You’ve been there before, surely. You wanted a job or a position badly – desperately — but you were not-so-nicely snubbed. And so then you dearly wanted to make the folks who rejected you regret their decision.

Well, Chris Jones was able to turn such a desire into reality in a tangible way last night. A defensive coach with Montreal the past seven years, Jones was unceremoniously discarded by the Alouettes before this season after he had applied to the club for the then-vacant position of head coach.

Last night, Jones got sweet revenge in the form of a Grey Cup championship. Jones is the defensive co-ordinator of the Calgary Stampeders, and it was primarily his unit that was responsible for a 22-14 triumph over those Alouettes in the 96th edition of the CFL’s showcase event.

The game wasn’t especially entertaining – unless you’re turned on by field goals and a dearth of touchdowns – but the Stamps could care less. For them, this fifth championship in their history was bone-chilling.

Calgary quarterback Henry Burris passed for 328 yards and rushed for 79 and was chosen the game’s MVP. Calgary kicker Sandro DeAngelis was the game’s top Canadian after connecting on five of five field-goal attempts, including a 50-yarder late in the game to cement the victory.

But it was the Calgary defence that particularly prevailed last night.

Using a brilliant game plan that stymied Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo, the CFL’s premier player this season, the Stamps knocked down a staggering four passes, intercepted two and limited the Als to only one touchdown – and a measly single point in the second half.

“Chris Jones deserves so much credit for this,” Calgary’s rookie head coach, John Hufnagel, told reporters after the game. “He taught a lot of young football players how to play defence. It grew and we progressed.”

Calvillo, who has only one Grey Cup ring despite six appearances in the final in a nine-year span, clearly was flustered by Jones’ strategy.

Jones “made great adjustments before the second half,” Stamps defensive lineman Mike Labinjo said, “and we rattled Calvillo.”

The Stamps trailed 13-10 at halftime, but Labinjo insisted they weren’t bothered by the partisanship at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, which was occupied by 66,308 spectators – the second-largest crowd in Cup history.

“We faced plenty of adversity all year,” Burris said, “and we knew we could come into Montreal and get through this kind of adversity, too.”

Burris was able to abort suggestions from skeptics who felt he couldn’t win a championship game.

“If you keep knocking on the door,” Hufnagel said, “the door will open for you and it opened wide for Henry tonight.”

The Stamps in general felt they were treated poorly when they were shut out at the 2008 CFL awards ceremonies last week. Calvillo got the nod over Burris as the CFL’s outstanding player while DeAngelis lost out to the Toronto Argonauts’ Dominique Dorsey as the league’s best special-teams performer.

“They can take awards from us,” Calgary receiver Nik Lewis said, “but they can’t take the Grey Cup from us now.”

Click here to see which of Marty’s Grey Cup game predictions came true.

Marty York is Metro’s national sports columnist as well as an
instructor at the College of Sports Media in Toronto. He can be heard
regularly on Vancouver radio station CKNW with Sportstalk host Dan
Russell. Contact Marty at marty.york@metronews.ca