Carleton Ravens football loses season opener to Queen’s Golden Gaels
OTTAWA, Ontario — In the first home game on Carleton’s campus in 18 months, the Ravens football team came up short against the visiting Queen’s University Golden Gaels. The Ravens lost 18-6 on Saturday afternoon in a game where they were undone by penalties and inconsistency on offense.
After a first quarter field goal by Carleton kicker Brandon Forcier, the Ravens got into penalty trouble in the second. Nine penalties derailed the Ravens offense in the second quarter. The Golden Gaels scored a touchdown right before the end of the half as James Keenan connected with Ben Langlois for a forty-yard touchdown pass. One more single before halftime gave the Gaels an 8-3 lead at the half.
After the teams traded second half field goals, Keenan once again threw a touchdown pass to extend the Gaels’ lead. He threw a 51-yard strike to fourth year receiver Richard Burton. Queens was able to run out the clock behind running back Rasheed Tucker’s 79 yards on the ground. Carleton’s two drives to mount a comeback ended in a third down incompletion and an interception by the Golden Gael’s Braden Reed.
Ravens head coach Steve Sumarah thought his team had some areas of improvement, including their penalties. “I think we had effort, I think we had first game jitters,” said Sumarah. “I think we were a little scrambly, and I think it really hurt us at moments when we really needed to be sharp.”
Sumarah continued, saying most of the penalties were mental penalties. “You have to be dialed in for 60 minutes, and if you’re not dialed in then you’re going to run into challenges. It’s really hard to play when you’re second and 15, first and 20, like you can’t gain momentum because of that.”
Jonathan Edouard, a fifth-year Ravens defensive back who was part of an excellent Carleton punt coverage, says the goal is still to be a top contender in the East Division if they go back to the drawing board.
“I’d say definitely go back to step one. We all need to look ourselves in the mirror because we thought we were the frontrunners, we thought we going to the Yates and to the Vanier [Cup],” said Edouard. “The goal was already 6-0, now the goal is 5-1, go to the Yates [Cup], hopefully be the number one seed.”
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