Ottawa Redblacks win East, as Henry Burris throws 6 TDs

Flea flicker from the 10-yard line, seriously.

The best might yet be unwritten with these Ottawa Redblacks that have gone from two wins in Year 1 to one win away from the Grey Cup in Year 2, but Henry Burris and Rick Campbell, et al., have the first draft of a plenty-good potboiler in the works. All of the weird CFL play boxes got checked off on Saturday, with most of them working out to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' advantage. Yet the Redblacks won 44-28 to finish 12-6 and earn the East Division title and bye to the final on Nov. 22.

It was all defined by a span bridging the final two quarters. The Ticats, hanging in gamely behind third-stringer Jeremiah Masoli, were set  up on the 19-yard line after a 52-yard fumble return by Burris basher Simone Lawrence. Ottawa got the ball right by via a Shawn Lemon strip-sack and Damaso Munoz recovery. Over their next two possessions, the Redblacks had 99- and 100-yard deal-sealing touchdown drives.

"It feel likes it has been that way the whole year, where we have a stumble and our defence makes a play to turn the game back to us," said Ottawa slotback Brad Sinopoli, who contributed a fourth-quarter touchdown catch and a big little play by catching Lawrence to prevent a potential scoop-and-score that would have given Hamilton (10-8) the lead. "We have a lot of confidence. It's amazing timing. They don't get any points from us and we take it right back down."

Ellingson, who had a game-high eight catches for 152 yards and three TDs to beat his old team, and become the fourth Redblacks receiver to have a 1,000-yard season, said Ottawa is "a humble team." In mindset, maybe, but humility and audacity need to co-exist in football. That was writ large in how the Redblacks gradually put the game away, including that 43-yard fleaflicker from Burris to Ellingson.

"I want to play the game to win, I need to back up my words — and not be foolish," Campbell said. "There's a line between being foolish and being aggressive. I was talking to  [Ottawa offensive coordinator] Jason [Maas]: 'They've got us backed up.' I'm a defensive guy by trade and I said, 'they're going to try to stop the run, get up in our faces and try to force us to give up a safety.' So let's turn our guys loose because I trust our guys to make plays and they did that."

The kicker about the flea flicker is that normally Ellingson wouldn't have been Burris' primary receiver.

"It was actually supposed to go to Mo [wide receiver Maurice Price] but he was hurt," Ellingson related. "I went in as the Z receiver and went up and got it."

Rogers: 'This is probably one of the more special teams I have been a part of'

That march included late-season revelation William Powell (17 rushes for 119 yards) scampering into the red zone while running behind left tackle SirVincent Rogers. Burris (28-of-37 for 368) slung his career-high sixth TD pass just three plays later. Nothing is ever guaranteed in football, but those decisive minutes illustrated how the Redblacks are gushing with confidence.

"When you actually get it done and you're in the moment, it's surreal," Rogers said. "This is probably one of the more special teams I have been a part of. I was fortunate enough to be part of a championship team in the Arena Football League and it was a similar vibe to this locker room. There's a chemistry to this team, where we can just keep it together and try to go 1-0 every week.

"We pride ourselves in thinking we can run the ball," Rogers added. "When they called our number we did the job. It was just a complete team effort. That's how we do, we play off each other, We know our defence will get takeaways and we know we can take care of business."

Austin: 'Success can  be a distraction'

The narrative now turns 90 degrees to how the second-year Redblacks will handle both two weeks off and the attendant hoopla surrounding the first playoff game in the nation's capital since 1983. They will host the Toronto-Hamilton victor in the Eastern final. Some Southsiders, aware Ottawa's 0-3 against Toronto, chanted, "Beat the Argos!" toward the Hamilton bench as the clock ticked away.

Hamilton coach Kent Austin, whose team is banged-up at quarterback but still wears the mantle of successive Grey Cup appearances, seemed upbeat despite losing the bye.

"The only thing that matters from the past is what you learn from it," said Austin, who said both Masoli and Jacory Harris will be ready for action against Toronto. "Success can be a distraction, as well. It's about how you approach the game and how you approach each situation that you're in and learn from it individually to get better, and get better collectively as a football team. There's still confidence in our room. Our guys will be ready to play."

Success can be a distraction — why hello there, convenient narrative.

"The thing I like is the guys are not in full celebration mode," Campbell said. "They're happy but they want more. We know that the next game, whoever we play, is going to be tough."

Publicly, during preseason Campbell set the bar at a playoff berth in Year 2 after Ottawa splurged on adding Ellingson, Sinopoli, Price, slotback Ernest Jackson and wideout Chris Williams in the winter. They were thinking bigger than just a .500 record and third in the division.

"I think everyone understands this is just the beginning," said Sinopoli, whose first four CFL seasons were with Calgary Stampeders clubs that always went deep into autumn.

Having a scare in the regular-season finale might also serve a purpose. Ottawa shrugged off a 20-point run engineered by the scrambling Masoli and being caught when Rico Murray was onside on a punt and ran it for a touchdown. Justin Medlock's punt bounced by Jeff Richards, whose assignment was to block, and also skipped by returner Jamill Smith.

"That's what it is going to be from here on out, momentum swings," Campbell said. "The truth in pro football is that most games will be close. At halftime we shouldn't have been surprised. A good team like Hamilton is not going to lay down. The good thing about our guys is they're resilient."

Well that, and they have two weeks to clean up problems and heal up before hosting the East final.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @naitSAYger.