Twelve men on the Field: The 99th Grey Cup

He was the Most Outstanding Player of the year in the CFL and by the time the Grey Cup would come to an end, Travis Lulay would be named the Most Outstanding Player of the game, but in the first half there were moments when Lions fans must have been wondering what was going on with their rising star.

The Lions quarterback missed on a few chances to put the Bombers away for good in the first half, a string of throws that went high and away brought the Lions march towards their championship to a halt a few times, resulting in two and outs and stalled drives.

As things turn out, Lulay wasn't playing at 100 percent, banged up in last week's Western Final he came into the championship game with a fair share of his own bumps and bruises, not enough however to keep him out of the lineup, finally getting untracked in the second half, more confident and more accurate.

The 99th Grey Cup was the defensive game anticipated, the Bombers D holding the tide of the Lions attack off, keeping their squad at least close for a possible comeback, one which in the end came up about four yards too short on a last minute onside kick for field position.

Before those dramatics however it seemed as though the Lions were on the cusp of blowing the roof off of the newly refurbished BC Place, the 14-6 lead at half time not telling the full story of the Lions control, but as documented a lack of finish in the red zone left points on the board heading into the half time Nickelback break.

While the Canadian rockers rattled off a few selections of their library, the Bombers were making adjustments to their game plan, one which had seen an anemic offence incapable of taking advantage of their teams defensive work.

Up until the fourth quarter all of the Bomber points came off the foot of kicker Justin Palardy, who went 3 for 3 on the day in field goals.

The Lions came out of the half time break much more focused on their offensive output, Lulay suddenly finding his range and accuracy hooking up with Kierire Johnson and Arland Bruce for touchdowns.

The Bombers could have seen the entire game turn around if not for a bobbled interception off the fingers of Odell Willis, who had his hands on a Travis Lulay pass and had nothing but empty field in front of him to the Lions end zone, but as fate would dictate it was not his time to make the game changing play.

Instead, the Lions kept possession and sent the ball down filed, leaving the Bombers to formulate another attempt at a long field drive.

As time was winding down in the fourth the Bombers did make things closer, a pair of quick TD passes with less than four minutes to play from Buck Pierce brought the Bombers to within eight points.

The failed onside kick attempt, spelled the end of the Bombers comeback bid, Paul McCallum sealed the Lions win with a final Field Goal marking the final score BC 34 , Winnipeg 23 and with that the Lions would claim their sixth Grey Cup, their first in front of a home crowd since 1994.

A remarkable end to a season that started off with many questions, as the Lions staggered out of the first quarter of the schedule, falling to 0 and 5 from the Canada Day weekend season kick off and then turning around 180 degrees to lay claim to the CFL West title and now the Grey Cup.

The Bombers who took the early charge in the first half of the season struggled towards the end, grasping first place in the East more to the lack of focus of the Alouettes than of their own domination, still with their berth in the Grey Cup came acknowledgment of their success this year, one which offers up hope of better years to come perhaps.

99 Grey Cups are now in the books, Number 100 destined for Toronto in 2012. An event we imagine that will come with all trappings of a centennial celebration and with a little luck a championship game to mark such an occasion.

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