On Sept. 29, the Ravens will play the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in the Panda Game at TD Place Stadium. The fanfare of this game is well-known and the party atmosphere encompasses much of the student population of Ottawa.
The game will hold significance for a Carleton team who currently holds a 4-1 record and the number two seed in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA).
The season holds a strange balance to it, where the Ravens could easily be 3-3—a dynamic head coach Steve Sumarah has never been seen to this extent before in his coaching career.
“Usually there [are] one or two games in a season that could have gone this way, could have gone one way or another, but not every game being back and forth like this,” Sumarah said. “I don’t think we’ve had one good full game all season.”
After dropping their season opener to Western University, the Ravens bounced back, winning their next four games. Each of these wins were not exactly how Sumarah said he would have drawn them up. Against the University of Windsor Lancers, the Ravens benefitted from several special team errors from the Lancers to win the game.
For the next two weekends, the Ravens required a last-second field goal visiting the University of Waterloo and double overtime against the Queen’s University Gaels.
Sumarah says the Panda Game is the push this “emotional” team needs and maybe the distraction holding them back. He pointed out in last weekend’s game against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, how the team played in a distracted manner and seemed more focused on the upcoming Panda Game.
“With big games like this, it’s often the week before and the week after.” Sumarah said. “The week before, the team is thinking about the game coming up and then there’s the build-up and then a letdown after. I think last weekend was absolutely a case of that—we were looking ahead too much.”
“Man, I’m looking forward to this weekend, though. It’s all anyone has been talking about since I’ve come here—Panda this, Panda that,” rookie wide receiver Dominic Walker said.
Walker, a native from Orlando, Fla., is no stranger to big games. Before transferring to Carleton, Walker attended Auburn University as a redshirt freshman in 2013 and dressed for the BCS National Championship against Florida State University. Auburn is also home to another famous in-state football rivalry against the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, known as the Iron Bowl.
Though it’s not quite the Iron Bowl, the Panda Game is shaping up to be a good one, with both the Ravens and Gee-Gees having improved this year so far. The Gee-Gees sport a formidable running offence, which may be the difference in the game, as they have struggled through the air this year.
The Ravens’ game plan comes down to execution. After earning hard-fought wins throughout the season, Sumarah says the team is going into the game more resilient than last season.
“That’s the positive,” he said. “Last year this time, we were 1-3 losing those games . . . This year, learning to win these type of games is a positive.”
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