Redblacks pummeled 45-15 by Argonauts, got dominated from start to finish

Adamo Marinelli

Sept. 25, 2022

The Ottawa Redblacks were dominated on all three sides of the ball at home against the Toronto Argonauts in an embarrassing 45-15 loss, their 21st loss in 22 home games.

In a season of horrendous losses, this was arguably the worst of the bunch with the Redblacks looking flat and uninspired all game long. 

With the win, the Argonauts clinch a playoff spot, meanwhile, the Redblacks are that much closer to securing the first overall pick in the 2023 CFL draft.

Both Redblacks’ QBs struggled to find their rhythm and were under constant duress by the Argos’ defensive line which recorded three sacks, 10 QB hits, and were in the QB’s face all day. The Redblacks’ QB duo struggled all game long, completing 33/54 of their passes, 368 yards, no TDs, and five INTs – a good chunk of those yards came in garbage time.

Nick Arbuckle played the first half and was very underwhelming, missing passes and struggling to move the ball. It’s hard to complete passes when you are constantly under duress and you have no time to scan the field and make your read, but that’s what you’re paid to do as a QB. In the second half, Caleb Evans was also constantly running for his life. He didn’t have a lot of time to look downfield to make his reads and find the open receiver.

The Redblacks were dominated in the trenches, their offensive line was one-upped by the Argos’ defensive line all night long. Their defensive line shed blocks quickly and prevented gaps from opening up in addition to always sending pressure at the Redblacks’ QB.

As a result, the Redblacks struggled to get their run game going because there was always an Argonaut in the Redblacks’ backfield before the running back could see a lane through the line. 

Devonte Williams had 47 of the team’s 74 rush yards, and A.J. Ouellette and Chad Kelly combined for 107 of the team’s 116 rush yards and a rush TD.

Conversely, the Argos’ offensive line opened up holes for their runningbacks and gave MacLeod Bethel-Thompson a ton of time to throw go through his progressions before throwing the ball to an open receiver. Bethel Thompson was smart with the football and efficient all night long, completing 21/29 passes for 245 yards, three TDs, and one INT. 

Couple that with several holes and missed coverages in the Redblacks’ secondary all night long; many of those missed assignments leading to big offensive plays downfield for the Argos and what happens is Bethel Thompson completes many deep passes downfield to the open receiver he had time to find. 

The Redblacks’ defensive line recorded two sacks, and five QB hits, and did not generate as much pressure on Bethel-Thompson as the Argos’ defense put on Arbuckle and Evans.

The loss wasn’t entirely Arbuckle’s or Evans’ fault. Receivers dropped passes, the run game wasn’t as effective as they wanted it to be, the secondary made a lot of mistakes, the team was disciplined and took a lot of penalties, and neither QB had a lot of time in the pocket before facing pressure.

In addition, coaching was a huge problem tonight, just as it has been all season. Paul LaPolice was very conservative with his playcalling all game long, especially on the last play before halftime on their own 49-yard line, where Arbuckle took a knee instead of trying a hail mary or anything to get momentum back. They were only down 12 points at that point, the game was not yet out of reach. Giving up mid-game - which is essentially what that play call told Redblacks’ fans LaPolice was doing - is not going to win you any football games.

Also, on two occasions in third and manageable situations inside the Argos’ 30, LaPolice elected to go for field goals instead of touchdowns when the game is still in reach and when he has been preaching all year to end drives with seven points, not three. 

However, despite all this, Arbuckle and Evans combined for a whopping five interceptions. Two of Evans’ three interceptions were returned for pick-sixes in the fourth quarter to seal the game for the Argos. 

Both of Arbuckle’s interceptions were horrible throws right into the defender’s hands. His first interception was immediately after Abdul Kanneh’s picked off Bethel-Thompson in the endzone. Instead of driving downfield to score points, the Redblacks gave the ball back to the Argos inside their 30 and the Argos punched it in with A.J. Ouellette for an 8-3 lead after the successful two-point convert. His second interception was after the Argos made it 11-6 with a field goal, the Redblacks had a chance to take the lead but turned it over near midfield. 

Interceptions are bad, but when they lead to points for the other team or points off the board for your team, they’re even worse. 

