Coming off their first win of the 2024-2025 campaign against the Toronto Varsity Blues, the struggling Carleton Ravens football team endured their fourth loss of the season in a tight 36-34 loss to the McMaster Marauders on Sept. 21.
The home crowd at TAAG Park witnessed the lead switch three times in a roller coaster first half before McMaster pulled ahead once and for all in the second half.
The Ravens played with a relentless conviction until the very end, but the Marauders’ defence held off two strong offensive drives to keep the Ravens out of the end zone in the game’s final minutes.
With one more game before the annual Panda Game against the uOttawa Gee-Gees, the Ravens postseason hopes are already in danger.
Matchup mismatch
McMaster starting quarterback Keagan Hall recorded 423 passing yards and threw three touchdown passes without a single interception against Carleton. Hall leads Ontario University Athletics (OUA) football in passing yards with 1,700, averaging 340 yards per game.
“He’s establishing himself as one of the best players in this country,” McMaster head coach Stefan Ptaszek said. “If you give him time, I don’t believe you can stop his pass game.”
Comparatively, Carleton’s starting quarterback Elijah Barnes sits at 11th in passing yards per game in the OUA, averaging 238.2 yards per game.
But Carleton was also disadvantaged at the running back position. Ravens starter Matthew Morin was unavailable to dress against McMaster after suffering an injury the previous game.
That news thrust Ethan Rocha and freshman Keyshawn Reid into the spotlight as they took turns running the ball in their first game of the season.
Things turned even uglier when Reid left the game due to an injury of his own. Rocha said he felt he needed to step up for the team to make the comeback.
“[I told myself,] ‘I need to carry the rock, I need to score, I need to get to the endzone,’” Rocha said.
Rocha rushed 130 yards and recorded one touchdown in relief.
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‘We needed this one’
With the Ravens’ rocky 1-4 start this season record, every game is already critical to their playoff hopes.
And despite Hall’s rising status in the OUA, Carleton head coach Corey Grant said he wanted his team to play him like they would any other quarterback.
“We knew we were going to play against a good football team and we were going to have to play our best football,” Grant said. “We needed this one to help us going into the back end of the season.”
On McMaster’s side, the Marauders placed a lot of focus on Carleton’s star defensive end, Ifenna Onyeka, whose seven sacks lead the league.
“Any protection plan that doesn’t give attention to [Onyeka] is not sound,” Ptaszek said. “I was talking with coach Grant and we’re the two best 1-3 football teams you will ever see coming into this game.”
McMaster deployed two offensive linemen to hold off Onyeka on almost every play of the game.
Trailing by just two points in the game’s dying minutes, the Ravens held possession. With Grant running up and down the sidelines to rile up the home crowd, the Ravens looked poised to steal the win.
“We always believe,” Grant said. “We’re going to play 60 minutes of football so there’s never any doubt in our minds that we’re going to come back.”
“[Riling the crowd] was just getting them behind our guys and letting everybody know in the stands that we’re not going to quit. We’re going to fight until the end no matter the score.”
That comeback never came as the Ravens’ offensive drives were stuffed by McMaster’s defensive team.
The Ravens now sit ninth in the OUA standings. They return to TAAG Park to take on the 1-3 York Lions on Sept. 28.
Featured photo by Murray Oliver / the Charlatan
