The Carleton Ravens football team fell to the Guelph Gryphons on Oct. 21 by a score of 28-23 at MNP Park, ending the Ravens’ season and leading to the team missing the playoffs for the first time in three years.
Before the game, the Ravens honoured graduating players such as fifth-year receiver Kyle Van Wynsberghe and defensive end Kene Onyeka.
Van Wynsberghe would end the season with 2,000 career receiving yards—the second Raven to do so.
The Gryphons struck first only four minutes into the game as kicker Gabriel Ferraro sent the ball through the uprights from 25-yards out. Three minutes later, he hit another giving the Gryphons a 6-0 lead.
Early into the second quarter Ravens kicker Michael Domagala responded with a successful 11-yard field goal, putting the Ravens on the board with three points.
Before the first half was over, Ravens quarterback Michael Arruda made a 13-yard touchdown pass to receiver Quinton Soares, which was followed by another field goal by Domagala. This would put the Ravens up 12-6 heading into halftime.
Two minutes into the third quarter, Ravens tailback Nathan Carter was able to continue the momentum from the first half, scoring a touchdown on a 48-yard dash into the end zone which was followed by Domagala’s kick sailing through the uprights to put the Ravens up 19-6.
Soon after, the Gryphon’s kicker made another good kick from the 21-yard line to cut the Ravens’ lead to 10 points.
Domagala then made a successful field goal from a massive distance of 47-yards (the second longest in Carleton football history) to give Carleton another three points.
Guelph answered that with Ferraro’s successful 22-yard field goal to once again cut the lead to 10 as Carleton stayed on top 22-12 heading into the fourth quarter.
Early into the fourth quarter the kicking battle continued as Ferraro sent the ball through the uprights from 48-yards out.
Six minutes later, Gryphons receiver Johnny Augustine made a short two-yard run into the end zone to score a touchdown, and with yet another Ferraro field goal, Guelph tied the game at 22.
Two minutes later, Ravens running back Christian Battistelli recorded a rouge point for Carleton, which put them up one point over the Gryphons.
Guelph was able to bounce back and Ferraro made two consecutive field goals from the 29-yard line and 49-yard line to seal the Ravens’ fate and end the game with a score of 28-23.
“It’s painful, you know, we didn’t meet our expectations and because of that it hurts even more when you fall short of what you were hoping to accomplish,” Ravens head coach Steve Sumarah said about this past season.
The Ravens ended with a disappointing 3-5 record, which was only good enough for eighth in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA), a steep decline from last year where the team placed fourth.
“I think at this point it takes time to go back, I need to re-evaluate and see where we are and look and see what we can do to make things better,” Sumarah said about improving on next season.
With the departure of some key offensive players last year, the question going into this season was whether or not the younger players could handle the burden. Although the outcome was disappointing, the Ravens do have a bright future ahead.
Arruda, coming into his first year at quarterback for the Ravens, excelled by putting up 12 touchdowns and averaging 268.3 passing yards per game, good for third in the OUA. Arruda started off his Ravens career by accumulating 2,146 passing yards this season, making him only the second Raven to pass for over 2,000 yards in a season.
Carter was another young player who stepped up into his role as running back. Posting an impressive 138.8 rushing yards per game, first in the OUA, he also set a record for most rushing yards in a season by a Raven with 1,110 yards. This was a huge increase from his previous season where Carter only ran for a total of 289 yards.
Veteran players also put up big numbers in their final year with the team.
Ravens linebacker Leon Cenerini was able to put together a career year making a total of 68 tackles this season and becoming the first ever Raven to have a total of 300 career tackles.
Kene Onyeka continued to be a defensive force registering 2.5 sacks in his final game and finishing the season tied for first in OUA with 10.5 sacks.
Both Cenerini and Onyeka are leaving Carleton this year and will be leaving a hole on the defence that will be hard to fill.
“I think that this season we were big on coming together as a full team, offence, defence, all the guys are together . . . I think that’s the type of thing that builds through the years with the guys, something that’s easily carried over,” Ravens safety Jay Dearborn said about regrouping and getting ready for next season.
“I find that this is one of the closest teams I’ve been on in forever, so its something that carries over through the off-season,” he added.
Photo by Aaron Hemens
