Whooee! did you catch last night’s Toronto - British Columbia game? That’s how to keep the fans awake and in their seat until the final whistle.
The story thus far - B.C. and T.O. are both 0 & 2 in the season, so you know going in that one team’s going to get its first win of the season and the other’s going to sink farther into the cellar.
Around 13.30 of the 4th quarter, T.O. gets a field goal to move ahead, 23-22. But as the commentators always say, a minute is a long time in the CFL. B.C. gets possession and marches down to field goal range. The B.C. kicker, Kellett, comes on the field, knowing that he is 0 for 3 tries already in the game. Kicks from about the 30, and everyone in B.C. Place is on their feet to follow it - as it goes wide…
Now in the NFL, that would be it, game over, T.O. wins. But in the CFL, not so. If Kellett has kicked it all the way out of the end zone, or if T.O. doesn’t move the ball out, B.C. would score a point, tie game, and into overtime.
The ball lands just short of the dead-ball line. Prefontaine of T.O. scoops the ball, sees the onrushing B.C. players, knows that he won’t be able to run it all the way out, knows that if he takes a knee the game is tied - so he drop kicks the ball back onto the field, and B.C. hasn’t scored the extra point.
But the game’s still not over, even though the clock’s at 0.00. The ball’s still live. Prefontaine’s kick takes it right back to Kellett, the B.C. kicker, who tries to field it but fumbles. The ball drops onto the field around the centre line, still live. Mad scramble, different players touch it, but no one brings it under control.
Until linebacker Mike O’Shea for T.O. scoops it up, pretty much alone, and with all the grace and agility of a Sherman tank, lumbers the 48 yards back to the T.O. goal line for a touch down. With the convert, final score: 30-22.
