Great second season comes up 7 points short for Ottawa

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This article was published 30/11/2015 (3604 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the end, it was a second-place finish for a second-year team.

All of which is a remarkable accomplishment in a league in which some established teams — the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, for one — have spent decades trying to win a Grey Cup.

But that was all cold comfort at Investors Group Field Sunday night for an Ottawa Redblacks team that came within a whisker — and a late fourth-quarter video review that set up the game-winning touchdown for the Edmonton Eskimos — of authoring a fairytale ending to their fairytale season.

Instead, it went into the books as a 26-20 Edmonton victory in the 103rd Grey Cup, leaving the Redblacks to spend the days and weeks to come wondering what might have been.

Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell was asked after the game whether it will be difficult to get past the disappointment of coming in second in a league in which there really is no second place.

“Right now I would say that,” said Campbell. “But I also know the sun is probably going to rise tomorrow and life’s going to move on.

“Yes, we’re disappointed now. But we’re extremely excited for the future in Ottawa. I think it’s a great place to play football for a number of reasons. There’s lots of reasons to be hopeful for the future. But we are going to be disappointed because we came a long way.

“But there will be a time and place in the near future where we’re going to get back to work and keep trying to build this into a top-rate franchise in this league.”

It was a bitter ending in particular for Redblacks quarterback Henry Burris, who last Thursday was named the Most Outstanding Player in the CFL in 2015 and was attempting Sunday to win his second Grey Cup as a starter at the ripe old age of 40.

“It hurts a lot,” said Burris. “It’s disappointing to not come out with a victory, especially when you fought so hard to get things turned around with all the young guys in this locker-room.”

Ottawa finished 2-16 in their inaugural season in 2014 and were trying to become the first team in CFL history to win the Grey Cup after finishing 14 games under .500 the previous season.

With Edmonton leading 26-20 and just 1:59 remaining to play, Campbell elected to punt on third and 14 from the Ottawa 45-yard line. The Redblacks never did get the ball back, as Edmonton simply ran out the clock.

Why not gamble at that point, with desperate times calling for desperate measures, Campbell was asked?

“I thought we could stop them,” Campbell explained. “If we get a two-and-out, we’re going to get the ball back with plenty of time.

“But they ended up getting two first downs, which were obviously killers for us. It didn’t work out — and that’s it.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek