Welcome to a new column of the jaw-dropping highlights in sports, from around the world. Today, we look at a stunning game-winner courtesy the Canadian Football League playoffs.
Thanks to this highlight reel throw, an Ottawa team will play in the Grey Cup for the first time since 1981.
Let’s set the stage: Hamilton and Ottawa are tied 28-28 with 1:25 left in regulation. Ottawa has the ball on their own 16 yard line. It’s second and 25. QB Burris pulls back to throw, and launches a bomb to Ellingson working two defenders. He snags the ball, as one defender falls. He has one man to beat, and sprints past the TiCats’ corner flailing arms. A 94-yard game-winning TD sends the Ottawa crowd in a frenzy, and powers the RedBlacks to the Grey Cup versus Edmonton.
In a postgame interview, Burris said:
Wow. It was way too dramatic as far as the ending. I didn’t throw the ball well, but we did enough. No matter when our backs are up against the wall, regardless of what the scenario is, we continue to believe. That’s why we have been successful.
Burris, the East nominee for the CFL’s outstanding player award, finished the game with 17-of-32 passing for 326 yards and the TD while running six times for 29 yards and a touchdown. Ellingson snagged five receptions for a game-high 186 yards.
On how the TiCats fell short, coach Kent Austin said: “We had plenty of opportunities to win the football game. We had them beat a couple different times, the difference is we didn’t make the plays, plays that were there.”