74th Grey Cup The 74th Grey Cup was the 1986 Canadian Football League championship game that was played at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver , between the Hamilton Tiger - Cats and the Edmonton Eskimos . The Tiger - Cats unexpectedly dominated the Eskimos 39 - 15 . Game summary . Hamilton Tiger - Cats - ( 39 ) TDs , Steve Stapler , Jim Rockford , Ron Ingram ; FGs , Paul Osbaldiston ( 6 ) ; cons . , Osbaldiston ( 3 ) . Edmonton Eskimos - ( 15 ) TDs , - Damon Allen , Brian Kelly ; 2 pt - con . , Damon Allen ; cons . , Tom Dixon . Losers of the previous two Grey Cups , the Hamilton Tiger - Cats gave their long suffering fans something to celebrate with an unexpected dominant performance over the Edmonton Eskimos . Hamilton ' s defence , which was led by Grover Covington and Ben Zambiasi , sacked Edmonton quarterbacks ' Matt Dunigan and Damon Allen a total of 10 times . They also forced eight turnovers to tie a Grey Cup record . Hamilton jumped out to a 29 - 0 lead at halftime . They got it going early when Covington forced a Dunigan fumble , the ball recovered by Leo Ezerins . This set up quarterback Mike Kerrigan ’ s 35 - yard touchdown pass to Steve Stapler . The game was just 1 : 35 old . The Tiger - Cats then got a big play from their special teams when Mark Streeter blocked Tom Dixon ’ s punt attempt , which Jim Rockford recovered for another touchdown . Hamilton then rode the boot of kicker Paul Osbaldiston , who kicked five of his record - tying six field goals in the first 30 minutes , two of which came off turnovers ; one on Howard Fields ’ interception off Allen , and another on a Dunigan fumble forced by Covington . Edmonton ’ s offence produced minus - one yard in offence in the first 30 minutes . The Tiger - Cats continued their assault in the second half , when Kerrigan hit Ron Ingram with a 44 - yard touchdown pass . The Eskimos finally got on the scoreboard late in the third quarter courtesy of a blocked punt by Larry Wruck which Craig Shaffer recovered at the Hamilton 37 . Quarterback Matt Dunigan got the Eskimos to six yards from the goal line , and backup Damon Allen ran it in from there . The Eskimos would add another major in the fourth quarter , but by then it was too late . Allen hit Brian Kelly with a 13 - yard touchdown pass then ran it in for a two - point convert . Osbaldiston added his sixth field goal , a 47 - yarder in the game ’ s final minute on what was an already decisive Grey Cup win . Trivia . The only other time the Edmonton Eskimos and the Hamilton Tiger - Cats had met in the Grey Cup was the 68th Grey Cup in 1980 , which was also lopsided , with Edmonton winning 48 to 10 . Paul Osbaldiston ' s ( the Grey Cup Most Valuable Canadian ) six field goals tied Montreal Alouettes ' Don Sweet ' s record , set in 1977 . It was Hamilton ’ s first Grey Cup title since 1972 , and their first win over the Eskimos since 1977 . The Ticats entered the game as 12 - point underdogs . Grover Covington finished the game with three sacks . Ben Zambiasi recovered two fumbles , had one quarterback sack and six tackles . Both are inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame . It was Al Bruno ’ s second Grey Cup triumph , his first as a head coach . Bruno won one as a player with the 1952 Toronto Argonauts . This was the last Grey Cup to use the dual CBC / CTV commentator sets , a practice that dated back to 1971 . On the blocked punt , Jim Rockford ripped the seat of his pants rolling into the end zone to score . He left the field and went to the locker room to change .