The Carleton Ravens football team took care of business against the York University Lions Saturday afternoon in Toronto with a 30-17 victory, their first win of the season.
While all aspects of Carleton’s game were clicking from early on, the offence seemed much stronger than in last weekend’s 18-6 loss to the Queen’s University Gaels.
Head coach Steve Sumarah headlined the team’s improvement after the game.
“The work they put in this week paid off,” Sumarah said. “It’s like anything, when you institute a new offence, things take time. We got a lot of young guys on offence and we just need to keep working and practicing.”
The offensive momentum was in Carleton’s hands from the start, when quarterback Tanner DeJong found receiver Glodin Mulali on a fly route to extend the Ravens’ lead to 10-0. It was the first Carleton touchdown of the season.
The run game helped put the Ravens in a strong position following multiple first down plays. DeJong also seemed confident in the pocket, finding multiple open receivers in second down situations.
Carleton opened up a massive 30-0 lead over the Lions early in the fourth quarter. Mulali, DeJong, receiver Keaton Bruggeling and running back Nathan Carter stood out on the offensive side of the ball, with Carter now only 35 yards away from becoming the all-time Ravens rushing leader.
The win was partially overshadowed by an injury to DeJong in the third quarter. With the Ravens driving in the York red zone, coverage broke down on a second down play which enabled a Lions sack. DeJong went down awkwardly and favoured his right leg when he stood up.
Sumarah said the team doesn’t know the gravity of the injury yet. Later in the game, DeJong was walking the Carleton sideline with crutches.
Following his injury, first-year quarterback Tristian Lefebvre stepped in but had minimal opportunities to prove himself with the run game clicking later on.
If DeJong misses considerable time, it would be a massive loss for the Ravens. It also leaves open the question of who will start at the Panda Game on Oct. 2.
Still, the Ravens defence was spectacular until the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
“There’s some guys over there that are ballers,” Sumarah said. “They did a really good job of keeping [York] off their game.”
Sumarah said not allowing the York offence to stay on the field for an extended period of time was key.
“They might get a first down here or there but there were no sustained drives,” Sumarah said. “It just kept giving the ball back to the offence.”
Last week, the Ravens struggled with a lack of execution of assignments and costly penalties on both sides of the ball. Rectifying that was something Sumarah highlighted as an important factor in the win.
“We addressed it during the week and our coaches did a good job keeping our guys held to task and focused,” Sumarah said. “It paid off and the end result was getting the win.”
The Ravens did give up a late run to the Lions, finishing the game by surrendering 17 points in the fourth quarter. It appeared as if they were rattled after the loss of their quarterback.
“That’s not the way you want to close out a game,” Sumarah said. “It shows we still have more work to do. [There are] still more things we have to keep working on and improving upon.”
The Ravens will face off against the crosstown rival uOttawa Gee-Gees next Saturday at 12 p.m. at TD Place in front of a sold-out reduced capacity crowd. It will be the first Panda Game in 728 days.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
