The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Toronto Argonauts were deadlocked in a tight, defensive struggle at the 111th Grey Cup Game, with a little over six minutes remaining in the third quarter.
After narrowly avoiding a turnover of their own a play earlier – when centre Peter Nicastro hopped on a ball fumbled by Toronto quarterback Nick Arbuckle, the Argos were punting, and it would be the Bombers’ turn to try to secure the big drive that would send the game’s momentum in their direction.
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Instead, Toronto special teamers Fraser Sopik and Jack Cassar, along with rookie receiver Kevin Mital, would be the ones to author a momentum shift that would send the Argos on their way to what would become a 41-24 championship win.
Here are the three key elements in those game-changing moments.
THE PUNCH OUT BY SOPIK
FUMBLE RECOVERY!
The @TorontoArgos have it deep in Winnipeg territory! #GreyCup on TSN, CTV, RDS & CBSSN
📱: Stream on CFL+ pic.twitter.com/0CW3APhgQA— CFL (@CFL) November 18, 2024
Linebacker Fraser Sopik got Toronto’s game-changing sequence of events started when he reached out and slammed his arm into Winnipeg returner Lucky Whitehead, just inside the Winnipeg 15-yard line.
“I got lucky and got my hand on the ball,” said Sopik as he was making his way off the field and towards the Argos’ victorious locker room. “The game moves fast but I think instincts take over when you prepare hard enough,” he added.
Sopik said that he had a free shot at Whitehead, partly because of the lane assignment he had on the kick coverage and partly because of some good fortune as he closed in on the Winnipeg speedster.
“They play off (at the line of scrimmage) and try to block you at the point of return,” said Sopik, explaining how he got into Whitehead’s area so fast.
Sometimes when that happens, a would-be tackler has to put the brakes on to try and navigate through the late-forming blocks. “Sometimes you have to chop your feet,” is the way Sopik put it.
“But, luckily, I timed it up so that I didn’t have to chop my feet,” he explained.
Sopik had a free, full-speed shot at Whitehead who did make a nice move to try and avoid the hard-charging Argo linebacker. But Sopik, getting deked, was forced to extend his arm as Whitehead accelerated. And he got that arm of his square on a football that Whitehead was having a hard time keeping control of.
The ball came loose, and Toronto recovered it.
Mickey Donovan, the Argonauts’ special teams coordinator, ducked out of a champagne-soaked and cigar smoke-laden locker room to talk about his unit’s involvement in those pivotal moments in the third quarter.
“Lucky,” he said, referring to the Bombers’ returner, “dropped the ball last week in his previous game. And, you know, we talked about bringing violence to the ball. And the first guy in, if you can try to punch that out… if there’s enough guys around, just make a play on the ball if we can, and that’s what they did.”
“I was ecstatic,” he said.
THE RECOVERY BY CASSAR
Another of Toronto’s Canadian linebackers, a special teams demon named Jack Cassar, was the Argo who got on the ball, recovering Sopik’s punch-out at the Winnipeg 17-yard line. “I was just running full speed downfield,” said Cassar of the play. “I see the ball pop out of Lucky’s hands, and I just grabbed it, man.”
Cassar had some traffic to negotiate just as Sopik was making his bid to pop the ball free. “I was getting blocked but I got off it quick,” said Cassar.
“I don’t know who was blocking me,” replied Cassar when I asked him how clearly he remembered the play. “It doesn’t matter. At this point, I got the ball, man. And honestly, that changed the game.”
“I was debating picking it up and running it into the end zone,” admitted Cassar with a laugh. “But I wanted to make sure I got possession and that we gave the offence a chance to get a touchdown. So I made sure to jump on that thing. The rest is history, man.”
“We were able to get the offence in the end zone, I think that was the next play.”
Indeed it was.
THE TOUCHDOWN RECEPTION
First year Argonaut receiver Kevin Mital took a short swing pass from quarterback Nick Arbuckle as the Toronto offence scrimmaged from the Winnipeg 17-yard line.
Mital reeled the pass in, zipped around a block set by teammate DaVaris Daniels, turned up field and raced to the end zone, squeezing in along the right hand sideline.
“Just a well-designed play,” said Mital, the Argos’ first round pick (fifth overall) in the 2024 draft, last April.
There was some deception involved.
“At the snap, I’m trying to give a look like I’m crossing to block the defensive end on the other side, then coming back at the snap,” he said, describing his motion prior to Arbuckle calling for the ball.
“We had a bunch formation on the right side,” said Mital, who credited his fellow receivers on the right flank with doing a great job of blocking.
“DD (Daniels) did his job, he sealed the corner,” explained Mital. David (Ungerer) was in front of me to throw a block and I had a walk-in touchdown. Pretty amazing.”
“For sure it’s a big moment,” said a smiling Mital, dangling his legs as he sat on the edge of the stage where his team had been presented the Grey Cup just moments before.
“I’m just, I’m just happy to be a part of this team, this organization,” said Mital. They took a chance on me six months ago by drafting me. I’m just grateful to be a part of this team.”
And part of a crucial set of events that helped put the Argos under a full sail.