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“He (Lions placekicker Sergio Castillo) kicked it kind of high and it was sailing,’’ recalled Rainey. “It was still sailing and I was already two yards up (in the back of the end zone). I was trying to keep it from going out of bounds anyway because it would be one point.

“I caught it and as soon as I stepped back I looked from my peripheral vision and I saw the white line. For sure I didn’t hear the whistle, but I went: ‘Oh, sh…’”

He would see the play over and over again later in the evening.

“I got to find a different way (when catching a kick or punt). If I’m ever in that situation again I have to try something different. In practice (Monday) I was trying different stuff with different scenarios in my head.

“I guarantee you that will never happen again. And that was a hard feeling to lose like that. That one point is crucial. That’s a dangerous one point.”

There have been all kinds of crazy, unpredictable, bizarre endings to games in the CFL given the rules governing the kicking game, but Saturday must have been a first in the long history of three-down football, a game decided by a player having his foot on the end line and as a result out of bounds.

When he caught it, Rainey said the goal was to score a touchdown.

On the same field but on the opposite side, Brandon Banks returned a missed field goal 113 yards for a touchdown.

“I was thinking: ‘I’m going to win a game for my team,’” said Rainey. “I felt my step was kind of deep. And that was the end of the story right there.”