Ravens so close to major upset
Mustangs overcome 17-point deficit before winning grid opener in overtime
It stood poised to become the biggest upset in Carleton Ravens football history.
Yes, bigger than the monumental 12-3 win over for the University of Toronto in 1971 when a young defensive captain John Ruddy led the Ravens to their first win over a ‘Big Four’ team.
Bigger still than any upsets in the 1980s when the legendary Ace Powell coached the Ravens to the Western Bowl in a bone-chilling Calgary in 1984.
It loomed even larger than the Ravens first win over Queen’s back in the 1960s when they were led by the twice-CFL drafted Bruce MacGregor as the ever-elusive scatback.
The 2018 Ravens were that close — with a 17-point lead at halftime — to beating the defending Vanier Cup-champion University of Western Ontario Mustangs and writing themselves into the lead chapter of Ravens football history on Sunday at Keith Harris Stadium.
However, the Mustangs did what champions do and stormed back to win in overtime on a 36-yard field goal by Marc Liegghio to cap a season-opening thriller.
The crowd was on its feet in the final minutes of regulation time when with the Ravens trailing 2320, quarterback Mike Arruda hit Phil Iloki for 53-yard pass-and-run to allow Ravens placekicker Mike Domagala to nail the longest field goal in Carleton history, a 49-yarder through the middle of the uprights with 0.2 seconds to go and send the game to overtime.
Even with the eventual loss, Ravens’ loyalists figure to be talking about this game for years. The last chapter just won’t have that happy ending that appeared imminent as the team’s went to the locker rooms at the half with the Ravens shockingly up 20-3.
“We had these guys in the bag,” said Arruda, who threw touchdown passes to a stumbling, lumbering fullback Mitch Raper and slot back Iloki in a wild second quarter when the Ravens outscored Western 173. “We knew we had these guys after the first half. This should never have come down to overtime.
“First week (of the schedule) and we’re up 17-3 and I think we took our foot off the pedal. This loss is going to teach us a lot. Maybe the good thing is we sent a scare to the rest of the league. We can feel good about that,’’ said Arruda.
On paper, it appeared to be a mismatch featuring a non-playoff Ravens team from 2017 taking on the Vanier Cup champions.
And typically, Western began the game with the ball and staged an impressive opening drive led by running back Cedric Joseph only to stall at the Carleton 42 and turn the ball over on downs.
From then on, the rest of the half belonged to the underdog Ravens as they immediately marched 59 yards to set up a 20-yard field goal by Domagala.
The Ravens also put together a 49-yard drive on their second possession but the opening quarter ended with just the field goal.
Western tied it early in the second quarter on a 31-yard field goal by Liegghio only to have the Ravens go right back in front with Domagala answering from four yards out.
With the Ravens building their confidence against the defending champions, the Ravens went with a big play offence to build a 20-3 halftime lead.
For starters, with the Ravens facing a third-and-inches, Arruda fooled the Western defence, not to mention the home crowd, by opting to put the ball in the air. Arruda stepped up into the pocket and hit fullback Mitch Raper for a 69-yard pass-and-run play with Raper barely able to tumble into the end-zone at 11:45.
The 13-3 lead appeared that it might stand up to the half until the final minute when Arruda and hit Iloki on a beautiful 44-yard pass and catch in the Western end-zone.
Carleton head coach Steve Sumarah was quick to caution his charges at the half about getting too excited about the 17-point lead.
It didn’t register as Arruda was picked off by Fraser Sopik four minutes into the second half and the Mustangs went on to score 17 unanswered points on a Liegghio field goal and touchdowns by Harry McMaster and then a fumble recovery by Andrew Thurston in the Carleton end zone 13 seconds into the final quarter to tie the game.
Liegghio then hit was appeared to be the game-winning field goal with 4:46 to play before the lastminute Ravens heroics.
“Unfortunately, it’s not a 30-minute game,” said Sumarah. “And our biggest challenge was the third quarter, trying to focus on what we wanted to do. That’s just it. You get in one of these games and you keep staring at the scoreboard and it says you’re ahead and maybe you lose a little focus.
“But we have a 24-hour rule. We dwell on the last game for 24 hours then move on to the next challenge.”