Wheeling, W. Va. – The Wheeling University Rugby team (7-2-1) closed out the Fall 2021 regular season with a pair of contests in front of the home crowd at Bishop Schmitt Field. The Cardinals would win both games, taking the first 40-0 and winning the second 31-7 to complete the two-game sweep over the Battlers.

It was a rainy day on the pitch, but the Wheeling offense was working throughout the afternoon. In the first game, the Cardinals got started strong scoring 28 first half points against the Battlers. They converted four different tries in the first half, and connected on all four conversion kicks. The Battlers had no answers for Wheeling's fast-paced offense, and the Wheeling defense was able to keep them at bay. In the second half, Wheeling would add two more tries and one more conversion kick to complete the 40-0 game one victory over the Battlers.

However, the Battlers wouldn't go down quietly as they started game two with the first try and conversion kick of the game to lead 7-0. However, the lead wouldn't hold for long as Wheeling had three different players combine to take the dropkick all the way for the try to make it 7-5. They converted the conversion kick to tie the game at 7-7 and added one more try before halftime. The failed conversion kick left the score sitting at 12-7 as the teams headed into the break. In the second half, it was all Wheeling as they added on 26 more points and did not allow another Battler point rest of the way in their 38-7 win.

It was the first time Wheeling has played 10s play this season, and the conversion looked flawless on the field. With out a dedicated 10s season, Head Rugby coach Mike Geibel was glad he could get some new players out there and wrap up the weekend with some quality Rugby.

"We don't have  dedicated 10s season like we do for 15s and 7s, so today was just about getting a run in and working on our basic skills," said Geibel. "It was good to get some guys that had been hurt over the past few weeks a bit of Rugby without it being a full 80-minute match. Our newest walk-on, Desi James, received quite the ovation when he got into his first Rugby action."

The Wheeling University Rugby team now awaits to see what their future holds after wrapping up the Fall 2021 Regular season.