It turns out the 13th man was the difference.
Damon Duval was given a second chance, and now he has his first Grey Cup ring.
And the Saskatchewan Roughriders have nothing but heartbreak after prematurely celebrating a win.
With a two-point lead in the final seconds of the 97th Grey Cup at McMahon Stadium, the Riders forced the Montreal Alouettes kicker to try a 43-yard field goal for the win.
He missed.
The Riders had 13 players on the field and were flagged for too many men.
On his second try from 33, Duval hit it and sent a crushing blow to the Riders for a 28-27 victory in front of 46,020 mostly green-clad spectators.
"As soon as I missed it, I saw the flag before the ball was going past," Duval said. "As soon as it happened, it was out of my mind.
"The man upstairs blessed us with a second opportunity. I'm so proud to get this for all these guys."
The championship is the Alouettes second in seven tries this decade and first one since 2002 when they beat the Edmonton Eskimos at Commonwealth Stadium.
This time, the Alouettes didn't lead the game until there was no time on the clock.
Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant threw a eight-yard touchdown to Andy Fantuz and had a 16-yard run for a major, Luca Congi hit on field goals of 23, 40, nine, and 44 yards, and the Riders defence forced two turnovers.
They had a 16-point lead with 10 minutes left and were in complete control.
Then they blew it.
"Everybody is heartbroken," said veteran halfback Eddie Davis.
"I feel deflated. We played a damn good game."
The Riders locker-room post-game was filled with long blank stares on inconsolable players.
"You have two teams fighting and it comes to a penalty," said Riders centre Jeremy O'Day.
"At the same time, that's why there are rules. It's hard to put into words what happened to be in a situation where you think its over and its not."
Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo cued the comeback when it appeared the East Division champs were toast.
Avon Cobourne ran for a three-yard touchdown after a 71-yard, five-play drive engineered by the QB, and then Calvillo hit Ben Cahoon on an 11-yard major to get within two points with 2:45 left on the clock.
They got the ball with 45 seconds left and Calvillo put them in position for a field goal with a 23-yard pass to Jamel Richardson and a 17-yard pass to Kerry Watkins.
The Cahoon TD came after Jerald Brown picked off Durant - the Als second interception in the second half - and the veteran took home his second most outstanding Canadian award from a Grey Cup.
"Total elation," said Cahoon, who won his previous one in a loss back in 2003. "It was such a hard-fought victory and a team victory.
"It was an emotional halftime but we didn't get down on each other. We were disappointed but we believed. We played a pretty darn good half in the second half."
The Riders owned the first half, but Durant finally made a mistake fitting a quarterback in his first Grey Cup midway through the third quarter.
In trying to go deep to Rob Bagg, Durant was picked off by Billy Parker, although the Alouettes didn't get anywhere from their own five-yard line.
Cobourne was named game MVP for his 85 yards on 16 carries and another 64 on receptions.
Calvillo finished 26-for-39 passing for 314 yards, and now he can put to rest any questions about his Grey Cup record.
It's now 2-5 and he's on a one-game win streak.
"What a relief," Calvillo said. "Finally getting it done after so many years."
ian.busby@sunmedia.ca
