In a meeting of the previous two Grey Cup champions, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers prevailed, sending the coveted mug West for the third time as they beat the Ottawa Rough Riders 18-16. Ches McCance booted a 38-yard placement in the third quarter, giving Winnipegan insurmountable lead.
The Bombers were once again permitted to challenge for the Grey Cup following a rules dispute a year earlier. An East-West compromise allowed linemen to block five yards from the line of scrimmage.
Trailing 18-15 in the dying minutes of the game, the Riders had an opportunity to kick for three points from 20 yards out. George Fraser’s field goal attempt sailed inches wide of the goal post, which Fritz Hanson let go to the deadline for a single point.
Jim Lander came up with an important interception in the closing minutes, as the Blue Bombers held on for the win.
After Winnipeg took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, Ottawa’s Tony Golab, lifting a short kick from his own 40-yard line, raced down field to recover the ball at the Winnipeg 45. He wheeled around Ken Draper and ran for the touchdown. A fumble by Hanson set up Fraser’s 16-yard field goal from a difficult angle early in the second.
The Blue Bombers tied the score 9-9 before halftime. With the Rough Riders expecting a kick on third down, Wayne Sheley pitched the ball to Bud Marquardt to his left. Marquardt raced 40 yards down the sidelines before an Ottawa player could lay a hand on him. But before he was tackled, Marquardt threw a lateral pass to Mel Wilson, who sidestepped another Rough Rider for a touchdown.
Marquardt scored a touchdown in the opening minute of the third quarter as he intercepted Burke’s pass and returned it 40 yards to the end zone.
Fraser tied the score on a pair of field goals, but wasn’t successful when it counted most.
As the game concluded, members of a Manitoba regiment raced onto the field and uprooted the goal posts from the north end zone and carried them triumphantly away.
The 19,065 fans at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium set an all-time Grey Cup attendance record. The game was played under the best conditions imaginable, with a mid-October feel as opposed to a late-November chill.
CFL.ca
