Ottawa, ON (Sept. 13, 2025) - The Carleton Ravens were unable to overcome an explosive start from the Western Mustangs and fell 63-26 on Saturday afternoon.
The Ravens' (1-2) goal of stretching the field and slowing the game quickly went out the window on Saturday when the Mustangs picked off Elijah Barnes on the game's second play. Jackson MacKay hauled down the Barnes pass over the middle before returning it 70 yards to the house. The Mustangs would lead 7-0 just 1 minute and 4 seconds into the contest.
The Ravens would tie the game midway through the first quarter as John Grieve opened up a big hole in the Mustangs' line for Ethan Rocha to break through. The Rocha touchdown was set up by an 11-yard run by Keyshawn Reid, which drove the Ravens to the three-yard line.
The Carleton defence would force a stop, the offence would fumble on third-and-inches, giving the Mustangs the ball back just outside the red zone. Ethan Dolby would cap off the Mustangs' drive running in past a pair of would-be tacklers to put Western up 14-7.
The game would get away from Carleton over the next quarter. After Western jumped ahead 20-7, the Ravens would concede a safety to start the second. Brandon Forcier then missed a field goal, making it 22-8. Western quickly flipped the script with touchdowns on two straight drives to put a 28-point gap between the teams at halftime.
The Mustangs wasted little time scoring twice to open the third quarter before Brandon Forcier scored a 15-yard field goal to reduce the lead to 50-11. Frederick Hachey would haul in his second touchdown of the season in the fourth quarter before Keyshawn Reid lit up TAAG Park with an explosive 104-yard kick-return touchdown to narrow the gap on the scoreboard.
Despite outscoring Western in the fourth, the Ravens were unable to overcome a difficult middle of the game. Western outscored their hosts 30-4 in the middle quarters.
Fred Hachey on the offence: "We've got to know our plays and we've got to finish drives. Every week we've been close to the end zone, just not finishing."
Keyshawn Reid on his kick returns: "It's about changing the whole pace of the game, so it's really what we tried to do on that. We really wanted to drive the ball and not give up and try to change the momentum of the game."
Keyshawn Reid on his program-record second career 100+ yard kick return for a touchdown: "I've always been doing it, but it's never been like this. ... It's a different type of art to catching them and returning them with a lot faster guys coming down at you, but I guess it's just a trade I've been building for my whole life.
The game as a whole: "We talked about playing some good football, and we had to be mistake-free against them. You know, too many turnovers, too many mistakes by us, and you do that against a good team, and the game gets away from you real quick."
Scoring more consistently: "We've got to make sure we're taking care of the football and doing a better job when the tide turns real fast."
