The Carleton Ravens football team lost the 51st edition of the Panda Game versus the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees by a 32-10 score.
Despite leading 10-1 at the half, the Ravens let the floodgates open, with the Gee-Gees capitalizing on four second-half turnovers by the Ravens to score 31 unanswered points.
Tanner DeJong, the Ravens’ starting quarterback, played a largely successful first half. He completed 10 of 17 passes for 185 yards and threw both a touchdown and an interception.
However, the entire Ravens offense faltered in the second half. DeJong threw two interceptions and committed a fumble which led to a Gee-Gees touchdown. Ravens running back Nathan Carter also fumbled, with the Gee-Gees recovering the ball and returning it all the way to score.
“When you’re in these kinds of games, you just can’t make mistakes,” said Sumarah. “Unfortunately, mistakes were being made, and they capitalized, and, because of that, we put them in a good situation.”
“It’s like watching a car wreck and there’s nothing you can do to stop it,” he added.
The game began with some hope for the Ravens. Gee-Gees kicker Campbell Fair missed a 37-yard field goal early in the first quarter, putting his team up 1-0 on the rouge, but the Ravens came right back on the next drive. Kieran Flannery-Fleck converted a 31-yard attempt of his own to give the Ravens a 3-1 lead with 8:33 to play in the opening frame.
Later in the quarter, Flannery-Fleck attempted another field goal from 25 yards out, but it was blocked by a Gee-Gees defender. Missed field goal opportunities would become a theme of the day: Flannery-Fleck converted just one of his four attempts, while Fair missed all four of his attempts for the Gee-Gees.
The Ravens’ offense started buzzing in the second quarter. On the opening drive, DeJong found receiver Quinton Soares for back-to-back 41 yard and 16 yard catches.
On their next drive, DeJong and Soares connected again for an eight-yard touchdown pass, giving the Ravens a 10-1 lead they would carry into the half. Soares ended the first half with 102 receiving yards, a high water-mark for both teams.
“Those guys have been playing, obviously, a few years together. Kudos to those guys,” said Sumarah. “[Soares] is just a gamer, every game he goes out and it’s just a workmanlike attitude, and he made plays.”
Down by nine points at the intermission, Gee-Gees head coach Jamie Barresi said that he let his defensive corps motivate themselves for the second half—without his encouragement or intervention. He said it was an unintentional decision rendered necessary by the circumstances.
“I usually speak to the team, and we were so busy on offense trying to get ourselves regrouped, I didn’t have time to talk to the [defense],” said Barresi. “Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut from now on, you know?”
The Gee-Gees defence allowed zero points in the second half, as Ottawa took over the game. They forced a safety just over a minute into the third quarter, cutting the Ravens’ lead to 10-3.
Five minutes later, with the Ravens lined up on their own goal-line, the Gee-Gees defense forced a fumble. Defensive lineman Tramayne Stephen recovered the ball in the Ravens’ end zone, giving the Gee-Gees their first touchdown.
“I just ran around the centre, and the handoff happened, and the ball just popped out,” said Stephen. “As soon as I saw it come back I just jumped on it.”
With the score now even at 10-10, the Gee-Gees kept gaining momentum. Fair kicked another rouge later in the third and, on the next Ravens drive, Gee-Gees defensive lineman Francis Perron recovered a fumble by DeJong.
Perron returned the fumble 22 yards for a touchdown and, after the conversion, the Gee-Gees led 18-10.
The fourth quarter saw the Ravens unravel even further. DeJong threw consecutive interceptions mid-way through the fourth before Gee-Gees quarterback Matt Mahler, who replaced Ben Maracle in the third, led his team to back-to-back touchdown drives.
After losing their second consecutive Panda Game, the Ravens now sit near the bottom of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) football league standings with a 2-4 record.
“At the end of the day, they were the better team,” said Sumarah. “We have two games left, and we can maybe still get ourselves in the mix, here, but it’s going to take solid effort, all the way around.”
Feature Image by Tim Austen.
