CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Wheeling Jesuit Rugby battled through a physical and heated encounter against Notre Dame College (Ohio) on Saturday to take home a 33-10 victory and move to 3-0 on their spring break tour.
 
The Cardinals were led by freshman #8 Peter Malcolm (Parkland, Fla.) who powered his way to a hat trick of tries, and secured the win for WJU with his outstanding play on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Malcolm, a USA Rugby Junior All-American nominee, was dynamic with ball in hand, individually battling his way past would-be tacklers and defending with aggression and poise.
 
“Pete was just fantastic tonight.” Said WJU Assistant Head Coach Eric Taber “There was a lot of aggression on the field, and Pete led our boys in turning that aggression into positive play by not worrying about the negative stuff and taking care of business. The rest of our guys fed off it, and I think we played an overall positive and disciplined match because of that leadership.”
 
It was Malcolm who opened the scoring for Jesuit, powering over the line from five meters out just 4 minutes into the match to put the Cardinals up 5-0.
 
Notre Dame College (NDC) answered back when a high kick took an errant bounce and was scooped up by an NDC attacker who sprinted 40 meters for the try to put the Falcons up 7-5.
 
The NDC lead wouldn't last long however, when Jesuit's Luke Titus (Sydney, Aus.) split the defense and retook the lead for WJU 12-7.
 
Freshman Fullback Michael Fitzpatrick (Melbourne, Aus.) helped extend the lead for the Cardinals in the second half when he turned the defense inside out with some nice footwork and scored a try to put Jesuit up 26-10. Malcolm scored the last try of the match with only 3 minutes remaining when he dove on a loose ball in the NDC end zone to seal the 33-10 win for the Cardinals.
 
Wheeling Jesuit returns to action next Saturday when the Cards visit last year's DII National runners-up, Salisbury University on March 16 in Salisbury, M.D.
 
Wheeling Jesuit 33
 
Tries: Malcolm (3), Titus, Fitzpatrick
Cons: Titus (4)
 
Note Dame College (Ohio) 10
 
WJU Roster
15 Michael Fitzpatrick
14 Lamont Ham-Gadson
13 Jamie Barlow
12 Allan Hanson
11 Adam Parsons
10 Luke Titus
9 Dennis Diza
1 Nic Chaufournier
2 Julian Santana
3 Corben McInnis
4 Zach Reichenbach
5 Ross Bernier
6 Shawn Wagner
7 Dante Walters
8 Peter Malcolm

Reserves
Christian Ghering
Clayton Smith
Garrett Kiedrowski
Ian Brooks
Jordan Saseen
Sam Leone