Let the records forever etch Sept. 1, 2014 into the history books as the day where the new era of Carleton Ravens football achieved the first of its many wins.
It may have been a Labour Day holiday for many people, but the Ravens certainly went to work in their 2014 season-opening game against the Waterloo Warriors, riding a strong second half en route to a 33-14 victory.
“It just feels amazing to finally get that first win for everyone. From our coaches, to our alumni, to our fans, no one really stopped believing in us — and we never stopped believing in ourselves,” said Ravens receiver Dexter Brown, who led the team with 77 receiving yards in the win.
Carleton’s football team was resurrected in the fall of 2013 after a 15-year absence, so the milestone win marks the school’s first football victory since 1998. It will also go down in history as the first Ravens football win in the 21st century.
After a winless 0-8 campaign for the Ravens last fall, getting the program’s first win was all but inevitable — it just became a matter of when it would happen.
Ravens head coach Steve Sumarah, the man at the helm of the historic win, said he had a feeling his team was going to accomplish the feat early in the season.
“Last week in our exhibition game, where we beat York [by a score of 53-11], I saw a lot of maturity in our team,” he said. “I saw there was an opportunity for us to step up and possibly get it sooner rather than later, and thank goodness we did.”
Just one year ago, largely comprised of many current players, the Ravens were thrashed by Waterloo by a score of 47-8 in its hyped-up home-opener at Keith Harris Stadium in their second game of the season.
Now, with a full season of experience, the Ravens returned the favour.
Ravens quarterback Jesse Mills led the offensive onslaught by shredding the Warriors’ secondary with two touchdowns in the air and adding another score on the ground with a rushing touchdown, while Carleton’s defensive front recorded three sacks, two interceptions, and also contributed to a pair of team safeties.
“We’re bigger and stronger and smarter, so winning in our first game after not winning any last year shows that we took a huge step,” Sumarah said.
Carleton running back Jahvari Bennett had a breakthrough game with 189 all-purpose yards as a lethal option coming out of the Ravens’ backfield.
He credited the offensive line in front of him for his ability to break off multiple big gains. Carleton had 292 yards overall on the ground on top of what Bennett put up.
“If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to do much – they made my job easy,” he said with a laugh. “But it was just a full team effort . . . Everyone stepped up and bought into the winning mindset.”
That winning mindset is one of the many developments in Carleton’s football culture, according to Bennett.
“This is going to give us more confidence, but obviously there’s a lot more work to do,” he said. “We’re going to try to win more games and make the playoffs, and show the league that we are a different team than last year.”
The Ravens will return to the road for their next game against the McMaster University Marauders on Sept. 13, before the highly-anticipated Panda Game showdown against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees at TD Place serves as Carleton’s first home game.
Sumarah said he’s proud of his players for putting the pain of last season behind them, and believes this is just a sign of things to come in his ambitious long-term process to build Carleton into perennial contenders.
“The end goal of this whole thing is, at some point, to be in a position to win a championship. These are all just small steps in that direction,” he said. “I believe in what we’re doing here . . . I think one day down the road we’ll do it, and we’ll look back on today and smile.”
