Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

CALGARY -- The Saskatchewan Roughriders did the unthinkable. Something you may never see in your life again in a game of this magnitude.

They led the 97th Grey Cup game for the entire 60 minutes — yet wake up this morning as the losers. In fact, the Riders and their fans thought they had won the game for a longer period of time than the Alouettes actually led on the scoreboard.

Think about it:

When Montreal kicker Damon Duval’s 43-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right, the clock ran down to 0:00 and the eyes of the Green Horde that had invaded Southern Alberta went with the ball.

So for that slight moment in time, the Grey Cup had been won.

Players danced on to the field. Fans hugged and kissed.

But Duval saw the flag, and knew immediately what it was all about.

"I just looked up and thanked the man upstairs for a second chance," Duval said. "On the first one, I just rushed myself. I knew before I even hit the ball that I was going to miss it."

And the Riders knew before he even kicked the second one that Duval would make it. It’s like Marty McSorley’s illegal stick penalty in the ’93 Stanley Cup final. Those types of penalties always turn out badly.

"Your heart just drops to the bottom of your chest," said a teary-eyed Riders slotback Chris Getzlaf. "It gives them an opportunity to re-kick it from a way better position."

There was one Roughrider too many on the field, and darned if the zebras hadn’t picked this day to do one of their finest jobs of the CFL season.

Duval re-kicked it from 10 yards closer — with the clock reading 0:00 —and his 33-yarder gave Montreal its first lead of a stunning, 28-27 Alouettes victory.

It was the most excruciating loss this reporter has ever witnessed, simply because the Riders and their fans actually got the chance to taste the thrill of victory before the hand of fate reached deep down into their throats and stole the taste back.

Said Getzlaf: "I have never been in a situation where I have had to handle this kind of hurt before. Not even close."

We can only hope the guy with the manure truck got the right address in Regina Sunday night, because nobody in the Riders room was giving up who the 13th man on the field goal block team was.

"Teams change every week. Crowd noise plays into it," defensive lineman John Chick said. "When you’re on and off the field, someone doesn’t get the call… It happens.

"Everyone is supposed to count. It’s not on one person. Not on one guy."

We should be talking about the guts Als quarterback Anthony Calvillo showed, taking the ball for the final drive with just 70 seconds to play at his own 34; seeing just 10 ticks left on the clock at midfield, and completing a 17-yard pass to Kerry Watkins that allowed all the last-play drama to occur.

We should remember how Darian Durant played like such a champion in his first Grey Cup game, or how Wes Cates (91 yards rushing) ran like a stallion.

But years from now, all of that will be forgotten. Just like the 1975 game, played right here at McMahon, will always be remembered only for Jimmy Jones’ dropped snap that disabled Don Sweet’s late field goal attempt in Montreal’s 9-8 loss to Edmonton.

The 2009 game will be recalled forever in the flatlands and beyond as the Grey Cup that was lost on a last second, too many men on the field call.

By Monday the player’s name will be out, and he will wear goat horns of historic proportion, in a province that never forgets its greats or its goats.

(A Saskatchewan fan can still tell you that it was safety Ted Provost who should have Tony Gabriel covered back in ’76, when he nabbed Tommy Clements pass to win the Grey Cup.)

After the game, the Riders were going to great pains not to reveal the player who was on the field when he wasn’t supposed to be. No one would lay blame, the mark of true champions.

Which they were…for about a second and a half.

"I take it all on myself," said Saskatchewan special teams coach Kavis Reed. "I think, mechanically, I did things correctly. I tried to count as much as possible … I asked people to verify the count…

"When you go field goal block (as opposed to field goal return), we were putting some offensive guys on," Reed continued. "The mechanics are, yelling is not going to work in this environment. Guys going on to the field are communicating to guys on the field that we’re running the block. Those guys who are not on that team know to come off. Obviously, someone didn’t get that.

"I gotta shoulder that. I gotta live with that for the rest of my life," he said. "A mistake was made, and ultimately … as a leader, I have to shoulder this blame for the rest of my life.

"A life changing situation."

In the end, the Montreal Alouettes won on a freaky, memorable, last-play field goal at McMahon Stadium, 34 years after losing exactly the same way.

Revenge, as they say, is indeed sweet.