The Calgary Stampeders will get their shot at Grey Cup redemption.
Calgary advanced to the CFL鈥檚 championship game for a second straight year Sunday by downing the visiting Edmonton Eskimos 32-28 in the West Division final.
The Stampeders, whose 13-4-1 regular-season record was the league鈥檚 best, will face the Toronto Argonauts next Sunday in Ottawa for the title.
The Argonauts (9-9) beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 25-21 in Sunday鈥檚 East Division final.
After posting a 15-2-1 record in 2016, Calgary lost last year鈥檚 Grey Cup in a massive upset. The Stampeders were beaten 39-33 in overtime by the Ottawa Redblacks (8-9-1).
鈥淟ast year was a success, but it didn鈥檛 mean a lot when you can鈥檛 finish,鈥� Stampeder head coach Dave Dickenson said.
鈥淲inning the West is not going to be enough. If we can鈥檛 finish the deal and get the job done against a great opponent, well-coached, it鈥檚 going to feel hollow again.鈥�
The Stampeders appear in their fifth Grey Cup in a decade with previous wins in 2008 and 2014.
Calgary had lost three in a row heading into Sunday鈥檚 game, but the Stampeders recovered their winning form. The defence held the CFL鈥檚 No. 1 offence to 18 points for three quarters.
Calgary鈥檚 ground game clicked with running backs Jerome Messam and Roy Finch each scoring a touchdown and combining for 152 rushing yards.
Finch, a finalist for the CFL鈥檚 best special teams player this year, totalled 233 yards in returns, receiving and rushing.
Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell threw a touchdown pass to Marquay McDaniel.
Mitchell, who has played through an undisclosed injury in his throwing arm for much of the season, completed 20-of-32 passes for 228 yards.
It was a harder road to the championship game in 2017 for the Stampeders and their quarterback.
鈥淚t means the world to me,鈥� Mitchell said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 what I play this game for. I expect to be back there every single year and do what I can to make sure I lead my team to the Grey Cup every single year.
鈥淲e did what we did in the regular season, but obviously coming into that three-game losing streak we had a little bit of desperation going into this game, and doubt from a lot of people.鈥�
Quarterback Mike Reilly, C.J. Gable and Derel Walker scored touchdowns for the Eskimos, who finished third in the division at 12-6.
Reilly, the West nominee for the CFL鈥檚 Most Outstanding Player award, was 23 for 38 in passing for 348 yards.
Kicker Sean Whyte missed field-goal tries from 42 and 30 yards, but made them from 34 and 20 yards.
Trailing by a converted touchdown, the Eskimos chose to kick a 20-yard field goal with one minute 43 seconds remaining instead of gambling on third and four.
Calgary punted with 24 seconds remaining. Edmonton鈥檚 Jamill Smith fumbled the ball on the return and the Stampeders recovered to close out the win.
鈥淲e have faith in our whole football team that the defence was going to make the stop, the special teams were going to get the ball back for us and the offence would do their job and go down and score,鈥� Edmonton head coach Jason Maas said.
鈥淯ltimately it didn鈥檛 turn out that way.鈥�
Messam stretched over the goal-line to finish a 14-yard carry for a 30-15 lead in the third quarter.
The Eskimos scored on their first two possessions of the game, but the Stampeders countered with three straight touchdowns in the second quarter for a 22-15 halftime lead.
What was a gentle breeze at kickoff accelerated to swirling gusts over 30 kilometres per hour in the second half at McMahon Stadium, where the announced attendance was 30,116.
The wind altered the trajectory of Whyte鈥檚 30-yard attempt in the third quarter as the ball struck the upright and landed dead.
Finch dipsy doodled 50 yards to the end zone and Messam鈥檚 three-yard carry added a two-point convert with 22 seconds to go in the first half.
Marken Michel capped a 41-yard drive taking the hand off from Mitchell and scampering 13 yards to score at 11:54. Calgary scored on the first drive of second quarter when Mitchell threw a 10-yard pass to McDaniel.
Reilly connected with an uncovered Walker for a 69-yard touchdown at 8:44 of the first quarter. On a third-down gamble, Gable punched the ball in from eight yards to score on Edmonton鈥檚 first drive.
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