With pre-game fireworks and AC/DC’s “Back in Black” blaring over the speakers as players ran out of the tunnel in flashy black uniforms, the new era of Carleton Ravens football began.
Unfortunately for the boisterous and sold-out crowd of 4,500 Ravens fans and alumni at Keith Harris Stadium Sept. 7, the opening fireworks did not spark the reborn Carleton football team, as they lost their first home game of the season by a score of 47-8 to the University of Waterloo Warriors.
Despite the 39-point loss to the Warriors, Ravens quarterback Jesse Mills said he thought the team played well given their youth and inexperience.
“The score doesn’t really reflect [how well we played], but I think there was a lot of positives,” he said.
Waterloo took advantage of sloppy Carleton possessions in the first half and had a 17-0 break at halftime.
However, a third quarter catch by Ravens receiver Kyle Van Wynsberghe in the end zone on a Mills deep pass brought the capacity crowd to their feet.
It was the first Ravens touchdown of the season, and ended a 15-year gap dating back to the last time a Carleton football team took the field.
“I would’ve rather not had a touchdown and win the game,” Van Wynsberghe said. “But, it’s a pretty cool feeling to say I scored the first touchdown.”
The historic touchdown cut the Warriors’ lead to 24-7 and helped the Ravens win the third quarter by an 8-7 margin. However, Waterloo scored 23 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.
Ravens head coach Steve Sumarah said most of his team, with 60 of the 70 players being in their first year, were probably nervous at the beginning of the game.
“A lot of these guys have never been involved in that kind of an atmosphere before,” he said. “I think they thought they were going to handle it, but it is tough.”
Sumarah said running out onto the field through the black, inflatable Ravens tunnel before the game was “almost emotional.”
Van Wynsberghe echoed his coach’s sense of pride when describing what it meant to have such a massive crowd supporting them.
“We ran out of that big black tunnel and we saw the hillside absolutely packed, the stadium packed—it was an awesome feeling,” Van Wynsberghe said. “I know we didn’t get the win today, but we definitely lived, or felt, that energy from the fans.”
Ravens wide receiver Nate Behar said he was thrilled to see so many fans stay for the entirety of the game, even in a blowout loss.
“We don’t want to make our fans sit through games like that, but to see them staying there with us really was nice and I hope all the guys took notice,” he said. “The best part about that is that they’re behind us and they know that we’re growing.”
The Ravens will look to continue their rapid growth and pick up the football program’s first win in the 21st century Sept. 14 when they travel to the University of Windsor for a date with the Lancers.
The next game at Keith Harris Stadium will be held Sept. 21 for Carleton’s homecoming game against the York University Lions.
Ravens kicker and punter Andrew Banerjee said he and the rest of the team will look to build on their 0-2 record to start the season, and said they will try to perform better in the coming weeks.
“If we lose by a couple of points here or a little bit more than a couple of points, we’ve got to take the positives from every game and learn from it,” he said. “We’re just going to learn from our mistakes and get back out there the next week.”
