After a pair of closely contested losses to open the season, the Carleton Ravens football team etched their first win of the season Sept. 16 as they took down the struggling York University Lions 52-0 at York Lions Stadium.
With a dominant showing on both sides of the ball, the Ravens defence left no room for the Lions to make any headway. Starting quarterback Tristan Lefebvre led the offence, finishing the game with three touchdowns and 218 throwing yards.
The scoring started early for the Ravens after forcing York to start their first possession deep in their own territory. After going three and out, the Lions elected to take the safety, making the score 2-0 less than six minutes into the quarter.
With less than eight minutes left in the first quarter, Lefebvre capped off a successful possession with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Hunter Brown from the 20-yard line. Ravens kicker Brandon Forcier followed it up later in the quarter with a 43-yard field goal to go up 12-0.
The Ravens went into overdrive in the second quarter, scoring 27 unanswered points. The Lefebvre-Brown connection only grew stronger, highlighted by a connection from the 13-yard line. The pass capped a successful possession that went 63 yards in four plays.
Not even two minutes later, free safety Othman Brahm returned a punt from an incredible 80 yards to extend the lead.
Lefebvre etched his final touchdown halfway through the second quarter with an 11-yard pass to wide receiver Kaseem Ferdinand as they continued to throttle the dispirited home team.
After running back Josh Ferguson ran another touchdown from the one-yard line, the game was sealed by the half.
The second half saw significantly less scoring with only 13 points added to the board, six of which came on the strength of two field goals by Forcier from 32 and 38 yards.
With two minutes remaining in the game and Carleton leading by a ludicrous 45-0 score, they put the final nail in the coffin when backup quarterback Tristan Rinaldis completed a 37-yard pass to wide receiver Frederik Hachey, putting the Ravens over the half-century mark.
The game was a breath of fresh air for the Ravens after narrowly losing to two of Canada’s top 10 teams in the first two weeks of the season. This Ravens team has the potential to make some noise if they can continue to connect pieces on both sides of the ball.
Featured image by Christian Cocuzzo.
