B.C. Lions defeat Bombers to win 99th Grey Cup at home Grey Cup

The CFL's 99th Grey Cup football game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the BC Lions at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia on November 27, 2011.

BC Lions running back Andrew Harris lifts Grey Cup after the Lions defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to win the CFL's 99th Grey Cup football game in Vancouver, British Columbia, November 27, 2011. 

VANCOUVER — From down and out to the top of the Canadian Football League — that's the unlikely story of the 2011 B.C. Lions.

And playing in front of a giddy sold-out crowd of 54,313 Sunday on their home turf at BC Place Stadium, the Lions authored the final triumphant chapter, claiming their sixth Grey Cup championship with a 34-23 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The Lions, you may remember, opened the season with five straight losses, and six in their first seven games. But coach and general manager Wally Buono, the winningest coach in Canadian Football League history, authored a magnificent comeback story as the Lions went on an eight-game win streak to fight their way back into the West Division race, and won their final two games to finish first in the West.

They capped that brilliant run on Sunday with a dominating defensive performance, knocking the stuffing out of Swaggerville to give Buono his fifth Grey Cup victory.

"We haven't had a chance to relax in probably five months," said Lions slotback Geroy Simon. "Now, we can finally relax because we know what we came from. It was so hard to get out of that hole that we dug. We didn't want to take anything for granted (Sunday). We were confident, but humble, and it's great to finally relax and let loose now."

They earned that opportunity with a combination of crushing defence — until the fourth quarter — and timely, if unspectactular offence, particularly in the second half when game MVP Travis Lulay authored a pair of touchdown drives after an indifferent first half, and also got a huge fourth-quarter play from his left tackle, Ben Archibald, who prevented a sure pick-six touchdown by batting the ball out of the hands of Bomber defensive end Odell Willis, who seemed to have made the easy interception.

Instead, the Lions held on to the ball and Lulay capped that drive with a short touchdown pass to Arland Bruce — the kind of opportunistic football the Lions played from August through to Sunday.

"It's still sinking in, but it's pretty sweet to come from where we were to get here," said Archibald, who also won a Grey Cup ring with the Calgary Stampeders in 2008. "Everybody wrote us off in July, and we deserved that. So it's just so sweet to come back from something like that. We dug ourselves out of hole, we won these big games down the stretch, and today, we were able to pull it out."

The Lions got a first-half touchdown from Andrew Harris, named the Canadian player of the game, on a 19-yard dash in the first quarter, but it was a first half dominated by defences, as each team had drives stall close in and settled for two short field goals apiece before Nickelback took the stage at halftime.

But it was the Bombers who did the scoring late in the first half and seemed to have momentum going in the third quarter before Lulay hit Kierre Johnson for a 66-yard touchdown pass, and then came the dramatic turn of events after Willis's near miss.

To put this on Willis's shoulders wouldn't be fair — the Bomber offence was silent until the fourth quarter when Buck Pierce threw last-gasp touchdown passes to Greg Carr and Terrence Edwards, but couldn't make an onside kick work to keep the comeback going.

"They got after us early, and that's the key to these big games, getting up early," said Pierce. "And they did that to us. Their defence played well like they have been this last stretch. And we didn't help our defence out early on by staying on the field."

It was the Lions' sixth Grey Cup, and the fifth in the glorious career of coach and GM Wally Buono, who faces a decision in the next few weeks on whether remain in the dual role he currently occupies.

"I think every Grey Cup is different, but obviously this one is filled with satisfaction, it's filled with pride, and I think the character of individuals speaks volumes for what can be accomplished," he said. "The character of this football team, the players and coaches and management group, it never waivered."

On the other side of the coin, the Bombers splendid veteran defensive tackle Doug Brown ends his career without a Grey Cup ring, and the emotion was obvious.

"It doesn't seem real," he murmured. "We faced a better football team. I don't know if we had expectations that they were the same team from when we played them earlier in the year. But they've certainly evolved. They beat us in every way. We got what we deserved."