Another bad mistake was when Devonte Dedmon fumbled the ball while trying to return Boris Bede’s missed 50-yard field goal and the Argos took over inside the Redblacks’ five-yard line. This resulted in a TD to give the Argos a 25-9 lead. Evans’ first interception led to a 25-yard TD pass from Bethel-Thompson to Markeith Ambles to make it 31-9 for the Argos.

After that, Evans threw a 35-yard pick-six to Maurice Carnell to make it 38-9 and an 88-yard pick-six on their very next drive to make the score 45-9. Offensive “genius” Paul LaPolice could only manage one touchdown today, in garbage time too, which is embarrassing and needs to be fixed before this offseason and the start of next year. 

On top of that, the Redblacks had seven turnovers and only turned forced two turnovers against the Argos. When you have a turnover differential of minus five, chances are you’re not winning the game. That was the case with the Redblacks tonight.

“We were coming off a bye week, it’s my fault. I have to make sure we’re ready to play,” LaPolice said. “Every time we started to do something, there would be a critical error. We didn’t perform close to our standards, and I’m disappointed.”

With the Redblacks, whenever they fix an issue that plagued them in a previous week, a new issue arises the next week and costs them. This season, playoffs are looking extremely unlikely, so the best course of action is to move on from LaPolice, hire a new coach, and address some biggest needs (CB, OLB, S, OL, WR) in the draft and compete next year when Jeremiah Masoli is healthy

The Argos game was another extremely frustrating game in a year filled with nothing but frustration, disappointment, and hardships for the Redblacks and their fans. Hopefully, the Redblacks (3-10) can forget about it before they play the BC Lions next week on the road, and the Argos (8-5) will play the Stampeders.

Despite slow start, Carleton Ravens dominate Nipissing Lakers in strong offensive showing

Adamo Marinelli

Sept. 18

The Carleton Ravens remained undefeated after a dominant 4-1 win against a talented Nipissing Lakers squad thanks to excellent defending, fantastic passing and playmaking, and clinical finishing in the second half.

The Lakers' game planned well for the Ravens and set up a mid-low defensive block, making it hard for the Ravens to generate quality scoring chances in the attacking third. 

“Nipissing did a great job defensively which caused us a lot of problems offensively. It took us a little longer to break them down,” head coach Kwesi Loney said. 

However, the Ravens’ excellent ball movement, great passing, lethal transition attack, speed, and ability to get players into open spaces led to scoring chances which started breaking down the Lakers’ defense.

In the 16th minute, off the counterattack, the Ravens took a 1-0 lead after Danny Asaf dribbled past two defenders before tucking it home for his third goal of the season. 

Loney said that as soon as his team scores their first goal, their game plan is not to sit back defensively but instead to keep attacking to immediately get another goal.

“At 1-0, we took our foot off the gas offensively until late in the first half and allowed them to play in our end a bit more. Our defense held up, but we have to change our mentality to align with our game plan.”

Even after conceding, the Lakers continued pressing on defense and weren’t afraid to move the ball upfield to generate chances.

Late in the first half, the Ravens retook control of the midfield and their physical defense continued to play well. They created a handful of turnovers which led to transition opportunities. The Ravens’ defense didn’t give their opponents a lot of time or space to pass or advance the ball downfield with their sound on-ball press.

The Ravens did a good job limiting the number of quality chances generated by the Lakers. The Ravens forced their opponents to the outside and limited their presence in front of the net. Also, goalkeeper Tyler David made numerous clutch saves.

Loney said there was a lot to be proud of, but also things to continue improving.

“Our possession was really good today. We controlled the tempo of the game. We moved the ball well too,” Loney said. “I didn't think it was as purposeful as it could have been though, particularly in the final third where we need to be more decisive and finish all our chances, which we didn’t do in the first half.”

Midfielder Quinn Honeyman-Wootton agreed, adding being clinical in front of the goal is crucial.

“I think we’re doing really well getting on the ball, keeping the ball, and controlling possession, but we still have another gear we need to hit,” Honeyman-Wootton said. “We had so many chances that we didn’t capitalize on last week vs UofT and this week too, so improving our finishing is key.” 

