Wheeling, W. Va. – On a blustery Saturday afternoon at Bishop Schmitt Field, the Wheeling University Rugby team (12-2-1) played their final 15's game of the year when they battled the Three Rivers Conference All-Stars. The Cardinals had the offense going from the word go and set their new season-high with 97 points in a 97-10 victory. Leading the way for the Cardinals was sophomore
Ayoub Jalli, who scored one try and added 10 conversion kicks in the win.
Jalli would score 25 of his team's 97 points on the day and continues his strong performance from the opening seven's tournament a month ago. He now has 11 tries in the first two games of the spring and has converted on 11 conversion kicks for a total of 77 points through the team's first two events of the spring season. Behind Jalli,
Noam Taurin scored three tries in the game, scoring twice in the second half, while the Cardinals also saw successful tries from
Jose Oltra,
Alec Thomas, Stan Giani,
Navin Couch,
EJ Vidal, and Simo Haddar rounding out their scoring. For some of their 15's players, it was their final chance to take the field this season and they did not disappoint in front of the home crowd.
It didn't take too long for the Wheeling offense to get going as Oltra put the team on his back right from the start. It took him just 1:14 to find the goal line and a conversion kick made it a 7-0 advantage for Wheeling early on. On the Cardinals' next possession, Alex Thomas helped lead the team down the field and put Wheeling ahead 14-0 just two minutes into the game. The Three Rivers Conference All-Stars scored their first try of the game a few minutes later after a Wheeling penalty and made it a 14-7 game with three tries combined over the first six minutes of play. Wheeling got back out in front with another try at the 10:38 mark and Wheeling began to put their foot on the gas.
They would score three unanswered tries for the rest of the half, scored by
Noam Taurin and
Navin Couch, that would give Wheeling a staggering 45-7 lead heading into halftime. Taurim's first try came at the 13-minute mark, and a missed conversion kick made it a 31-7 game. Nine minutes later, Couch got them back on the board, taking a pass from Chief Chipfumbu and finding the goalie to make it a 36-7 game. Jalli made the conversion kick to bring the score to 38-7 and then, Taurim went back on the next possession and scored his second try of the day, and converted on the conversion kick to make it 45-7. Neither team would get on the board over the final 15 minutes of the half and the teams went into halftime with Wheeling leading by that same score.
The Three Rivers Conference All-Stars got the scoring started in the second half with a conversion kick that made it 45-10. Jalli rounded out his day scoring the first try of the second half for Wheeling at the 45-minute mark and Wheeling led 52-10. The Cardinals would finish out the day with a few more tries from two different players as they continued to build their lead.
Rati Ramishvili got in on the scoring action with back-to-back tries for his first two scores of the night. Two more tries would round out the effort and the Cardinals went on to win 97-10. In total, Wheeling scored 14 tries on the day and showcased their offensive ability in their final 15's game of the season.
The Wheeling University Rugby team is back in action on Saturday, March 26th, when they head to the Irish 7's in South Bend, Indiana hosted by Notre Dame University.
