also making a six-yard touchdown catch for 68 total offensive yards in a losing effort.

Devier Posey’s 100-yard touchdown was the longest pass play in Grey Cup history. The previous record was 99 yards, set by Pat Woodcock on a catch from Anthony Calvillo in Grey Cup 90 in 2002. Posey had 175 yards on seven catches, leading to his winning the Most Outstanding Player award.

Ricky Ray won his fourth Grey Cup, two with Edmonton and two with Toronto. He is the only starting quarterback to ever win four Grey Cups.

Davaris Daniels and Kamar Jorden caught for over 100 yards each, Daniels had 113 on 11 catches, Jorden 117 on six receptions.

Argos fullback Declan Cross had 36 yards on five catches, including both of Toronto’s two-point conversion attempts, scoring four of Toronto’s 27 points.

Llevi Noel had five special teams tackles in this game. He had 27 special teams tackles while playing all 18 regular season games, and racked up another nine in the team’s two playoff games.

Lirim Hajrullahu and Rob Maver combined for 18 punts, with the teams combining for just nine scoring plays in 29 possessions.