Crestview Hills, KY. – On Saturday, the string of Big Rivers Rugby (BRRC) regular season competition continued for the Wheeling Men's Rugby team as they traveled to Crestview Hills, Kentucky. They got out to a big start, scoring 26 of the first 34 points, and it was enough for them to hold on as they finished off a 26-20 win. It was their second BRRC win of the season as they continue the stretch run to the BRRC Tournament.
After the ball bounced back and forth over the first 10 minutes of the game, it was Thomas More than struck first. They got across the try line for the first time in the 11th minute and a failed conversion kick would give them a 5-0 lead. However, the Cardinals would not be held down long as on the next possession, Simo Haddar would use his speed down the sidelines and the Cardinals were on the board with a try. James Holland would follow up with the conversion kick and the Cardinals were out in front 7-5. That try would kick start the Cardinals, as they scored the next 19 unanswered points. Panashe Mugorogodi was next on the scoreboard, scoring his first try of the season and the missed conversion kick had the score sitting at 12-5 in the 19th minute.
Five minutes later, the Cardinals would score their second try, courtesy of Alex Nyamunda, and the conversion kick sailed through from Holland to make it a 19-5 Wheeling advantage. The final points of the half came in the 34th minute, when Thomas More capitalized on a Wheeling penalty that sent the game into halftime with Wheeling leading 19-8. Wheeling had three tries by three different player in the half, while Holland was 2-3 on his conversion kicks. They looked to keep the momentum going in the second half and needed 12 minutes to get back on the board. Nyamunda would score his second try of the night, scoring his first two tries of 15's season, and Holland's conversion had Wheeling out to their biggest lead of the night at 26-8.
However, the Saints would not go down without a fight and in the 64th minute and their first conversion kick of the night would get them within 11 points at 26-15. Another Thomas More try five minutes later would make it a single-score game and a missed conversion kick had the score set at 26-20. Neither team would get on the board over the final 11 minutes of play, but Thomas More threatened in the final minute of action. They broke off a long run headed towards the try line, bit a penalty would call the run back. Wheeling was able to hold on from there, getting the 26-20 win and moving to 2-0 in BRRC play. Head Coach Mike Geibel was proud of his guys efforts and the way they held on for the win.
"I'm proud of the guys fighting for this win. We made some mistakes and put ourselves under a lot of pressure, and didn't capitalize on all of our chances when we had the ball. We took some cards that unfortunately meant we played down to 14 men for more than half of the match. Thomas More played very tough and in my eyes is a bit underrated in the coaches poll at #17, they're better than that for sure. Now we have a few weeks to get everyone healthy and fix some of the things we need to fix before hosting a conference quarterfinal at home."
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Alex Nyamunda, who finished with a team-high two tries and 10 points in the match. It was the first two tries of the 15's season for the junior as he gets ready to hit the ground running towards the BRRC playoffs. James Holland would go 3-4 on his conversion kicks on the day, totaling six points and moving his average to 3-5 on the season. The other Cardinal tries came courtesy of Simo Haddar and Panashe Mugorogodi as each finished the day with five points.
The Wheeling University Men's Rugby team will be back in action on Friday, October 11th, when they hit the road to face Trine at 1 PM.
