TORONTO » The Calgary Stampeders may have won the battle to contain the Flyin’ Hawaiian on the stat sheet, but they lost the war to keep him from getting his coveted championship ring.
Chad Owens, the former University of Hawaii star and current CFL Most Outstanding Player, achieved his ultimate goal Sunday night as the Toronto Argonauts captured the 100th Grey Cup with a 35-22 victory over Calgary.
"It’s amazing," said the Argo slotback and kick returner, moments after donning his championship cap and hoisting the trophy. "You work so hard in the offseason. You grind it out during the season. You don’t know what it’s going to be like at the end of the year. But all you want is a chance. And I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with any other group of guys. These guys are special."
Owens had piled up a playoff record 346 all-purpose yards in the East division final, and that was after he set a regular-season record for total combined yardage, with 3,863. He also became the first player to lead the CFL in receiving and kick return yards in the same year, making him a runaway choice as the league’s top player for 2012.
Calgary’s entire defensive scheme was to take Owens out of the offense and make someone else beat them. They succeeded by holding the Roosevelt High School grad to just two catches for 14 yards — though one of those was a 5-yarder for a touchdown — but their plan created an opportunity for the team’s other Chad to shine. Fullback Chad Kackert was named the game’s MVP after rushing 20 times for 133 yards and catching eight passes for another 62 yards.
"We’ve got playmakers across the board," said Owens, who added 89 yards on special teams, including a 43-yard kickoff return in the third quarter that led to a field goal. "If you take away one guy we’ve got someone else that can make plays."
Owens also realized that his touchdown reception was pivotal. It came in the middle of the first quarter and staked Toronto to a lead the team did not relinquish.
"When I got it, I just had one guy to make miss and got it in," said the 30-year-old, who was a sixth-round draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2005. "It was good to score in this game, but I knew it was still early. We needed to keep playing. And our defense came through for us and we never looked back. We won the game, so it’s been huge."
To the delight of the 53,208 spectators in attendance, the Argos became just the fifth team since 1955 to win Canada’s biggest football game on their home turf.
Expectations are already building for Toronto to win the title again next year, when the Grey Cup will be played in Saskatchewan. But Owens did not want to talk about the future. That applies to both the long term — in February 2011, Toronto gave him a contract extension through 2013 — and the short term, though he did indicate that he’ll soon be "kicking his feet up and going to the beach," which means a visit to Hawaii.
"I’ll worry about everything later. Right now, I’m going to enjoy this with my teammates and thank them for their efforts, and enjoy this with my family and our fans. I got a lot of support from back home in Hawaii and definitely here, too. The fans here are just amazing. CFL fans have shared nothing but Aloha to me and my family, so I thank them for that."
