Wheeling, W. Va. – Just over a year ago, playoff Rugby made its first-ever appearance at Bishop Schmitt Field when the Wheeling University Rugby team (3-2) hosted the first-ever Big Rivers Rugby Conference (BRRC) Wild Card Game. Fastforward a year later and playoff Rugby is back at Bishop Schmitt Field on Saturday, when Wheeling Rugby hosts the semifinal round of the BRRC Tournament. They will battle the #2 seed from the BRRC West Division in Marian College for a chance to head to Chicago, Illinois next week for the BRRC Championship game.
In the Quarterfinal round, Wheeling made the trip to Indianapolis, Indiana where they took on the #4 seed from the BRRC West In Aquinas College. Early on a few Cardinal mistakes had them in a hole as the Saints scored eight unanswered points off the bat on a Penalty Kick and a try that put them ahead 8-0. However, after the early lull, the Cardinals defense stiffened up, allowing just three more Knight points for the rest of the night. A pair of Cardinal tries before the half would give the Cardinals the lead at 12-11 heading into the locker room. As they came out for the second half The Cardinals offense went off, scoring 17 unanswered points in the second half. The Cardinals would go on to win 29-11 to bring playoff rugby back to Bishop Schmitt Field.
As the Cardinals have come down the stretch, they're offenses come alive scoring 20 or more points in each of the last three matches. After scoring just 26 points over the first two matches of the season The team has come back and scored 87 points in their last three matches. They were led by a pair of multi-try days against Aquinas, with Aaron Juma and Alex Nyamunda each scoring two tries on the day. Juma was the Cardinals scoring leader in last year's playoff run both during 15's and 7's season and looks to lead the way once again. He was held off the board in the first two matches of the year but, when he scores at least one try in a game this season The Cardinals are 2-0. Juma looks to get on the board early in this one As Wheeling look to advance to their first ever BRRC championship game.
The other multi-try score on the day was Alex Nyamunda, who scored multiple tries for the first time in his collegiate career. He is currently tied for the team lead with three tries this season equaling Juma and Lawula Bata for the title. The Cardinals have been able to spread the ball around this season with several different players scoring tries during the year. This is added another dimension to the Cardinals offense which they look to use to their advantage in this semifinal match. The Cardinals also made a change in their kicking game against Aquinas with junior Chief Chipfimbu attempting all the conversion kicks on the day. He saw his share of success, putting through three of his four conversion kicks for a 75% success rate.
After making the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) D1 National 15's playoffs For the first time in program history is season ago The Cardinals are looking to get back to the tournament once again in 2023. They enter Saturday's game as the #9 team in the nation according to the NCR's top 20 coaches poll, their second consecutive week in the top 10. They are the highest ranked team in the BRRC on the list, just two spots ahead of the team they're set to face on Saturday. They went on Saturday would move the Cardinals to the BRRC Championship game in Chicago, Illinois for the first time in program history. They are looking to bring back hardware to Wheeling while earning the automatic bid to the national tournament.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Knights are meeting for the second time in program history on Saturday, and the first time in postseason play. Marian came away with the victory In the first meeting between the two teams, defeating Wheeling 23-21 a season ago. This will be the first meeting between the two teams in Wheeling, West Virginia where the Cardinals have played well. Over the last three seasons, Wheeling is 19-3-1 at Bishop Schmitt Field And they look to continue that success on Saturday.
In their first meeting a season ago, it was Marion that came away with the victory 23-21. Three different Cardinals would push the ball across the try line on the day with Navin Couch, Aaron Juma, and Krishna Kwenda each scoring a try. Ayoub Jalli handled the kicking duties for the Cardinals going 3-3 on conversion kicks during the day.
The Details
Kick-off for Saturday's BRRC semi-final match is scheduled for 5:30 PM at Bishop Schmitt Field. You can watch the action live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
