The Carleton Ravens football team cruised through Kingston and won their first game with an 18-12 victory over the Queen’s University Gaels on Aug. 25.
With the start of the 2019-20 season, the new team was awaiting a chance to take their intensive training sessions to the pitch.
“It was great. We’ve been itching to get back out onto the field, and we were really excited to play another team besides ourselves after a long training camp,” said Ravens linebacker Jack Cassar.
Right from the start of the match, Carleton played with a clear motive and early on in the game would take a 1-0 lead, courtesy of a rouge point from Ravens kicker Vincent Plouffe.
With one minute remaining in the first quarter, Queen’s scored the first touchdown of the game as Gaels receiver Sakhia Kwemo caught a five-yard pass from quarterback James Keenan in the end zone. Kicker Nick Liberatore would then follow up with a successful attempt through the uprights.
“We were flying around, making tackles, pursuing the ball, and everyone seemed to be playing at their peak performance,” Cassar said on the team’s defence.
Early in the second quarter, Carleton would answer back with a touchdown of their own, as Ravens running back Mathieu Pickens made a three-yard run into the end zone.
With the score at 7-7, Plouffe gave his team an 8-7 lead as his kick sent the ball straight through the uprights.
Carleton’s lead would be short lived, however, as Queen’s nabbed a safety to make it 8-9 in their favour.
In the second half, Carleton would score their second touchdown of the game as wide receiver Quinton Soares received an eight-yard pass from new quarterback Tanner DeJong. Plouffe would follow the play up with another successful conversion kick to make the score 15-9.
The rest of the game became a battle of the kickers.
Halfway through the final quarter, the next few plays resulted in Queen’s being forced to set up for a 25-yard field goal. The kick was successful and the score became 15-12.
Similarly, with only a minute left in regulation time, the Ravens set up for a 40-yard field goal which would result in their 18-12 victory.
Following the victory, Plouffe, Cassar, and offensive line backer Darius Mackay all voiced the team’s newfound trust in DeJong following his first start as quarterback since 2016.
“He had a really good training camp, and for him to play as well as he did yesterday, we’re all really proud of him,” Cassar said. “I think we have more trust in him throughout the season now, and I think he’s going to be a good leader for this team.”
“We love those guys so much. They’re a bunch of beasts on that side of the ball, and we’re happy that they play for us and that we don’t have to play against them every game,” DeJong said.
There were lots of positives, but they need to be more level-headed so as not to take as many penalties as usual, DeJong added.
“It’s very important. To be able to go 1-0 (after) week one, and to go into our next week against Guelph in our home opener, I think that we’re going to be able to use that momentum to our advantage,” Cassar said.
“With the team working so well together early in the season, it helps to create motivation for the rest of the games moving forward.”
The Ravens will look to extend their record to 2-0 as they face off against the Guelph University Gryphons on Sep. 1 in their home opener.
Feature image by Robin Kasem.
