The Ravens ended their three-game losing run with a convincing 35-24 win over the Yellow Jackets in the regular season on Saturday. By then, the visitors had already established control, and the final margin told the full story. To be fair, this was not the kind of performance either side would have predicted coming into the fixture.
The Yellow Jackets had shown flashes of promise recently, beating the Mustangs 17-3 before that heavy defeat to the Owls. Here, they found themselves chasing the game from an early stage and never really got going. The Ravens, meanwhile, were coming off a 27-18 loss to the Foxes and sensed blood.
And here's the thing about a scoreline like this — it does not take a crystal ball to see who had the better day. The visitors worked the channels with purpose, while the home side's defence looked out-thought on the touchline. The Yellow Jackets' captain dragged them through it, but there only so much one man can do.
The result shifts things in the standings, though the table does not tell the whole story. The Ravens move up, extending a run of form that suggests they fancy their chances. The Yellow Jackets, by contrast, will be weighing up what went wrong on a day when they needed to respond.
Three periods of 15 minutes and the visitors put the game to bed early. The Yellow Jackets had their moments, but when it mattered most, the Ravens found a way back into it and then pulled away. That is the difference between a side still finding its rhythm and one that has come together.
