Ravens bounce back with big win over Waterloo

(Photo: Valerie Wutti)

(Ottawa, ON) – The Carleton Ravens (1-1) football team put in a first-rate performance in its home opener on Sunday, dominating the Waterloo Warriors (0-2) on both sides of the football en route to a 57-0 win. The Ravens exploded for nearly 500 yards of offence, while defensively limiting the visitors from Waterloo to less than 200 yards.

"I thought we did some good things," said Ravens head coach Steve Sumarah. "We moved the ball really well on offence, and defensively we managed to get stops when we needed them."

Carleton's dual-threat attack shredded Waterloo both on the ground and in the air. Ravens running back Jahvari Bennett (Mississauga, ON) picked up three rushing touchdowns before being lifted from the game at halftime, while quarterback Jesse Mills (Halifax, NS) completed 80% of his attempts for 226 passing yards and a touchdown.

"This win gives us a lot of momentum going into a big game against Windsor," said Mills, who found Nate Behar for a 36-yard touchdown reception less than two minutes into the game to open the scoring. "The offensive line was great, they gave me a lot of time to throw, and they opened holes for running backs."

Carleton jumped out to an 11-0 lead inside the first five minutes and never looked back, as a trio of Bennett rush TDs and a Mike Domagala field goal opened the Ravens lead up to 35-0 by halftime.

Bennett was given a rest after the break, as Christian Battistelli (Whitefish, ON) and Marley Patterson (Toronto, ON) split Carleton's running duties in the second half. The two combined for 136 rushing yards, and Battistelli ran in a 6-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to push Carleton to the half-century mark in scoring.

"In a game like that, you just try to take small victories on each play," explained Coach Sumarah post-game. "I thought that we had a lot of those smaller victories throughout the game, which is good.

Return man Tunde Adeleke (Ottawa, ON) electrified the crowd at MNP Park throughout the afternoon, averaging twenty yards per return and bringing the house down with an 81-yard punt return touchdown in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring.

"We played four quarters," said Ravens star wide receiver Nate Behar (London, ON), who was one of a number of Carleton players to leave the one-sided game for precautionary reasons due to injury. "In the second half we came out, two-and-outed them, and drove the field – it's really good to see that we've got that ability to play for four quarters."

Leon Cenerini (La Salle, MB) and Guillaume Caron (Saint-Joseph-du-Lac, QC) led the way for Carleton on the defensive side of the ball, with Cenerini registering a game-high nine tackles and Caron racking up a pair of sacks and 3.5 tackle-for-losses.

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The Ravens will now have five days to prepare for their Week 3 opponent, the Windsor Lancers (0-1), before traveling south in pursuit of their second victory of the OUA season

Source: Carleton Ravens