77th Grey Cup

The 77th Grey Cup was the 1989 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at SkyDome in Toronto, ON. The Roughriders defeated the Tiger-Cats, 43-40 on Dave Ridgway's winning field-goal. It is arguably, but widely considered, especially among Saskatchewan Roughriders fans, the best and most exciting Grey Cup game ever played.

Game summary
Saskatchewan Roughriders (43) - TDs, Ray Elgaard, Jeff Fairholm, Donald Narcisse, Tim McCray; FGs, Dave Ridgway (4); cons., Ridgway (4); single, Terry Baker; safety touch.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats (40) - TDs, Tony Champion (2), Derrick McAdoo (2); FGs, Paul Osbaldiston (4); cons., Osbaldiston (4).

First Quarter

HAM—FG Osbaldiston 42-yard kick

HAM—FG Osbaldiston kick

SSK—Single Baker punt

HAM—TD Champion pass from Kerrigan (Osbaldiston convert)

Second Quarter

SSK—TD Elgaard pass from Austin (Ridgway convert)

HAM—TD McAdoo pass from Kerrigan (Osbaldiston convert)

SSK—TD Fairholm pass from Austin (Ridgway convert)

HAM—TD McAdoo pass from Kerrigan (Osbaldiston convert)

SSK—TD Narcisse pass from Austin (Ridgway convert)

Third Quarter

SSK—FG Ridgway kick

HAM—FG Osbaldiston kick

SSK—Safety Osbaldiston concedes in end zone

SSK—TD McCray 1-yard run (Ridgway convert)

Fourth Quarter

SSK—FG Ridgway 25-yard kick

HAM—FG Osbaldiston 47-yard kick

SSK—FG Ridgway 20-yard kick

HAM—TD Champion pass from Kerrigan (Osbaldiston convert)

SSK—FG Ridgway 35-yard kick

After an up-and-down regular season, the Saskatchewan Roughriders made the playoffs and were huge underdogs to make it to the Grey Cup. However, the Roughriders managed to defeat the Calgary Stampeders in the West Semi-Final 33-26 and went on to the Western Final to defeat the heavily-favoured Edmonton Eskimos 32-21, to reach the Grey Cup game.

In the Grey Cup game, the Riders were set to face the number one team in the East, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Toronto. The Tiger-Cats had seven all-stars in their lineup and football experts assumed that it would be a huge blowout for Hamilton.

At the beginning of the game, it seemed that the football experts were right when the jubilant Saskatchewan fans were silenced when Tiger-Cats kicker, Paul Osbaldiston kicked his first two field goals to give Hamilton an early 6-0 lead, while the Saskatchewan offence was struggling. But by the mid-way point of the second quarter, the Riders offence began to show signs of life, when QB, Kent Austin had completed touchdown passes to Ray Elgaard, Jeff Fairholm and Donald Narcisse. On the last play before of the second quarter, Dave Ridgway came on the field to attempt his first field goal of the game, a 50-yarder to pull the game within two, but he ended up missing the field-goal and Hamilton led the game 27-22, after two quarters.

However, by the end of the third quarter, the Riders scored 12 points through a Dave Ridgway field goal, a safety touch and a Tim McCray touchdown, to move into a 34-30 lead. With just under two minutes left to go in the fourth quarter the Riders went ahead 40-33 after Ridgway kicked his third field goal of the day. But the Hamilton Tiger-Cats refused to surrender to defeat when trailing by seven points. With a well thought, methodical drive, Hamilton's QB, Mike Kerrigan marched his team down the field and managed to eat up the clock and tie the game at 40-40, when he threw a pass to wide receiver Tony Champion, who ended up making an incredible acrobatic catch for the touchdown, under a minute left in the fourth quarter.

Overtime loomed, but Saskatchewan still had the ball with a chance to win in regulation. With just 44 seconds left on the game clock, Riders QB Kent Austin completed three passes for 48 yards, to position his team for the winning field goal at Hamilton's 26-yard line with nine seconds remaining in the game. Tiger-Cats coach Al Bruno decided to call a time-out, in an attempt to make Ridgway nervous even longer on the thought that he can be the game winner or failure for the Roughriders. But when Bob Poley snapped the ball towards Glen Suitor's hands, Dave Ridgway drilled 'The Kick' through the uprights to give Saskatchewan its first Grey Cup championship in 23 years.

The Kick

 * Dave Ridgway's field goal winner was known as 'The Kick' in Saskatchewan and that same play was rated #7 in CBC's 10 best—and bizarre—Grey Cup plays in 2004.

West Division

 * Semi-final (November 12 @ Calgary, Alberta) Saskatchewan Roughriders 33-26 Calgary Stampeders
 * Final (November 19 @ Edmonton, Alberta) Saskatchewan Roughriders 32-21 Edmonton Eskimos

East Division

 * Semi-final (November 12 @ Toronto, Ontario) Winnipeg Blue Bombers 30-7 Toronto Argonauts
 * Final (November 19 @ Hamilton, Ontario) Hamilton Tiger-Cats 14-10 Winnipeg Blue Bombers