Previously I wrote about the lowest scoring game in Canadian Football League history. Yes, that 1-0 doozy back in 1966. But what about the CFL’s highest scoring game? Ever since I’ve been a fan, CFL offences have been known to really rack up the points. This was no truer than on September 1, 1990 when the Toronto Argonauts hosted the BC Lions.
To kick off the Labour Day weekend, the Argos hosted the Lions at the SkyDome. The Double Blue were led by quarterback Matt Dunigan who was making his first start after missing five games due to a leg injury. Dunigan had been traded to Toronto from BC earlier in the year, so he was playing against his former team.
Leading the BC offence was Doug Flutie, who was the league’s new marquee player in 1990. The Lions were owned by Murray Pezim at the time and were a team somewhat in disarray. A few days before the game Pezim had publicly threatened to fire both General Manager Joe Kapp and Head Coach Lary Kuharich.
Dunigan struggled early (his first play was intercepted) but found his footing and ended up passing for 285 yards and three touchdowns. Receiver Darrel Smith scored two of those touchdowns. Other Toronto highlights included a 56-yard punt return for a touchdown by Michael “Pinball” Clemons and four field goals by kicker Lance Chomyc. Ricky Foggie, who had followed Dunigan from BC to Toronto, ran for a touchdown and passed for one, as well.
By the end of the night Toronto put up a whopping 68 points. 22 of these points were scored within a three minute span in the second quarter, thanks largely to two BC turnovers. The 31,000 fans at the SkyDome who witnessed the wild shootout left happy.
The Lions, on the hand, struggled. Flutie went 0-6 in passing attempts and was replaced by veteran Joe Paopao. But in the second half, Flutie redeemed himself by passing for three touchdowns. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to catch the Argos. The Lions’ 43 points was still well short.
With the win, Toronto improved to 4-5 on the season. BC dropped to 2-6-1, last place in the Western division.
Sources:
Toronto Star, 2 September 1990
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