After blowing a seemingly comfortable lead, Hamilton needed a 54-yard field goal from Paul Osbaldiston as time expired to pull out a thrilling 22-20 win yesterday over the Alouettes in the CFL East final in front of a delirious crowd of 25,731 at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

The win catapulted the Ticats to their first CFL championship game in nine years. They will take on the Calgary Stampeders in Sunday's 86th Grey Cup at Winnipeg.

"To help the team go to the Grey Cup, especially in front of the home fans, is really special," said Osbaldiston, who more than made up for missing a pair of 38-yard field goals earlier in the game. "When I struck it, I knew I hit it good. But I didn't even see it go through, there were too many bodies in front of me."

Osbaldiston almost paid for his heroics when his teammates mobbed him at centre field after the winning kick sailed through the uprights. The crush of his fellow players twisted the knee on his right kicking leg as he lay helpless on the bottom of the pile.

"I was yelling to the guys to get off of me," said Osbaldiston, who needed about a minute to get himself off the turf after the pile had cleared. "I couldn't breathe under there and my leg was folded underneath me. I was scared for a while because no one could hear me. But I'm fine."

After years of horrible teams and heartbreaking playoff losses, the Ticats capped a remarkable season where they went from last place a year ago to their first Grey Cup since 1989. They lost that year to Saskatchewan at the SkyDome. They haven't won a Grey Cup since 1986, when they beat the Eskimos.

Early on, it looked as though the Ticats would cruise through the game, building a surprising 18-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

"We did everything we could to blow it," first-year Ticats head coach Ron Lancaster said. "Sometimes old habits die hard. You have to go 60 minutes because you never know what can happen."

With the Ticats offence sputtering in the second half, the Als mounted a comeback. Quarterback Tracy Ham threw two fourth-quarter touchdowns to wide receiver Mac Cody, including a three-yard strike with 24 seconds to play that gave the Als a 20-19 lead.

The Ticats, after taking the ensuing kickoff to their 43-yard line, marched 20 yards on two plays to set up Osbaldiston's winning field goal.

"They did what they had to do," said a disappointed Ham, who finished with 282 yards passing and two touchdowns. "Paul hit a big one."

The Ticats scored on successive possessions in the first quarter to take a 14-0 lead on a 30-yard touchdown catch by Darren Flutie and a one-yard run by Ronald Williams. Osbaldiston added a 12-yard second- quarter field goal and had two singles.

League rushing champ Mike Pringle was not a factor, as the swarming Ticats defence gave him little room to run. Pringle finished with 71 yards on 16 carries as the Als were limited to Terry Baker field goals of 34 and 45 yards in the first half.

"The defence was really determined to shut them down," Ticats all-star defensive end Joe Montford said. "We've gone all the way from laughing-stock to the Grey Cup."

Summary:
 HAMILTON (CP) -- CFL Eastern Division final Sunday:
 First Quarter
 Ham -- TD Flutie 30 pass from McManus (Osbaldiston convert) 6:01
 Ham -- TD Williams 1 run (Osbaldiston convert) 11:48
 Ham -- Single Osbaldiston 51 14:18
 Second Quarter
 Ham -- FG Osbaldiston 12 9:33
 Mtl -- FG Baker 34 12:25
 Mtl -- FG Baker 14:33
 Third Quarter
 No scoring.
 Fourth Quarter
 Mtl -- TD Cody 19 pass from Ham (Baker convert) 3:42
 Ham -- Single Osbaldiston 58 8:00
 Mtl -- TD Cody 3 pass from Ham (Baker convert) 14:36
 Ham -- FG Osbaldiston 54 15:00

 Hamilton 15 3 0  4--22
 Montreal   0 6 0 14--20

 Attendance -- 25,731
 

HAMILTON (CP) -- Statistics Sunday from the Alouettes-Tiger-Cats East Final:
	Mtl	Ham
First downs	23	21
Yards rushing	132	131
Yards passing	282	248
Total offence	414	379
Team losses	22	2
Net offence	392	377
Passes made-tried	22-41	19-30
Returns-yards	88	104
Intercepts-yards by	0-0	2-4
Fumbles-lost	1-0	2-1
Sacks by	0	2
Punts-average	7-39.4	8-41.1
Penalties-yards	4-30	6-50
Time of possession	27:36	32:24
Net offence is yards passing, plus yards rushing, minus team losses such as yards lost on broken plays.
Individual
Rushing:  Mtl -- Pringle 16-71, Ham 8-61;  Ham -- R. Williams 23-99, Amerson 4-32.
Receiving:  Mtl -- Climie 9-115, Soles 3-46, Davis 2-46, Cody 6-42, Armstrong 1-25, Pringle 1-8;  Ham -- Flutie 9-118, Morreale 3-50, Olive 1-27, Amerson 3-25, Grigg 2-24, R. Wiliams 1-4.
Passing:  Mtl -- Ham 22-41, 282 yds, 2 TDs, 2 INTs;  Ham -- McManus 19-30, 248 yds, 1 TD, 0 INTs.