Rowe, Ravens win big at York

TORONTO, ON — The Carleton Ravens football team rolled to a 50-7 victory over the York Lions at Alumni Field in Toronto on Saturday afternoon, rallying from last week's difficult result to pick up a vital win and move to 3-2 on the season.

Carleton dominated the game from start to finish, as the Ravens defence limited York's star quarterback Brett Hunchak to just 159 yards passing on only 13 completions for his second lowest totals of the season.

"I was expecting a good effort today and we certainly got it," said head coach Steve Sumarah. "We ran the ball well and defensively we knew [York] was going to throw the ball and the freshman we had starting in the backfield did an exceptional job."

Fourth-year running back Jayde Rowe (Scarborough, on) set a school record by rushing for 258 yards on 21 carries while adding two touchdowns in the victory. The talented tailback has now rushed for 160 yards or more in three of the past four games.

"The team made my job easy today in terms of the execution – the front five came up big and the receivers did a great job blocking for me," said Rowe. "We chipped away today and I was able to break a few good runs – that's all I could ask for."

BOX SCORE

The Ravens got off to a fantastic start on their opening possession, as quarterback Jesse Mills (Halifax, NS) found Kyle VanWynsberghe (Delhi, ON) for a 7-yard touchdown pass, which completed a 9 play, 69 yard drive for a 7-0 Carleton lead.

Carleton's offence appeared unstoppable in the early going, as rookie Nathan Carter (Ottawa, ON) capped off a 9 play, 106 yard drive with an athletic 4-yard run and leap over a Lions defender to increase the Ravens advantage to 14-0 after the first quarter.

The Ravens had 204 yards of total offence in the first, including 11 first downs. Running back Jayde Rowe rushed for 75 yards on 5 carries in the quarter.

York's offence finally came to life in the second, but just as Lions began to move the chains, it was the Ravens defence that came up with a big play. Defensive back Tunde Adeleke (Ottawa, ON) picked off York quarterback Brett Hunchak's deep toss in the end zone to stop the threatening drive.

However, Carleton was shutdown on their next offensive possession, and on the ensuing Ravens punt, York's Kadeem Thomas got his team on the scoreboard with a 50-yard highlight reel punt return, breaking several tackles on his way to the end zone to bring the Lions back into the game.

With a 14-7 lead, Ravens kicker Michael Domagala (St. Catharines, ON) atoned for an earlier miss in the game by hitting a 16-yard field through the uprights to put Carleton ahead by ten points at the 2:48 mark of the second quarter.

Following a Jesse Mills interception late in the half, Carleton's defence came to the rescue again as linebacker Guillaume Caron (Saint-Joseph-du-Lac, QC) picked off a Brett Hunchak pass to put the Ravens in great field position with under 30 seconds to play in the second.

On the first play following the York turnover, Mills hit Kyle VanWynsberghe on an 8-yard fade for his second touchdown of the game to put the Ravens up 24-7 at the break.

Carleton continued to give the OUA chain crew a workout as Jayde Rowe powered the Ravens to an early third quarter score on a 1-yard TD run. The fourth-year back cracked the 200-yard mark on the drive, giving Carleton a 31-7 stranglehold on the game.

Midway through the third, special teams ace Keith Graham (Halifax, NS) recovered a botched York punt return catch to put Carleton back in scoring position. Once again, Jayde Rowe steamrolled his way through the Lions defence and across the plane of the goal line for his second TD of the game.

The Ravens used the final frame as an opportunity to experiment with some different lineup combinations on both sides of the ball. Carleton running back Nathan Carter completed the Ravens rout over York with his second touchdown of the contest late in the fourth.

With the 386 yards of total offence, the Ravens overwhelmed the York defence and also wore the Lions down by controlling the clock. Carleton held possession by a 2-to-1 ratio by securing the ball for 40:15 of the hour of clock time.

The Ravens will now turn their attention to the Panda Game where they will host the Ottawa Gee-Gees at TD Place on October 1. The Gee-Gees have been one of the surprises of the OUA conference this season, and will head into the big rivalry match-up with a perfect 4-0 record.

While the Panda Game holds a special place for all of the game's participants, Coach Sumarah says that the team will remain focused and approach their game prep like any other week.

"Every week there is a bit of tweaking that needs to be done, but for the most part I feel that we've got the plan in order," added Sumarah. "Now we've just got to go out there and execute to the best of our ability."

Source: Carleton Ravens