Ravens Sports Info (Photo: Seyran Mammadov)
TORONTO (Sept. 14, 2024) - The Carleton Ravens football team have their first win of the season following a commanding 42-12 win over the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday afternoon.
The Ravens opened the game by attempting an on-side kick which they failed to recover, and the struggles continued. After Ryan Grant picked off Scott Barnett on the first Varsity Blues drive the Ravens would turn over the ball after failing to convert on third-and-one. The Blues would convert on the positive field positioning turning a short drive into three points when Sam Henke finished the drive with a field goal.
The Ravens would respond quickly, after Elijah Barnes (Ancaster, Ont.) broke out of the pocket and took off for a serious gain, Barnes would find All-Canadian Kaseem Ferdinand in the corner of the end zone with a beautiful teardrop pass for the touchdown to lead 7-3 after one.
The Ravens struck quickly again at the start of the second as Barnes once again connected with Ferdinand in the pocket over the middle. Kaseem would spin off a would-be tackler before plunging into the endzone for his second touchdown of the day.
The Ravens would keep piling it on as Matt Morin would run one in from 11-yards out. Then, before Toronto could get to halftime, an Alex Boily interception led to a Brandon Forcier 30-yard field goal to put Carleton up 24-3.
The Ravens’ defense continued to cause chaos in the second half forcing the Varsity Blues into a third-and-five situation where Kaleb O’Donoghue’s pass went incomplete. While the Ravens were unable to convert on the ensuing drive, Joey Sciandra unloaded a 54-yard punt that pinned Toronto deep inside their own half. After Brody Burke and Xavier Malone combined for a tackle, the Blues would run out of time in the first half.
Carleton would score the only major of the second half, after another Toronto turnover Elijah Barnes would take off out of the pocket to the 1-yard line. Matt Morin would punch in the short run to bring the score to 31-3. Toronto would add a field goal late in the quarter bringing the Carleton lead to 25 heading into the final 15 minutes.
The Ravens would turn the ball to Zacharie Georges in the fourth quarter, the second-year quarterback looked poised, but the second-team offense failed to generate much in terms of points. Brandon Forcier (L’Ange Gardien, Que.) would end his second field goal of the afternoon before a Xavier Malone sack would leave to Toronto to respond with a 49-yarder from Sam Henke to keep pace.
The Ravens explosive day would continue following the Henke field goal as Keyshawn Reid ran back the ensuing kickoff 107-yards for the touchdown. The Varsity Blues would continue pushing into the final two minutes and after being stood up outside the red zone Henke would drive home another field goal for his fourth of the day.
A Forcier miss would add a rouge to the Ravens scoreline to finish off the Varsity Blues afternoon and give the Ravens their first win of the year.
By The Numbers
