The Ravens prevail in Panda play
Pedro is staying put for at least another year.
The battle between the Carleton Ravens and the University of Ottawa Gee- Gees for the coveted Panda Game trophy came to a dramatic conclusion for a second straight year.
Last year, Nate Behar caught a 55-yard touchdown pass from Jesse Mills on the last play of the game to give the Ravens a 33-31 win and custody of Pedro.
Saturday it was a different set of heroes as Jahvari Bennett had two huge runs on the Ravens’ second possession of overtime before Michael Domagala kicked a 17-yard field goal to give the Ravens a 4845 win again on the last play of the game, again.
“It couldn’t be any closer than this. Everyone executed perfectly when they had to,” Mills said post game, just before he was picked up by the fans on the field and carried around on their shoulders.
“Ottawa U played a good game, but we played a better game, I guess.”
Domagala kicked a 27-yard field goal with less than five minutes to play in the fourth quarter to tie the game 38-38 and the teams spent the rest of regulation exchanging punts.
On the first drive of overtime, Wilson Birch caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Mills and the Domagala conversion gave the Ravens a 45-38 lead.
The Gee-Gees responded with a touchdown of their own as Derek Wendel connected with Bryce Vieira on a four-yard TD pass.
The Gee-Gees then started the second round of overtime but were stopped on a third-down attempt.
The Ravens took over the ball at the Gee-Gees’ 35 and Jahvari ripped off a 25-yard run and then a second for eight yards to get to within field-goal range. Mills took the next snap and centred the ball in the field for Domagala, who did the rest.
“When we get that close, Mikey is pretty darn automatic,” said Behar, who was also being swarmed by fans after the game.
“As soon as we got those runs off, we knew we had it and it was pretty special. Our defence came up big toward the end and they held it together. Back-to-back feels pretty darn good.”
The Ravens used the strong wind to their advantage in the first quarter, taking a 10-0 lead as Kyle Van Wynsberghe caught a seven-yard touchdown pass from Mills and Domagala kicked a 43-yard field goal.
When the Gee- Gees got the wind at their back, they had a huge second quarter, scoring 30 points to take a 30-24 lead into halftime.
Wendel scored on a three-yard run and then the fourth-year pivot threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell Baines for a 14-10 lead.
Behar gave the Ravens the lead back on a 35-yard catch-and-run score from Mills, but the lead changed hands again less than five minutes later as Wendel and Ben Fisher connected on a 24-yard passing play.
Van Wynsberghe caught his second TD pass of the day from Mills, this one for 21 yards, and the Ravens took their third lead of the game at 24-21 with 90 seconds to play in the half.
Just 23 seconds later, Wendel hit Ian Stewart on a 55-yard touchdown pass and then the Ravens conceded a safety with 25 seconds to play in the half.
“It was a pretty decent offensive effort, and we just have to keep executing and go a full four quarters. We had a killer second quarter and we need that boost heading into the second half,” was all Wendel was able to say before Gee-Gees coach Jamie Barresi hauled his quarterback away from the scrum and barked at the media to talk to him later.
Barresi has said repeatedly that the Panda Game was just another game and that it was no more important than any other on the calendar, yet he hasn’t pulled a similar move following other games, win or lose.
The second half saw only one touchdown as Christian Battistelli scored on a one-yard run. The twopoint conversion pulled the Ravens to within a field goal of the GeeGees, who had taken a 35-24 lead — the biggest of the day for either side — on a 41-yard field goal from Lewis Ward and a second team safety.
Domagala then booted a 22-yard field goal to tie the game three minutes into the fourth quarter but Lewis gave the Ravens a 38-35 lead with a 15-yard field goal four minutes later.
“Ecstatic, to say the least,” was the reaction from Ravens coach Steve Sumarah after the overtime. “You talk about excitement. ... I mean, I didn’t think after last year that you could ever touch something like that. That may have topped it.”
Sumarah was hoping the game would have been decided in his team’s favour long before the end, but he’ll take it.
“Jahvari Bennett is someone I wouldn’t mind mentioning. He battled through a couple of injuries and at the end of the game he made some big runs to get us the field goal. These guys earned it, they pushed hard at the end.”