With four seconds to go in the 55th annual Panda Game, the Carleton Ravens football team trailed the uOttawa Gee-Gees by just three points. In what was nearly an act of poetic revenge, Ravens kicker Brandon Forcier was tasked with a 55-yard field goal attempt, one year after the Gee-Gees stole the year’s biggest game with a 54-yard field goal of their own.
But the dose of deja vu wasn’t enough to avenge last year’s loss, as the Gee-Gees conquered the Panda Game once again, this year with a 35-32 score. The emotional loss also significantly dampened Carleton’s OUA playoff hopes as they drop to a 2-5 record on the season.
“It’s a heartbreaker, we fought to the very end as a team,” said Ravens quarterback Elijah Barnes. “Obviously not the outcome we wanted, but I’m really proud of this team as a whole.”
With playoff hopes and Panda Game glory on the line, the lead switched three times throughout the matchup.
“Every year is different, but every year is dramatic,” said uOttawa head coach Marcel Bellefeuille.
The Ravens capitalized on their first possession of the game when wide receiver Kaseem Ferdinand caught a 37-yard pass from Barnes. With the kick converted by Forcier, Carleton opened the Panda Game with a 7-0 lead.
The Gee-Gees nearly responded on their following possession when quarterback Josh Janssen launched a 32-yard pass toward wide receiver Tristan Gilbert Thibault in the endzone. What looked like a good catch turned out to be an incomplete pass when the ball slipped through his hands and onto the turf. The following field goal attempt was also no good, giving uOttawa just a single point on the possession.
Momentum switched in the second quarter when an interception by Gee-Gees defensive back Patrick Cumberbatch created a turnover followed by a Ravens offside penalty. Gee-Gees running back Charles Asselin pushed through a 1st-and-goal at the one-yard line soon after to give uOttawa first lead of the game.
In response, Carleton turned to running back Ethan Rocha to carry the ball down the field before wide receiver Tristan Ready took out the pylon while scoring on an 18-yard belter from Barnes.
However, the Ravens faltered in the third quarter, squandering the 10-point cushion they worked so hard to create.
Despite the Ravens creating a 24-11 lead with an early 40-yard field goal, the Gee-Gees pulled off the unthinkable.
First, Asselin rushed 28 yards into the Ravens’ end zone for his second touchdown of the game. The Gee-Gees then forced a punt from Carleton’s next possession, but Forcier’s attempt was caught by uOttawa linebacker Jaxxon Brashear’s punt block. It turned into an unlikely play as fellow linebacker Daniel Briere completed the touchdown off the block. Carleton was suddenly down 25-24 at the end of the third quarter.
“For me, that’s the play of the game,” Bellefeuille said.
With possession on the Carleton 11-yard line, the Gee-Gees rapidly converted another touchdown as wide receiver Noah Avery caught a six-yard pass to give Ottawa an eight-point lead.
As the minutes trickled away, Carleton found themselves unable to score on their possessions under a suffocating Gee-Gees defence.
A pick by Carleton defensive back Denny Ferdinand followed by Copeland’s 24-yard field goal threatened to extinguish the Ravens’ hopes of breaking uOttawa’s Panda Game dominance.
But Barnes kept Carleton’s hopes alive with a massive 40-yard pass to wide receiver Frederik Hachey to crawl back to within just five points. Barnes then put the Ravens within just three points as he scored his own two-point conversion.
“[Barnes] got us back in at the end of the game and made some big throws for us,” said Ravens head coach Corey Grant.
With 44 seconds to go, Carleton needed a field goal at the very least, and they needed possession off an onside kick.
Ferdinand narrowly remained in-bounds to recover the ball and give his team one more chance.
Grant said the back-and-forth game meant a lot to him and his team.
“I love [the team], I love the work that they put in, they come out every day, they work, they believe in each other, believe in the system and the culture that we’re building here,” Grant said.
“The sun will come up tomorrow and we’ll be okay and we’ll build from this and we’ll learn from this and move on to the next one.”
Featured photo by Murray Oliver/The Charlatan
