77th Grey Cup The 77th Grey Cup was the 1989 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Hamilton Tiger - Cats at SkyDome in Toronto , ON . The Roughriders defeated the Tiger - Cats , 43 - 40 on Dave Ridgway ' s winning field - goal . It is arguably , but widely considered , especially among Saskatchewan Roughriders fans , the best and most exciting Grey Cup game ever played . Game summary . Saskatchewan Roughriders ( 43 ) - TDs , Ray Elgaard , Jeff Fairholm , Donald Narcisse , Tim McCray ; FGs , Dave Ridgway ( 4 ) ; cons . , Ridgway ( 4 ) ; single , Terry Baker ; safety touch . Hamilton Tiger - Cats ( 40 ) - TDs , Tony Champion ( 2 ) , Derrick McAdoo ( 2 ) ; FGs , Paul Osbaldiston ( 4 ) ; cons . , Osbaldiston ( 4 ) . First Quarter HAM — FG Osbaldiston 42 - yard kick HAM — FG Osbaldiston kick SSK — Single Baker punt HAM — TD Champion pass from Kerrigan ( Osbaldiston convert ) Second Quarter SSK — TD Elgaard pass from Austin ( Ridgway convert ) HAM — TD McAdoo pass from Kerrigan ( Osbaldiston convert ) SSK — TD Fairholm pass from Austin ( Ridgway convert ) HAM — TD McAdoo pass from Kerrigan ( Osbaldiston convert ) SSK — TD Narcisse pass from Austin ( Ridgway convert ) Third Quarter SSK — FG Ridgway kick HAM — FG Osbaldiston kick SSK — Safety Osbaldiston concedes in end zone SSK — TD McCray 1 - yard run ( Ridgway convert ) Fourth Quarter SSK — FG Ridgway 25 - yard kick HAM — FG Osbaldiston 47 - yard kick SSK — FG Ridgway 20 - yard kick HAM — TD Champion pass from Kerrigan ( Osbaldiston convert ) SSK — FG Ridgway 35 - yard kick After an up - and - down regular season , the Saskatchewan Roughriders made the playoffs and were huge underdogs to make it to the Grey Cup . However , the Roughriders managed to defeat the Calgary Stampeders in the West Semi - Final 33 - 26 and went on to the Western Final to defeat the heavily - favoured Edmonton Eskimos 32 - 21 , to reach the Grey Cup game . In the Grey Cup game , the Riders were set to face the number one team in the East , the Hamilton Tiger - Cats in Toronto . The Tiger - Cats had seven all - stars in their lineup and football experts assumed that it would be a huge blowout for Hamilton . At the beginning of the game , it seemed that the football experts were right when the jubilant Saskatchewan fans were silenced when Tiger - Cats kicker , Paul Osbaldiston kicked his first two field goals to give Hamilton an early 6 - 0 lead , while the Saskatchewan offence was struggling . But by the mid - way point of the second quarter , the Riders offence began to show signs of life , when QB , Kent Austin had completed touchdown passes to Ray Elgaard , Jeff Fairholm and Donald Narcisse . On the last play before of the second quarter , Dave Ridgway came on the field to attempt his first field goal of the game , a 50 - yarder to pull the game within two , but he ended up missing the field - goal and Hamilton led the game 27 - 22 , after two quarters . However , by the end of the third quarter , the Riders scored 12 points through a Dave Ridgway field goal , a safety touch and a Tim McCray touchdown , to move into a 34 - 30 lead . With just under two minutes left to go in the fourth quarter the Riders went ahead 40 - 33 after Ridgway kicked his third field goal of the day . But the Hamilton Tiger - Cats refused to surrender to defeat when trailing by seven points . With a well thought , methodical drive , Hamilton ' s QB , Mike Kerrigan marched his team down the field and managed to eat up the clock and tie the game at 40 - 40 , when he threw a pass to wide receiver Tony Champion , who ended up making an incredible acrobatic catch for the touchdown , under a minute left in the fourth quarter . Overtime loomed , but Saskatchewan still had the ball with a chance to win in regulation . With just 44 seconds left on the game clock , Riders QB Kent Austin completed three passes for 48 yards , to position his team for the winning field goal at Hamilton ' s 26 - yard line with nine seconds remaining in the game . Tiger - Cats coach Al Bruno decided to call a time - out , in an attempt to make Ridgway nervous even longer on the thought that he can be the game winner or failure for the Roughriders . But when Bob Poley snapped the ball towards Glen Suitor ' s hands , Dave Ridgway drilled ' The Kick ' through the uprights to give Saskatchewan its first Grey Cup championship in 23 years .