NIGHTMARE ENDING FOR RIDERS

By Rob Vanstone, Leader-PostNovember 30, 2009

CALGARY — The 13th man made all the difference.
Just when Saskatchewan Roughriders fans thought they had seen and endured it all, the 97th Grey Cup was played Sunday at McMahon Stadium.

The Roughriders had it won. Saskatchewan players were streaming on to the field as the clock hit zero, celebrating what appeared to be the fourth Grey Cup in the history of the beloved CFL franchise, when ... uh, hold on. No, it can't be.

Too many men on the field, Saskatchewan.

Damon Duval had lined up for a 43-yard field goal, only to falter. There was pandemonium on the Roughriders' bench, as flags flew. It turned out that 13 Roughriders, one more than was permissible, were on the field for Duval's errant attempt. The ball was moved ahead 10 yards, to the horror of a predominantly pro-Saskatchewan crowd of 46,020. Duval tried again, from 10 yards closer, and the kick was true.

Montreal 28, Saskatchewan 27. The game was over but, back in Saskatchewan, the longest winter was merely beginning.

In a season of surprises, most of which were exhilarating for denizens of the Rider Nation, who could have possibly imagined this? Even the longest-suffering Roughriders fans, who have weathered an assortment of low moments, have not experienced anything quite like the excruciating events of Sunday.
In nearly 100 years of existence, the Riders have celebrated four Grey Cups, but have won only three. The latest celebration lasted mere seconds, which exacerbates the devastation.

"It's just total, 100-per-cent disappointment,'' a disconsolate Ken Miller, the Roughriders' head coach, said shortly after Sunday's shocker. "The disappointment of this loss is going to last for each of us for as long as we are on the planet.''

Appropriately, Duval's winning kick was from 33 yards away. It was 33 years (and one day) earlier when Tony Gabriel's last-minute touchdown catch became an infamous moment in Roughriders history.

Twenty seconds remained when Tom Clements found Gabriel in the end zone from 24 yards away. That play — that nightmarish play — gave the Ottawa Rough Riders a 23-20 victory over Saskatchewan at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto on Nov. 28, 1976.

Back then, as on Sunday, the Roughriders' offence failed on its final possession. In 1976, the Roughriders handed off twice to Tom Campana for negligible yardage before punting away the ball, setting the stage for Gabriel's game-winning major. On Sunday at McMahon Stadium, the Roughriders were clinging to a 27-25 lead when they assumed possession on their 12-yard line with 1:39 remaining. The first play — a handoff to Wes Cates — went nowhere. On second-and-10, Darian Durant hit Rob Bagg for four irrelevant yards. Punt.
Montreal began its final possession with 40 seconds left — in 1976, Ottawa's final drive commenced with 44 seconds remaining — and marched into field-goal range.

You know the rest. You will be hearing about it for days. Months. Years. For as long as it takes for the Roughriders to advance to another Grey Cup and erase the pain of Sunday.

After 1976, the Roughriders missed the playoffs for 11 successive seasons, and it took them another 13 years to win the second Grey Cup in franchise history (23 years to the day after the landmark conquest of 1966). Saskatchewan waited another 18 years before Kent Austin and friends engineered that elusive third title.

This time around, the Green and White was agonizingly close to a second championship in three years, a pronounced contrast to the once-in-a-generation happening that has become a Saskatchewan championship season.

The Roughriders stood toe to toe with a nine-point favourite — assuming a 27-11 lead with slightly more than 10 minutes remaining — before Anthony Calvillo rallied the Alouettes. Calvillo's opposite number, Durant, was on the verge of attaining legendary status in his first full CFL season as a starting quarterback.

There will likely be other opportunities for Durant and his teammates, considering the standards that have been established in the past three seasons. They were one forehead-slapper of a miscue away from engineering a monumental Grey Cup upset, only to deal with "upset'' in an entirely different context as they smashed helmets into the turf, stunned and disbelieving.

"We just have to look forward to next year,'' Durant said. "This is going to be a tough one to swallow, but time heals all wounds. It's just going to take a little time. There's always tomorrow and there's always next year.

It's just a little added motivation to come back and get it right.''

There is considerable hope for the future, given the team's talent level and its many unexpected successes in 2009. But, for the Roughriders and their fans, that is of little solace in the present.

rvanstone@leaderpost.canwest.com