Despite being down 1-0, the Lakers were dangerous. Lakers’ forward Ayden Harris gave the Ravens’ defense something to think about with his off-ball aggressiveness that led to turnovers and scoring chances.

Harris forced Ravens’ defender Mandela Singh Sharpe to cough up the ball but Harris couldn’t capitalize on his takeaway; his shot from inside the six-yard box was saved. A few minutes later, Harris received a nice pass from a teammate and found himself on a breakaway, but David came up with another huge save to keep the game 1-0.

“David is my man of the match today. We had a lot of the possession against UofT and today but in both games, he’s made some huge saves to keep us in it,” Honeyman-Wootton said.

The Ravens knew how dangerous the Lakers were offensively and needed to keep pressing early in the second half for another goal. Scott Mazzotta had a chance to make it 2-0 but fanned on his shot. He would get another chance a few minutes later but was robbed by a beautiful diving save from Lakers’ goalkeeper Ryan Miners.

The consistent attack from Ravens continued throughout the second half and it led to more goals. They created turnovers in the midfield and used stellar passing to set up offensively. They spent a lot of the second half in the Lakers’ half.

After a few nervy moments for the Ravens on defense that saw the Lakers get a few shots on goal - including a free kick from just outside the box - that required David to make several great saves to ensure his team kept their advantage, midfielder Quinn Honeyman-Wootton beautifully struck the ball from just outside the box and into the top corner of the net to give the Ravens a 2-0 lead in the 64th minute. 

“I've always played the role of a number six - someone who does the simple things and doesn’t necessarily get all the glory, but still tries to play smart rather than be flashy or chase stats,” Honeyman-Wootton said. “I think it’s definitely important to be a leader on the field because I’m in the middle of the park.

“Quinn is the glue that holds the team together. He is sound defensively, his ball movement is excellent and he is a senior guy that brings a lot of leadership and confidence to the squad,” Loney said. “Not everything he does shows up on the stat sheet, but it speaks volumes in terms of all the work he does for the team on and off the pitch.”

Three minutes later, striker Bouzidi Mohamed gave the Ravens a 3-0 lead with a nice strike after stellar passing from his teammates set up the chance. 

Mohamed scored his second goal off of a corner kick perfectly delivered by Mazzotta in stoppage time to give the Ravens a 4-1 lead after Lakers’ forward Jack Collins scored on the counterattack to cut the Ravens’ lead to 3-1 in the 81st minute. 

The Ravens have won three of their first four matches this season and look dangerous in all phases of the game.

Carleton Ravens top Nipissing Lakers 1-0 in defensive masterclass

Adamo Marinelli

Sept. 18

The Carleton Ravens kept their undefeated season alive with a 1-0 win over the Nipissing Lakers, who have three of the OUA’s top scorers, in a tight defensive game. 

The Lakers started the game strong and full of confidence. They controlled the possession battle, moved the ball effectively, and generated plenty of chances. They timed passes to perfection, playing their teammates onside as they split through Carleton’s backline. 

The Lakers got a few quality chances early on, but Lachance-Soula stood tall and confidently made the necessary saves to keep the game scoreless.  

“I think our team played really well today. We knew this was a tough opponent, especially offensively and we came prepared. We played our game and everyone did their job,” Lachance-Soula said.

The Lakers spent much of the early parts of the game in the Ravens’ end, dominating possession time early and generating plenty of scoring chances. Defensively, they played with a tight press starting past midfield and didn’t give the Ravens a ton of time to move the ball. 

Head coach Dom Oliveri knew the Lakers’ high defensive press was coming and was ready for it.

“We watched them play a bunch last week and we worked on how to break that down in training. We discussed certain gaps we’d try to exploit and creative ways to beat the press. The players did a really good job,” Oliveri said.

In the 17th minute, that all changed on the counterattack when Salena Devellis placed a perfect pass through the Lakers’ back four which found the foot of Chloe Doiron, who after calmly controlling the ball, slotted it into the bottom-left corner of the net to give the Ravens a 1-0 lead.

After the goal, the Ravens took back some momentum from the Lakers and played with more confidence. They moved the ball precisely, created more quality scoring chances with their ball movement and counter-attack, and began to even out the possession battle. 

