Steubenville, OH. - The Wheeling Rugby team (1-0) got out of the gate hot in 2021, as they defeated Franciscan University on Saturday 81-5. It was a return to 15s play for the team, and all 23 men on the roster got in the game and contributed.

Wheeling scored a total of 13 tries on the day, with sophomore Mohammed Haddar (Marakkech, Morroco) leading the way with four. Nine other guys converted a try on the day as everyone got in on the action. Ayoub Jallil (Cassablanca, Morroco) went 8-11 on two-point conversion kicks, while Joe Iye (Gauteng, South Africa) went 0-2.

Overall, Head Coach Michael Geibel was happy with his team's performance. He knows there are some things to clean up, but he was happy that all 23 guys got a chance to compete.

"It was a great first run out for the team, " said Geibel. "We executed a lot of things very well. We also found some things we'll need to clean up and work on moving forward. I'm pleased with the performance today and very happy that we got all 23 on the roster a chance to shake off the cobwebs a bit. We'll look to build on this for next week at IUP."

The Tries

Mohammed Haddar (4)

Jose Oltra (1)

Josh Blankenship (1)

Antonio Tangre (1)

Chief Chipfumbu (1)

Joe Iye (1)

Mike Muleya (1)

Austin Mele (1)

Runyararo Mukangure (1)

Rati Ramiahvili (1)

Geibel also thanked Franciscan for hosting a strong event and giving the team a great place to kick off the 2021 season.

"I want to give a big thank you to Franciscan for hosting at their beautiful pitch. Playing on the top of the hill overlooking campus on a perfect day was a great way to start our season. Good luck to them the rest of the way!"

The Wheeling Rugby team continues their run on the road to start the season when they travel to IUP on September 11th at 1 PM.