With no time left on the clock, Brandon Deschamps wasn't sure whether to celebrate or get ready for overtime in the Vanier Cup.
He didn't know for sure if the 20-yard field goal attempt from UBC Thunderbirds kicker Quinn van Gylswyk had split the uprights at Telus Stadium in Laval, Que., to give the T-birds a last-play 26-23 victory over the Montreal Carabins.
In an instant, Deschamps's uncertainty turned to unbridled joy.
"Looking at it, you weren't sure if it was in or not, and then I saw my team swarm, booking it down the field, and you saw the ref's hands go up and my team was tackling my punter, it was a pretty cool moment," said the 23-year-old Deschamps, a fifth-year senior at UBC.
"It's a pretty amazing feeling."
After jumping out to a 16-0 lead in the first half, the Montreal offence came to life and they trailed by only six points, down 16-10 at halftime. Deschamps added to the lead with the first scoring play of the second half, running 44 yards for a touchdown, 5:23 into the third quarter.
"We kind of lulled their defence to sleep a bit, the gameplan wasn't to come out running the ball a whole lot, we knew they were really stout against the run," said Deschamps, who finished with 79 yards rushing on nine carries. "But we were going to sprinkle it in here and there to make them still respect our attack.
"Our O-line did a great job, they covered everybody up, and our receivers did great jobs -- whenever you have a big run like that it's the receivers who make it break like that. I just believed at the snap I was going to do something good on that play and it happened for me."
As good as the T-birds' offence was, Deschamps thought they should have sealed their victory a lot earlier.
"We didn't do very well in the red zone, we kicked too many (four) field goals --when you get around the red zone you need to score touchdowns," he said. "Now we can laugh about it, but there were some crazy moments in the game were you kind of wondered to yourself, 'are we going to lose this game?'"
One of those dicey moments was a botched field goal attempt with one minute left and the teams tied 23-23. UBC backup quarterback Trevor Casey dropped the snap and the Carabins took over on downs with enough time on the clock to move the ball into scoring range. But two plays later, T-birds defensive back Anthony (A.J.) Blackwell intercepted a Gabriel Cousineau pass and UBC took over possession at the Montreal 52-yard line with 1:19 left.
"A.J. made an amazing play, he was a running back last year so I know him really well and he made a play that really saved us the game," said Deschamps. "There's something I've always heard about football from the moment I started playing that there are four or five plays that decide the game and that was definitely one of those plays. Once we get that interception I thought, 'we're winning this game,' there was no more doubt at all."
The winning drive started with UBC quarterback Michael O'Connor making successive pass completions of 12 and eight yards to Will Watson and Deschamps ran the ball 15 yards to the Montreal 11 to set up van Gylswyk's winning boot. The 19-year-old O'Connor went 31-for-51, passing for 398 yards and one touchdown and was named the game MVP. O'Connor played at Penn State last season after attending high school in Bradenton, Fla.
"He's a tremendous leader, a tremendous competitor, and he's only going to get better as he matures and he understands the Canadian game," said Deschamps, who learned his high school football at Kelly Road under head coach Ryan Bellamy.
Deschamps was hobbled by a knee injury in his Grade 12 year and wasn't recognized as a blue-chip prospect until he turned a few heads at the Senior Bowl all-star game in Vancouver. Among the interested scouts were T-birds special teams co-ordinator Paul Orazietti and then-UBC head coach Shawn Olson, who offered him a scholarship.
"I can't thank them enough for giving me the opportunity they did, they took a chance on a guy from Prince George, said Deschamps. "I remember coach Orazietti telling me about the meeting where they brought my name up as a recruit and thought about me and they asked him where I was from and he said 'Prince George' and their eyes kind of rolled up a bit.
"I know there are a lot of kids from Prince George who can play. I hope more people give opportunities for Prince George guys. I hope all the kids playing football there work hard and do whatever they can to pursue their opportunities."
Deschamps's parents, Cindy and Kerry, were in the crowd of 12,500 watching Saturday's game and they have a flight booked for him to come back to Prince George over the Christmas break.
The T-birds celebrated with the 50-year-old Vanier Cup in a champagne celebration in the hotel lobby but he still hadn't taken a victory sip out of the trophy when he spoke to The Citizen several hours after the biggest game of his life.
"It still hasn't sunk in, you kind of feel at any step you take somebody's going to back and try to take it from you, but it feels good," Deschamps said. "It's crazy. This whole year, my whole career at UBC has been pretty crazy.
"We're going to have a pretty good time tonight with my teammates, it's going to be a great night. Coach (Blake Nill) took the trophy on lockdown, so we haven't had a drink out of it yet. I'm sure maybe at some point we'll be able to do that."
