A few too many miscues and a poorly timed penalty tipped the scales Friday.
It ended with a hard-luck loss for the Terry Fox Ravens, but also a lesson that they hope to utilized over the remaining two regular season games and the upcoming playoffs.
The Ravens fell 28-21 to the St. Thomas More Knights in Burnaby, on the back of a 14-0 run for the home team over the final 12 minutes, wiping out an impressive rally by the visitors.
It was a pretty heavy match-up, with No. 2-ranked Fox facing No. 4-seeded Knights.
A personal foul penalty in the fourth quarter that kept STM’s game-tying drive alive, and a blocked punt on Fox’s next possession, added up to a lot of momentum for the Knights.
The first infraction put the ball at the Ravens’ 10-yard line and led to a two-yard run with 8:14 to play, to make it 14-14.
It turned for the worse on the Ravens’ next possession, when a punt from their own 35-yard line was blocked, due to a faulty snap, and gave STM the ball at the 15-yard line.
A few plays later Knights’ quarterback Dario Ciccone hit Rickey Parsons on a seven-yard game-winning TD pass with 5:23 remaining to hand Fox just its second loss of the regular season.
“(STM)’s a good team but we had too many errors, costly errors,” remarked Ravens’ co-coach Martin McDonnell. “We came back (in the third quarter) but there was a bit of fatigue I think with some of our two-way players. It was a pretty good game, though.”
That it was.
The Ravens opened the scoring on the first drive and first play from scrimmage after Ethan Shuen returned the kick-off to midfield. Running back Cade Cote took Matt Lew-Hendrickson’s handoff and bolted for the end zone, followed by a Dawson Hodge point-after kick.
A lengthy, time-eating march by the Knights resulted in a three-yard touchdown by quarterback Dario Ciccone.
In the second quarter, STM took its first lead of the night when Ciccone hit Rickey Parsons with a 20-yard TD pass.
The Ravens put together a forceful rally, first tying the game when Cote converted a four-and-one attempt, scampering the 15-yards for a major, then reclaimed the lead after Key’Shaun Dorsey intercepted a Ciccone pass at Fox’s 40-yard line. Liam Cumarasamy drove downtown on a 40-yard gain to set up Cote’s two-yard TD run with 1:24 to play in the third quarter.
“We needed to build on that momentum and step on their throats, which is something we weren’t able to do,” added McDonnell.
Also on Friday, Centennial lost to Abbotsford, 55-12. They'll play Mt. Boucherie at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna on Friday.
The 3-2 Ravens host Abbotsford this Friday, 7 p.m. at Percy Perry Stadium.
