The Saskatchewan Roughriders' road to the 2013 Grey Cup couldn't have been scripted any better than it was.
Following going through ups, downs, trials and tribulations throughout the season, the Green and White ended their rollercoaster year with a 45-23 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Mosaic Stadium.
The Riders' 31-6 lead after the first half ultimately sealed their fate. They would have had to shoot themselves in the foot in the latter half to lose, and they did no such thing.
No one enjoyed hoisting the Grey Cup more than Darian Durant. He went through the most criticism throughout the year. When the Riders weren't winning, the majority of the blame was put on his play behind centre. Not to mention, he lost his first two Grey Cup appearances against the Montreal Alouettes. But when it came down to the do-or-die games in the playoffs, he showed he's the real. The proof was in the pudding in his three touchdowns, zero interceptions and 245 yards against the Tiger-Cats.
"This makes up for 2009 and 2010 for one reason and that reason is we did it at home," Durant said. "We did this at home in front of all these people. I asked them to come here and be loud and that is what they were even before we came out of the tunnel. They were ready in the warm-ups. There is nothing like playing here and this is simply the best. To have my name associated with Ronnie (Lancaster), Kent (Austin), and Kerry (Joseph) as quarterbacks who have brought this great franchise a title is a tremendous honour."
Kory Sheets came away with the Grey Cup's MVP Award. He undoubtedly earned the accolade, coming away with two touchdowns and 197 yards on just 20 touches. His yards total broke the Grey Cup rushing record set by Johnny Bright in 1956.
"It feels good to get the rushing record,'' said Sheets. "It feels even better to get a Grey Cup under my belt. We did it for Darian and we did it for the city. We were determined to be relentless and focus on us. We didn't care about the Ti-Cats all week. We were focused on ourselves and what time the game began.''
Receiver Chris Getzlaf was named top Canadian player after hauling in three catches for 78 yards.
Even though he won two Grey Cups beforehand with the B.C. Lions, Geroy Simon captured his first, and second for that matter, touchdown in the big dance.
"I knew that I had a chance (to be productive) just because of the coverage they played and then seeing the game plan early in the week, I knew I'd have a chance to make some plays and they looked for me early and gave me a chance," the 38-year-old Simon said.
It goes without saying that the sea of green played a part in the victory. Hamilton quarterback Henry Burris struggled to hear the plays and snap counts several times throughout the game. This time, the 13th man worked in the Riders' favour.
