Carleton Ravens' Nate Behar sums up Panda Game triumph: 'It was a beautiful moment ... don’t think I have ever felt so good in my entire life'

All of a sudden, Nate Behar was running into the end zone and the Carleton Ravens looked the part that some well-heeled donors have underwritten for them.

What Carleton, the first Ontario University Athletics football team to attempt to become self-sustaining, is trying ot do is re-invent the wheel with how a Vanier Cup contender is built in this province. Know this much after the Ravens beat rival Ottawa 33-31 in the Panda Game by virtue of a TSN Highlight of the Night catch by franchise receiver Nate Behar on a last-play Hail Mary in front of 12,500 at TD Place: it's already ahead of schedule. Carleton, in just three games, has already matched Laval's Year 2 win total (two). Its trip to Laurier next week also has playoff implications in the OUA.

Well before Behar's grab, Carleton had already shown that its raw talent was enviable. It seemed plain as day at the start of the fourth quarter when it was 21-21 even though Ottawa tailback Mack Tommy had 18 rushes for 152 yards. Carleton's largely rookie and sophomore filled lineup was hanging by making enough big plays to off-set giving up 8 1/2 yards a pop to the opponent's leading rusher. And, of course, it made the last play with triple zeroes on the clock. Jesse Mills, relegated to backup status behind Nick Gorgichuk (23-of-34, 318 yards, two TDs), came in for his only play and tossed up a ball that Behar secured after it was deflected by Ottawa cornerback Randy Williams.

“There is not much that was going through my mind to be honest," said Behar, whose catch gave him 13 catches for 276 yards, the 11th-most prolific pass catching day in Canadian Interuniversity Sport history. "The ball just kind of landed in my hand, I covered it with the other hand and the rest is history.

"When the guys rushed towards me after the touchdown it was amazing because we are so tightly knit and so close as a group. When I looked up there were fans and players all around me and it was a beautiful moment. I don’t think I have ever felt so good in my entire life."

'It lived up to every bit of hype of the Panda being reborn'

Just two years ago, Carleton football still existed only in the abstract, as a business plan put forth by the Old Crows, the alumni group whose need to feel forever young on fall Saturdays had been dormant since 1998. The Ravens' relaunch has struck a chord, with black t-shirts, hoodies and caps nearly ubiquitous around the campus. The 2013 debut was the soft open. Now that TD Place is available as a site for the game, it feels like the time is now.

"It was something I've never experienced," Ravens centre Matt Lapointe said. "It was way bigger than I thought it was going to be and it lived up to every bit of hype of the Panda being reborn at Lansdowne. It was a spectacular moment when the fans all came on the field.

"I think the attendance will be a lot bigger next year."

The amount of scheming and sweat equity that goes into one football game always enhances the temptation to enlarge what already seemed big enough, to lend it perspective. Who knows, though?  When Carleton dropped football in March 1999, local columnists wrote the decision would set the university back 20 years. Instead, it has shed the old Last Chance U label, while its sports reputation has been enchanced due to Dave Smart's basketball juggernaut.

So, in the here and now, Carleton is 2-1 going to Laurier (also 2-1) next week. A .500 finish seems attainable.

"We're just going try to build off this momentum," Ravens coach Steve Sumarah said. "Obviously, it's a ton of momentum, we're just going to have to pull them off the ceiling after this."

"We talked about Nate being a special player when we recruited him and we talked about today being his coming-out party," Sumarah added. "You saw it today, for sure."

Behar's first two scores were arguably just as impressive. The wideout who was signed right out of Western coach Greg Marshall's backyard in London, Ont., fought off a defender for a 42-yard TD grab for a 14-11 Ravens lead in the second quarter. In the third, he caught a slant and broke three tackles on a 18-yar,d score to put Carleton up 21-18. That was the fourth lead change. There were still two more to come.

How far Carleton has come in the last 12 months would have been the story regardless of who won the day. The atmosphere was probably also Exhibit A for why TD Place will make a good site for a Vanier Cup sooner rather than later (since CIS can't go to Laval well too often, any other credible bid for the 2015 game has a chance to be selected).

"It's a great time for football in Ottawa," Gee-Gees fifth-year nosetackle Ettore Lattanzio said. "A game like toda shows you the growth and development of football in this city. Having Carleton get this much support, hopefully it forces the Ottawa U team to get this type of support. We had awesome fan support today. We don't see that all the time. I can't see it not getting better in the coming years."

Ottawa moved the ball most of the day despite coming in without slotback Vincent Campbell and despite losing Tommy to an upper-body injury in the fourth quarter. It just didn't convert enough in the red zone. Consecutive short-field starts at the Carleton 24 and 42 in the first half only yielded the first two of Lewis Ward's five field goals.

"You can't keep a game this tight against an opponent that has so many athletes. You have to put the nail in the coffin. We let them get away too long."

Ottawa quarterback Derek Wendel, coming off a three-interception day in a Sept. 13 loss to Guelph, played turnover-free. However, with 1:50 left and Ottawa ahead 28-27 with a second-and-8 in the red zone, the first-year starter was penalized for a time-count violation. The loss of down forced Ottawa to kick a field goal before it could chew up at least another 20-25 seconds. That clock mismanagement would loom large.

"That's on me," said Wendel, who was 16-of-28 for 180 yards and rushed nine times for 80 yards and a touchdown. "I got to keep an eye out there. I have to be better next week and keep my focus all the way throughout the game."

Preparation then met opportunity, even if it didn't seem like much of one when Carleton's offence started from its own five-yard line with 25 seconds left. First-time starting QB Nick Gorgichuk, after nearly throwing a pick-six to Ottawa's Randy Williams on first down, completed two passes to reach midfield. The second was a 37-yard crosser to Behar, who made a veteran move by stepping out of bounds with seven seconds left, leaving time for two more plays.

Two plays later, Mills and Behar had authored a memoriable moment. And, left unsaid but needing to be acknowledged, some of the best marketing all of Carleton's stake-holders could have imagined.

"It couldn't have been any better," said Gorgichuk. "Our fanbase has to be the best in CIS and their crowd, Ottawa U's crowd was great too. It came down to the last play so you couldn't ask for anything more."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.