Two days before the Eastern Final, Hamilton Tiger-Cats return man Brandon Banks bought a pair of Balenciaga boots that cost more than some season ticket packages at Tim Hortons Field.

It was money well spent — those feet are worth every penny.

The diminutive return man scored on a pair of electrifying punt returns as the Ticats beat the Montreal Alouettes 40-24 in Sunday's Eastern Final. The win sends Hamilton to the Grey Cup for the second time in as many seasons.

Banks registered a CFL-record 226 punt return yards on five chances and credited the work of the entire special teams unit for his success. He also acknowledged barely making to the goal-line after making several cutbacks on both returns.









"It's a long field. I don't think I'm fast for a long time — I think I'm fast for 30 yards and after that I'm struggling," Banks said. "I'm glad I was able to get to the end zone before somebody got me."

While Banks was certainly the star on Sunday, the Ticats defence was also a significant factor in the win. They harassed Montreal quarterback Jonathan Crompton into three interceptions and limited receiver Duron Carter — who spent the week talking trash — to just two catches for 17 yards (he also had 25 yards in penalties).

Most Ticats players avoided giving in to the urge to fire back after the victory.

"We're playing next week — that's all that matters," said defensive back Brandon Stewart, who was called out by name by Montreal receiver S.J. Green. "The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are going to the Grey Cup."

To be fair, Green certainly backed up his talk, scoring three touchdowns on the day. Stewart said the two spoke after the game as Green offered congratulations.

"There's always respect, and he's one of the best receivers in the CFL," Stewart said. "But we're moving on and they're not."

Offensively, quarterback Zach Collaros threw for 199 yards on 18 of 27 passing without a touchdown or interception while Luke Tasker registered five catches for 80 yards. As it has since the arrival of running back Nic Grigsby, Hamilton's attack showed good balance as Grigsby posted 93 yards on 18 carries.

"Offensively, we need score touchdowns in the red zone, we missed a couple of opportunities, but I felt like we controlled the game," Collaros said. "And we won."

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The loss brings Montreal's remarkable season to a close, a campaign that saw them start the season 1-7 and battle back to within a victory of the championship game under first-year head coach Tom Higgins.

"We knew that you can't lose the turnover battles," Higgins said. "You have to win two of the three phases. They obviously won special teams, that was truly one of the deciding factors. But we still didn't play well enough on offence as well as on defence.

"My hat's off to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The only thing I can do is wish them luck."

The Ticats finish 2014 with a remarkable 7-0 record at home since opening Tim Hortons Field on Labour Day and the sellout crowd — enjoying balmy 11 C temperatures — was full measure on Sunday, as Austin acknowledged.

"It. Was. Awesome," Austin said of the crowd. "We knew it would be; we knew the fans would show up and be loud and proud. And they did."

The Ticats will now travel to Vancouver on Tuesday to begin preparations for Sunday's game at B.C. Place against the Calgary Stampeders. It will be a decidedly different environment than last year in Regina when Hamilton had to take on both a partisan crowd and frigid temperatures.

"We're going to have a pristine environment and a neutral field," Austin said. "But we're going to approach it the same way. We're big on routine and not overdoing it."

And while the Ticats were certainly happy with the win, attention was already shifting to the task at hand. It seems only fitting that Stewart should have the last word.

"We still have one more game left. We're not done."

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