The Lakers remained in a high press defensively which led to chances in transition for the Ravens but also led to takeaways in the midfield and scoring chances of their own. Before halftime, they had two chances to equalize, one was called back for offside, and then a perfectly placed corner kick was headed inches over the net.

The Ravens’ defense played very well with the one-goal lead. They were physical, limited the amount of quality key scoring chances the Lakers generated down the middle, and forced most of their chances outside. When the Lakers crossed it in, Lachance-Soula made the save or a defenseman cleared it out of harm’s way.

Oliveri believes his team played a really good first half, especially on defense. 

“We had a really good tactical plan coming in and I think it worked really well, especially in the first half,” Oliveri said. 

He added that in the second half, their defense and midfield shifted back tactically, allowing a bit more pressure, but his team still handled the pressure well and did what they needed to win.

“They're one of the best teams in the nation right now, when you beat a team like that, it’s a good day,” Oliveri said.

The Ravens controlled possession in the midfield and created takeaways to turn defense into offense with their lethal transition attack.

Oliveri says having tactical flexibility and being able to shift easily from defense to offense whenever they need to is the program’s goal and what they’ve been trying to do for five years.

“It really speaks volumes about the great mix of players we have at Carleton… who can be productive offensively and can also lock it down defensively,” Oliveri said. “So we have a lot of players with unique skillsets for any given game situation based on what we need. We’re really excited about what that will look like moving forward.”  

Midway through the second half, Chloe Doiron nearly got her second goal of the night to double the Ravens’ lead with some fantastic dribbing to create a shot, but it was saved. 

The Lakers pushed their backline up beyond midfield and shifted to a high 4-4-2 formation in the second half in an attempt to generate chances in transition to equalize the game. 

In response, Oliveri made a tactical change and instructed his players to sit back a bit to be able to better absorb the pressure from the Lakers’ attacks. It worked, the Ravens didn’t concede.

The Lakers generated many quality scoring chances in the second half, especially in the last 15 minutes, but the Ravens’ defense locked them down and Lachance-Soula made many quality saves to sustain her team’s 1-0 lead.

In the 69th minute, Lachance-Soula made a huge save by deflecting a Lakers’ shot from inside the six-yard box into the crossbar, which was then cleared out. Arguably her best save of the match came in the 72nd minute after she dove across the net to stop a shot before getting up and clearing the ball off the line.

Lachance-Soula says she has been playing well but believes the whole team is the reason why they’ve only conceded once this season. 

“Having a solid back four and excellent midfielders is amazing and helps me immensely. They keep shots out of the box, they put their bodies in front of the ball, and get the ball out of danger,” Lachance-Soula said. “They know nothing can go through them, if it does I’m there.”

“She had a great game and she’s been doing that all year. She made a couple really big saves to sustain our 1-0 lead, but we see that every day in training from her,” Oliveri said.

The Ravens defended well for the rest of the game and Lachance-Soula made a few more quality saves to earn her second clean sheet of the year and seal the second victory in three games for the Ravens.

After a very up-and-down season, can the Blue Jays clinch a postseason berth?

Adamo Marinelli

                                                                                                                                    September 17, 2022

Streaky, but deadly when hot, is an accurate way to describe this talented Blue Jays team, with depth and youth exploding at every position. They are 83-63, with 16 games left, and remain in the first AL wild-card spot, 1.5 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners. Playoffs are looking like a strong possibility north of the border.

Despite having numerous stretches throughout the year where they lose five games in a row, and then rally to win six consecutive games, the Blue Jays have had a winning record in all but one month of this season. They went 14-8 in April, 14-12 in May, 15-13 in June, 14-12 in July, 13-14 in August, and are 12-4 midway through September, their best month by far this year.

The Blue Jays have fixed their bullpen issues from last season with guys like Jordan Romano, Yimi Garcia, Tim Mayza, Anthony Bass, Zach Pop, and Adam Cimber among others all closing out games more efficiently, recording more saves, and giving up fewer runs in later innings. 

