The Carleton Ravens football team improved to 1-1 after beating the University of Windsor Lancers 38-20.
This was an important win for the Ravens as they are coming off a devastating overtime loss last week to the Western University Mustangs.
“The most important game after a loss is the next one, and to be able to come out and get the win against Windsor was pretty important,” Steve Sumarah, head coach of the Ravens football team, said.
The Ravens jumped out to an early lead after quarterback, Michael Arruda threw a 35-yard pass right up the middle to wide receiver, Chad Manchulenko, who ran in for a touchdown to put the Ravens up by a score of 9-3.
After scoring the touchdown, the Ravens’ defense began to make plays. The Lancers fumbled a snap, and linebacker Jack Cassar picked it up, and recovered the fumble. This led to a field goal by kicker Mike Domagala to put the Ravens up 12-3.
After a dominant first quarter by the Ravens, the second quarter belonged to the Lancers. The Ravens took a roughing the passer penalty, leading to a field goal for the Lancers to cut the score to 12-6.
When Carleton got the ball back, they could not hold onto it, and the Lancers took advantage of that, and recovered a fumbled ball.
The Ravens had opportunities to put the game away but continued to take penalties, which coasted them.
The Ravens took a roughing the kicker penalty, which allowed Windsor to remain on offense, and score a touchdown to put the Lancers up 13-12 at halftime.
The Ravens came out of halftime on a mission. Nearly a minute into the half, defensive back John Edouard intercepted a pass, and brought the ball to inside the 10 -yard line.
One play later, Arruda threw a pass to wide receiver Nigel Goodridge for a touchdown to put the Ravens up 19-13.
“We came out, we needed to make some plays,” Sumarah said. “You have to compete on every play. If you do not compete, anybody can beat you on any day.”
Defence continued to lead to offence for the Ravens, as linebacker Trevor Hoyte intercepted the ball, and ran all the way into the end zone for the pick six, putting Carleton up 26-13 just two minutes into the second half.
The Lancers responded to the Ravens’ early strikes with a touchdown of their own to make the game 26-20.
The two teams then proceeded to punt the ball back and forth for the next 14 combined drives. During the punting game, Domagala was able to kick a ball into the Lancers’ end zone for a rogue point, making the game 27-20.
The Ravens then decided to take over the game, as the defence put up a stone wall, and the Lancers were not able to get any sort of momentum going offensively.
After several defensive stops, Domagala kicked a 25-yard field goal to put Carleton up 30-20, and then running back Nathan Carter sealed the deal with a seven-yard running touchdown, which led to a Ravens’ 38-20 win.
This win put the Ravens tied for fourth place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) football standings so far.
“We still have to take care of ourselves. We are still making too many mistakes, taking too many penalties. We need to clean those things up against a good team in Waterloo,” Sumarah said.
The Ravens’ next game is against the University of Waterloo Warriors, who currently hold the top place in the OUA standings, on Sept. 8, in Waterloo.
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