After falling behind early, the York Lions football team made a spirited comeback effort in the second half, but it was not enough as they fell to the Carleton Ravens by a score of 35-20. The Lions were down 18-0 after the first quarter but pulled within three points with the score at 20-17 after three quarters. The Ravens had a bit more left in the tank though and pulled away in the fourth quarter to clinch the victory.
 
The Ravens got on the board early with a rouge point from kicker Mike Domagala on the game's opening kickoff, and Domagala followed that with a 48-yard field goal on the Ravens first drive to give them a 4-0 lead. After a Lions field goal attempt by kicker Dante Mastrogiuseppe missed a few drives later, Ravens returner Chris Manchulenko ran the ball back 93 yards to put Carleton deep in Lions territory. On the ensuing possession, quarterback Michael Arruda found Phil Iloki in the end zone for the game's first touchdown, and a few minutes later Arruda completed a 36-yard touchdown pass to Khalik Johnson to make the score 18-0 before the game was 13 minutes old.
 
Despite the deficit York refused to lie down, and a pair of safeties got them on the board in the second quarter. Mastrogiuseppe drilled a 35-yard field goal just before the first-half came to an end to cut the Carleton lead to 18-7. A Mastrogiuseppe 20-yard field goal gave the Lions some more life early in the second-half as they game seemed to be tilting in their favour.


 
After a rough start, the Lions defence played well through the second and third quarters, with the only points from the Ravens coming off a conceded safety late in the third quarter. Lions head coach Warren Craney felt as though the defence was one of the bright spots of the game and was especially impressed with how the front seven handled the Carleton ground game.
 
"I thought our defence played well," said Craney. "They're a massive football team and we thought they were going to run the ball pretty well against us. I was really proud of how our defensive line and linebackers played. Jacob Janke, Damian Jamieson and the guys on our defensive line like Rossini Sandjong-Djabome, Tevin McCarty, Jamian Rush and Kwadwo Boahen held their own and as a unit and I thought they played outstanding."
 
Late in the third quarter the Lions cut the lead to three after an impressive drive was capped off with 3-yard plunge by running back Kayden Johnson. Ace kick returner Alex Daley set up the drive with a 38-yard punt return to give the Lions good field position, and Lions quarterback Brett Hunchak found his brother Colton Hunchak with a 19-yard pass to set up Johnson's touchdown run.
 
With the score 20-17 heading into the fourth quarter the Lions had the momentum, but the Ravens responded quickly with a touchdown of their own when Arruda found receiver Quinton Soares in the end zone to extend the lead to ten. On the Lions next possession, a promising drive was halted when Hunchak was sacked twice in a row deep in Ravens territory. Mastrogiuseppe kicked a 35-yard field goal to make the score 27-20 but that was as close as the Lions would get as a Nathan Carter rushing touchdown with three minutes left in the game sealed Carleton's fifth victory of the season.
 
Hunchak had another impressive day behind centre for the Lions completing 29 of 41 passes for 362 yards, while Johnson rushed for 64 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown. Colton Hunchak had his fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season as he caught seven passes for 116 yards and fellow receiver Eric Kimmerly caught eight balls for 87 yards.
 
Defensively the Lions were led by Janke who picked up seven tackles, followed by Desi Dixon with six and Jamieson with five.  
 
With the loss the Lions fall to 2-5 on the season and will play their final game next week against their cross-town rivals the Toronto Varsity Blues. The game will be the 49^th edition of the Red & Blue Bowl and will take place on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 1pm at Varsity Stadium on the U of T campus.