Last season, the Blue Jays bullpen was nowhere near the top 10 in the MLB. It cost them numerous games and was the reason they fell just short of the postseason. A bullpen giving up an ERA of 4.08 and having only 60 holds, the fewest in the MLB will hurt any team. This season, the Blue Jays have consistently had a top-10 bullpen, giving up an ERA of 3.43 in general in the seventh to the ninth inning, an ERA of 3.69 in the seventh to the ninth inning when winning and an ERA of 3.00 in the seventh to the ninth inning when up by one run as of August 23, 2022. As of September 17, they have an ERA of 3.73, the 12th best in the league, still much better than last year. They also rank tied for seventh in the league in saves with 42, much better than last year and they still have 16 games remaining.

But midway through the year, they struggled to get consistency from some guys in their starting pitching rotation, especially Yusei Kikuchi, who could never seem to find his rhythm. While that issue was eventually fixed with Kikuchi’s move to the bullpen, Blue Jays fans were still a bit worried that starting pitching would end up costing them. Bullet dodged, at least for now.

The Blue Jays were projected to have the sixth-best starting rotation before the season, but they currently have the 10th best. Despite falling a tad short of the preseason expectations, they’ve gotten great production from their main trio of Alec Manoah, Kevin Gausman, and Jose Berrios, and have received reliable pitching from guys like Ross Stripling and Mitch White among others, which has helped them get more strikeouts, more late game leads and more wins. 

Their offense is also operating at a high level and has been getting consistent production from everyone, including the young stars. In 2021, the Blue Jays finished second in the league with a 0.266 batting average and hit a franchise record of 262 home runs, 43 of which came from Marcus Semien, which broke the record for most home runs by a second baseman in a single season.

This season, they remain second in the league in batting average registering a mark of 0.261, one one-hundredth of a point behind the league-leading 0.262 Chicago Whitesox. Their hit totals and runs batted in have stayed the same or slightly increased since last season. However, their home run total has fallen significantly from last season, but the Jays still find themselves ninth in the MLB with 175 home runs. 

Losing Marcus Semien and his 43 home runs hurt and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who had 48 home runs in 2021 has only 28 this season, which explains the decline in home runs. Despite the Blue Jays scoring fewer home runs, they have given up fewer home runs and runs this season. They gave up 209 home runs in 2021 and only 169 thus far in 2022. In particular, they have given up fewer runs late in games, which cost them several games last season; this can be attributed to their bullpen success. The Blue Jays have 41 saves in 2022 with 17 games left and had only 34 in the entire 2021 season.

Also, Guerrero Jr., George Springer, and Matt Chapman have all experienced long home run 

droughts at some point this season, but during that time, their teammates stepped up and provided a big boost to their offense.

This is particularly true with Bo Bichette, who is having the best month of his career in September. He is hitting an astounding .484 this month and leads the league in home runs (7), RBI (22), and runs scored (16) since September 1. 

Springer, Chapman, and Guerrero Jr. have since all ended their long home run droughts. Guerrero did so in style with his 100th career home run in Wednesday’s huge win against the Tampa Bay Rays; it was his first home run in 63 at-bats since August 30th. Chapman hit two home runs in a 6-3 win against the Baltimore Orioles to end his 25-game drought. This is crucial because the Blue Jays will need to have everyone performing at their best every night on offense if they want to make and go far in the playoffs.

The Blue Jays are also 37-20 since firing Charlie Montoyo. Despite his streakiness, his poor 2-10 record in July, and arbitrary decisions to keep pitchers in the game when struggling and pull them when not necessary, he had a winning record with the team over four seasons and he led the Blue Jays to a winning record (46-42) in 2022 and had the Blue in a playoff spot at the time of his dismissal. So, a strange decision, but one that worked out for the best given his questionable managerial and personnel decisions at times.

Regardless, the Blue Jays are 83-63 and have the first AL wild-card spot, 1.5 games ahead of the Mariners. They have 16 games left and 14 of those are against AL East rivals, which means every game is important heading into the final stretch of the season. Barring a monumental collapse, the playoffs are a strong possibility; but if they win 11-12 or more of their remaining 16 games, they could even pass the 87-58 New York Yankees who currently have a 4.5-game lead in the AL East race. How the season ends, only time will tell, but this is a talented group that is streaky, but dangerous when hot.

Go Blue Jays!