The York University Lions football team welcomes the No. 10 nationally ranked Carleton University Ravens to campus this weekend for their annual Homecoming game at Alumni Field.
Kickoff is set for 1pm on Saturday, Sept. 24, and the game can also be seen live online on OUA.tv.
Saturday’s visit by the Ravens marks the first time since Carleton restarted its football program that the team will be at York. The Lions have travelled to Ottawa twice to face the Ravens since they rejoined the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) in 2013, winning the first contest and losing the second, and there was one year in which the two teams did not meet in the regular season.
The Lions have been a different team at home than on the road, and will be looking to keep their momentum at Alumni Field going on Saturday against a tough Ravens squad that was as high as No. 4 in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) rankings, but fell to No. 10 this week. Both teams enter the contest with 2-2 records.
The Lions have been an offensive juggernaut at home, averaging 56.5 points per game through their first two contests at Alumni Field and 33.5 points overall on the season. They will need to move the ball effectively against the Ravens, who are putting up 32.3 points per game while allowing 23.8, compared to the 41 the Lions are allowing.
York’s two wins on the season include a 57-13 beatdown of still winless Waterloo in their season opener, and a 56-32 victory over a Windsor Lancers team that came into the contest on the heels of a big upset triumph over the defending OUA champion Guelph Gryphons. Their two losses, meanwhile, both came on the road against No. 10 Laurier and, most recently, the Toronto Varsity Blues last weekend.
Carleton has had an up-and-down start to its season against some tough opponents. They began with a loss to McMaster, but then immediately followed that up with an upset victory over the dominant Western Mustangs. They’ve since posted a lopsided 65-7 win over the Varsity Blues and then lost by a single point, 17-16, to the Golden Hawks last week.
Saturday’s contest will be a battle between two of the top quarterbacks in the OUA, York’s Brett Hunchak (Calgary) and Carleton’s Jesse Mills. They rank second and third, respectively, in passing yards per game this season and are two of only three quarterbacks in the conference to be averaging more than 300 yards per game.
The two squads also feature four of the OUA’s top five receivers. Hunchak’s favourite targets are his brother Colton Hunchak (Calgary) and Adam Adeboboye (Toronto), while Mills has Kyle VanWynsberghe and Nate Behar. All four of them are averaging more than 90 yards per game, and Behar and Hunchak are first and second, respectively, in receiving touchdowns with five and four.
In addition to the action on the field, there is plenty in store for fans in attendance at the stadium, including the $10,000 Punt, Pass, Kick contest at halftime, giveaways for the first 150 fans and inflatables.
Tickets can be purchased online at yorkulions.ca/ticketing in advance, or at the gate on game day.