Glenn's pick-six the killer

Enlarge Image

frank gunn / the canadian press Calgary Stampeders quarterback Kevin Glenn just couldn�t replicate the magic he conjured last week against B.C. (CP)

Related Items

1. Articles

   • Toronto living the dream

TORONTO -- Turnovers hurt the Calgary Stampeders early, and none were more costly than Kevin Glenn's interception early in the second quarter of the 100th Grey Cup.

Down 7-3 and facing a second and 10 on his own 10-yard line, Glenn stepped back, looked right and then threw an errant ball. Toronto defensive back Pacino Horne -- all alone on the 25-yard line -- bent down low to grab it, rolled over and then steamed straight into the endzone with Marcus Ball and Jalil Carter leading the way.

Either the ball sailed away or there was miscommunication between Glenn and receiver Maurice Price. Horne was the closest player to the ball and it seemed like a Stamp might have zigged when he should have zagged.

"Just an overthrown ball," said Horne, who turned 29 Sunday."I was able to get under it. Once I got the ball, I had some good blocks from my man, No. 6 (Ball), my brother. He led right up there in there."

Just 43 seconds into the second quarter, Toronto was up 14-3 thanks to the longest interception return of the first-year Argo's career.

Calgary had registered just one first down at the time, with Toronto's defence dominating. The Argos scored 10 more points in the quarter to lead 24-6 at the half.

The Stamps turned it up a notch in the second half but Toronto was equal to the task, winning the Cup 35-22.

The 29-year-old Horne, whose mother named him after Academy Award-winning actor Al Pacino, had four interceptions during the regular season. Signed and released twice by the Detroit Lions, Horne was out of football in 2010 and 2011 before joining the Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League and Bloomington Edge of the Indoor Football League earlier this year.

He signed with the Argos in May.

"This is amazing," he said, when asked about winning the Grey Cup after his up-and-down football journey. "To be here on my birthday, to win a Grey Cup on my birthday, the 100th Grey Cup, this is an amazing feeling right now. I can' say nothing else. I'm just living the moment right now.

"I just hope I can feel this way the rest of my life."

Toronto had survived a Ricky Ray interception on its first offensive play, but the Stamps were skewered by their mistakes.

A Jon Cornish fumble on a Glenn handoff set up Toronto's first points -- a five-yard pass from Ray to Chad Owens.

The Argos bullied the Stamps star running back, slamming Cornish for a one-yard loss on his first carry and a four-yard loss on his second run. The league's leading rusher was limited to two yards in the first quarter and 37 yards on nine carries in the first half -- with 26 of those coming on two of Calgary's last three plays in the quarter.

Cornish broke Normie Kwong's 56-year-old single-season rushing record by rambling for 1,457 yards on 259 carries. Kwong's record was 1,437 yards.

The University of Kansas product also became the first Canadian to win the rushing title since Orville Lee in 1988.

Calgary also turned the ball over on downs in the first half.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 26, 2012 C2