Henry Burris leads Ticats to first Grey Cup this century

A lot of the pre-game chatter surrounding Sunday's CFL East final focused on how the Toronto Argonauts would cope with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats multiple-quarterback offence.

In the end, the Argos failed to do so -- mainly because the two quarterbacks who carved them up were wearing the same uniform. Henry Burris used his arm and the body parts normally associated with scrambling quarterback Dan LeFevour, his legs, to put Hamilton in the Grey Cup for the first time since 1999.

After a so-so start, Burris took over the game and destroyed Toronto's hopes of getting to their second straight Grey Cup. He had a second half for the ages and the Ticats shrugged off an early 24-10 deficit to beat the Argos 36-24 before a season-high 35,418 fans at an uncommonly raucous Rogers Centre.

He passed for 227 of his 371 yards after half time, completing an astonishing 17 or 21 passes, and rushed for another 51. He escaped harm in ways no 38-year-old should be able to do to keep drives alive.

There was no need for the Ticats to use LeFevour as a change-up. They had that in Burris.

When it was needed most, he engineered clock-eating drives that killed the Argo hopes. Most notable was a 5:38 drive in the dying minutes that led to a Luca Congi field goal and a 30-24 lead, forcing the Argos to score a touchdown to stay alive.

Three straight incompletions put an end to those hopes.

Burris called the victory a redemption, not only for the Ticats but himself.

"Somebody pinch me, I still think I'm dreaming right now," Burris said. "For the past four years I've been through a lot, guys.

"One organization told me, basically, I wasn't good enough and traded me to Hamilton. And during the course of this year people doubted what I could do and to come out here with our team and accomplish this is huge.

``The guys just did a great job of keeping us on the field. We came through in the clutch and that's what good teams do. When the season started nobody gave us a chance, but we came together."

Hamilton head coach Kent Austin couldn't say enough about the job Burris did.

"It's hard to put words together to describe the quality person he is," he said. "He might be the most unselfish football player I've ever coached. We believed in him. He's a guy that doesn't flinch.

"Henry just found a way to move the sticks. Henry has the knack to put the game on his shoulders when we need him."

For the Ticats, it was a tale of two halves. They struggled moving the ball in the first half and were basically road kill on defence as Argo quarterback Ricky Ray sliced, diced and julienned their secondary.

But everything changed late in the second quarter with the Argos leading 24-10 and looking like they might blow the Ticats out of the building. Needing some sort of spark to avoid disaster, Burris used his legs and arm to drive the Ticats 75 yards in 10 plays and finished with a five-yard touchdown pass to Andy Fantuz that brought the Ticats within seven points.

He opened the second half with an eight-play, 68-yard drive that culminated with a 14-yard touchdown toss to Greg Ellingson that tied the game. In a matter of minutes, Burris had brought the Ticats from the brink of death.

Then the defence took over. Adjustments made by defensive co-ordinator Orlondo Steinauer's staff shut down Ray completely. Whereas he spent the first half finding receivers at leisure, tossing for an incredible 279 yards, he was hurried on almost every pass in the second.

They not only shut out the Argos, but limited Ray to a pedestrian 50 yards through the air. Ray simply had no time to find receivers and with star running back Chad Kackert out with an injury the ground game couldn't compensate.

So dominant were the Cats in the second half, they limited the Argos time of possession to 6:07 and two first downs.

"We just had a second half where we executed against a really good football team," Austin said. "We were able to keep their offence off the field, especially in the third quarter, which was the key to the second half."

He had praise for his defence, which he said has come together in the second half of the season.

"They're easy to coach because they care and Orlondo does an unbelievable job," he said.

With Austin and Burris booking their tickets for Regina, the media have been supplied with about 15 instant story angles. As a quarterback, Austin engineered Saskatchewan's historic Grey Cup win in 1989 and Burris is still booed for leaving the Riders years ago.

"I can't wait," Austin said. "It's a community that has meant a lot to me and my family. It's a football town."