The Ravens football team kicked off their 2015 home schedule with a 57-0 victory against the Waterloo Warriors, Sept. 6 at MNP Park.
“We played well as a team, we did a lot of good things,” said head Coach Steve Sumarah after the game. “We had an opportunity to work on the things we needed to work on from last week and I feel that we took some strides, we still have more to do, but we moved forward.”
The team started off the game with a touchdown after a catch by wide receiver Nate Behar. The Ravens used a strong offence and a stingy defence in the first quarter to extend the lead to 18-0.
The team dominated the field offensively, while keeping their opponents in close quarters on defence.
“Overall as a defensive unit of 12 they did a good job of controlling the other team’s offence, and when we needed some plays they made some,” Sumarah said.
In the second quarter, the Ravens continued to dominate bringing the game to 35-0 on offence due to successful passing and strong kicking from Michael Domagala. Behar, however, was forced to sit out for the remainder of the afternoon to prevent further injury.
“Last week we felt very unprepared, this week we worked hard, really, really, really hard,” said fullback Stefano Napolitano. “Perseverance and resilience really are two big words for us. We didn’t want to let down. We just kept pushing and we felt confident, which I think is a good thing.”
In the second half, the Ravens’ defence continued to hold the Warriors back, while the offensive line won the war in the trenches to bring the score to 42-0.
This was after a successful catch by running back Marley Patterson, and another strong kick from Domagala.
“I can say right now that our defence came up strong on both sides of the ball,” said defensive tackle Emmanuel Adusei. “Our offence came off strong and had to believe in themselves, everyone had to step up.”
The team’s momentum toward victory continued in the fourth quarter with a dominating showing.
A strong punt return was made by the defensive back, Tunde Adeleke, who ran the ball back 81 yards, bringing the score to a 57-0 win.
“I think it was an all-round effort on the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball, everyone played well and once we get our momentum going we are hard to stop,” said quarterback Jesse Mills.
“This is just another game, that is how we have to look at every game,” Mills said. “Going into next week we are going to have to prepare and look at all the small mistakes we made this week and have them fixed for next week.”
The next game will be an away game against the Windsor Lancers, before the team brings it home again on Sept. 19 against Toronto.
