Written by Ravens Sports Information
Kingston, Ont. – The Ravens came out on the losing end of an offensive duel on Saturday night at Richardson Stadium losing 49-17 to the Queen’s Gaels.
The two teams combined for over 1,082 total yards while amassing only 127 combined yards in penalties. The back-and-forth game at times appeared far closer than the scoreboard would tell, but key turnovers deep in the Queen’s end proved costly for the Ravens who saw their own early offensive drives turn into points against.
After Brandon Forcier opened the game with a rouge, the Carleton Ravens found themselves behind only fifty seconds into the game when James Keenan connected with Nicodeme Kwemo for a 42-yard touchdown. Forcier would respond again with a 26-yard field goal before the Gaels would score 3:39 apart to spread the lead to 21-4.
The Ravens wouldn’t roll over, they immediately responded with a strong drive that saw them reach the edge of the red zone and give the defence well-needed rest only to be picked off in the end zone. The Gaels would make the Ravens pay on the turnover, as Aiden O’Neal took a Keenan pass 53 yards for paydirt extending the lead to 24. Before the half was out both teams would trade touchdowns with Tanner DeJong (Brockville, Ont.) finding Harvey Mafuta for a 33-yard touchdown. The Gaels would take on another major of their own to finish the half with the 35-11 lead.
The Ravens opened the second half with solid momentum before the Gaels Aayden Callan added a rouge for the only point of the quarter. Tristan Rinaldis finished an 11 play 81-yard draft that stretch from the end of the third into the fourth quarter to bring the Ravens within three scores before Yann Longa found the endzone twice in the final nine minutes to close out the night.
“We came back and we punched back against a really good team. We can’t make mistakes as we did, if we make those mistakes they’re going to take advantage, they’re a really good, disciplined team and those things hurt us.”
“They won the line of scrimmage with the run, and we’ve got to be more disciplined with taking that away from teams, making teams more 1-dimensional.”
“We’re going to go look at ourselves, it’s about us and our journey. We’ll watch the film and we’ll be critical about it, we’ll be critical of what we’re asking each and every position, and each and every player to do. We’ll look at wherever we can get better. Are we putting the players in a position to be successful? And if we’re not, then why and what can we do to make sure that they are being successful.”
