WATERLOO, Ont. - Another beautiful day provided the backdrop for another impressive performance at home by the #9 Golden Hawks, as they handled the Carleton Ravens with ease to secure the 41-13 playoff win and punch their ticket to the OUA semifinals.
It was a good day all-around for the purple and gold. Both the offence and defence played as well as they have all season.
"The energy on the sideline was great," said Brandon Omonuwa.
"There's a term, complementary football, that's where you're getting stops, you're getting turnovers, and then the offense responds right away with a score. Or if we get a score, we kick it off to them, we pin them deep, and we get the ball back," said Manager of Football Operations and Head Coach Michael Faulds.
"Complementary football is what we've said we need to do a better job of, and we did that today."
This was evident from the start of the game, as the Golden Hawks were able to force two-and-outs on each of the Ravens' first three drives. The offence responded with a touchdown from each of their running backs.
Up 14-0 heading into the second quarter, Laurier was only getting started. On their first drive of the period,
Quentin Scott carried the ball for eight or more yards on three straight plays, getting the Golden Hawks into position for a shot at the endzone.
On the next snap, Scott picked up the Carleton blitz and made a nice block allowing Taylor Elgersma to load up for a deep pass to Ethan Jordan, who beat his man and found himself wide open in the endzone.
Later in the quarter, the Ravens' defence came up with their first big play of the game as Shaiheem Charles-Brown got to Elgersma and stripped the ball loose before recovering it himself.
With Carleton starting in good field position, Laurier's own defence was up to the task, as Luke Brubacher laid a huge hit on Harvey Mufata, whose fumble was recovered by James Fleurissaint to give the ball back to the purple and gold.
Quentin Scott then reminded everyone why he's one of the best running backs in the country, carrying the ball a total of 50 yards on the ensuing drive to get the Golden Hawks down near the goal line.
What followed might just be the play of the year from Raidan Thorne.
The score was 28-0 for Laurier through two quarters. Thorne had a game-high 77 receiving yards on four receptions at halftime, while Jordan was just behind him with 75 on six catches. Both players would finish the game tied with 93 yards on six and eight receptions, respectively.
Scott, meanwhile, recorded all 105 of his rushing yards before halftime. Tanner Nelmes took the backfield reigns in the second half and would finish the game with 75 yards. Faulds commented on how the performance of his teammates makes the game much easier for Elgersma – who had an excellent outing himself.
"There's a lot of pressure on the position at quarterback. I told Taylor, every single play, the ball is going to start in your hands, but it needs to end in someone else's hands, and whoever it ends up with – Ethan Jordan, Raidan Thorne, Tanner Nelmes, Quentin Scott – they're the ones that are going to make the plays."
"Taylor did a great job of spreading the ball around. We have some great skilled players, and our offensive line played really well today as well."
The second half featured less offensive explosiveness, but still some big plays on both sides of the ball.
Omonuwa had the Golden Hawks' only sack to force a punt early in the quarter, leading to a Dawson Hodge field goal on the ensuing drive.
Down 31-0 heading into the fourth, the Ravens were finally able to break the shutout on the first play of the quarter with a five-yard touchdown pass to Tristan Ready. After taking a penalty on their first attempt at a two-point conversion, they were unable to get into the endzone from ten yards out.
Laurier and Carleton would trade another pair of touchdowns courtesy of Nelmes and Kaseem Ferdinand, respectively, before the final buzzer sounded.
"We've talked all year about trying to gain momentum through the season," said Faulds. "We had a hiccup last week, played a poor fourth quarter against a good Queen's team, but here we are seven days later, we've regrouped, and we're ready to keep improving."
TOP PERFORMERS
Laurier Golden Hawks
Making his first OUA playoff appearance, Taylor Elgersma threw for 303 yards, completing 21 of his 28 attempts with two touchdowns and zero interceptions.
"It doesn't surprise me," said Faulds. "He's our toughest player... and he's a natural leader. The guys gravitate towards him, and he doesn't play like a quarterback that doesn't want to get hit or doesn't want to work hard. He's one of the boys and that's why they rally so well behind him."
Carleton Ravens
Linebacker Xavier Malone co-led the Ravens with an impressive 11 solo tackles, and was second in total tackles with 12.
UP NEXT
The Golden Hawks will have a tough task next week, as they'll travel to London to face the #1 Western Mustangs in the OUA semi-final.
"We're excited," said Faulds. "Obviously Western is the best team in the country, they ranked #1 all season so we know they're a great opponent. But I told the guys, we haven't seen them since week one... nine weeks later we get another opportunity, and we're a better football team [than we were]."
"It's fun [facing Western]," agreed Omonuwa, who'll be busy along with the rest of the defensive line keeping Western's U SPORTS-best running attack in check. "It's just head-on-head, old school football and we're here for it."
As for the challenge of facing the Mustangs in their stadium, "I actually prefer the road," said Faulds. "There's less distractions. There's no worrying about tickets, there's no worrying about who we're announcing out of the tunnel."
"It's just put your chinstraps on and let's go play football."
