In their last game of the regular season, the Carleton Ravens football team lost to the Guelph Gryphons 44-12. With a playoff appearance guaranteed this year, the Ravens stepped onto their home field, MNP Park, looking to gain some momentum by beating the 5-1 Gryphons.
Fans wore their pink scarves as they came to watch the Ravens’ Pink game, rounding out breast cancer awareness month.
Guelph was the first to put points on the board, with a field goal just minutes into the first quarter. After a fumble by Carleton receiver Wilson Birch on the following drive, the Gryphons used their renowned passing game to quickly move down the field.
The Gryphons runningback, Johnny Augustine, ran in the first touchdown of the game with five minutes remaining in the first.
After another fumble by Jahvari Bennett, the Gryphons scored another touchdown to put them up 17-0. Mike Domagala missed a field goal for the Ravens to close out the first quarter.
The Gryphons did not let up in the second, with another field goal to open up the quarter. After an interception by Guelph linebacker John Rush, the Gryphons had the ball again in their own red zone. However, the Ravens were able to force a safety to score their first points of the game.
“We beat ourselves more than they beat us,” said Ravens quarterback Jesse Mills.
Punting after being unable to get a first down, the Ravens gave up another touchdown to Jacob Scarfone, Gryphons quarterback James Roberts’ favorite target. The Ravens went into halftime down 27-2.
“They dictated the whole pace of the game,” said coach Steve Sumarah.”We were scrambling the whole time, we weren’t in sync at all.”
The Ravens crowd finally had something to cheer for in the third quarter, when defensive back and kick returner Tunde Adeleke got an 86-yard return touchdown off the Gryphons punt. The Ravens piled on three more points, with Domagala making a field goal after a 42 yard gain by Bennett.
As the third quarter winded down, Mills gave up another interception, leading to Scarfone’s second touchdown of the game.
The fourth quarter, while not very competitive, featured Ravens runningback and player of the game Jahvari Bennett reaching the milestone of 1,000 rushing yards this season.
“This is a goal I made a year ago and I finally reached it,” Bennett said. “It feels amazing . . . The credit goes to the guys up front—they make the holes and I just run.”
The Gryphons scored one more touchdown and field goal before the game was over, putting them up 44-12.
“They did a good job of stopping our run game, and our passing game wasn’t crisp,” Sumarah said. “You can’t play a good team like that and not be crisp . . . Mentally, we have to learn how to put this to bed quickly and be ready to move forward.”
“We just gotta watch film, see what we did wrong and right,” Mills said. “Just build on that and start preparing for Queen’s.”
The Ravens will play their first playoff game in 19 years this Halloween at 1 p.m., facing the Queen’s University Gaels in Kingston.
