Boyds, MD. - Two days and five games later The Wheeling Men's Rugby 7's team emerges as National Champions once again. They are now the third program in history to win three 7's National Championships in a row. Wheeling dominated all three games on Saturday as expected but the final four was where we knew the competition would be stout. Head Coach Max Hamilton said it was a long tournament and proper test, and that he and the coaching staff are so proud of the boys.
Final Four: #1 Wheeling 17 - #2 Kutztown 10
Kutztown was battle tested coming into the final four, beating Brown and Indiana by a single try each. Kutztown got the scoring started at 3:43 in the first half but was not able to convert on the kick to take a 5-0 lead. It took Wheeling just over a minute to tie the game up 5-5 with an Alex Nyamunda try. Nyamunda would score another try with just 24 seconds left in the half and Taku Musingwini would make the conversion kick to take a 12-5 lead into the half.
Kutztown immediately advanced the ball to start the second half but Shadreck Mandaza ran down the Kutztown ball carrier, knocking him out of bounds and saving what would've been a Kutztown try. It was then a back and forth possession game until Kutztown scored a try with 1:45 in the game but missed the conversion kick to narrow the Wheeling lead down to two. Kutztown had possession of the ball as time was expiring until Panashe Mugorgodi picked up a fumble, pitched it to Shadreck Mandaza who scored and clinched the 17-10 Wheeling victory.
National Championship Game: #1 Wheeling 14 - #2 Dartmouth 12
The most likely National Championship was going to be Wheeling up against St. Bonaventure or Dartmouth. St. Bonaventure and Dartmouth were both in the same region and met in their regional championship. Dartmouth squeaked out a 10-7 win over the Bonnies. Dartmouth then met a Notre Dame Fighting Irish team who put together a very impressive tournament, finishing in fourth place. Dartmouth had a 10-7 win in that game as well. Wheeling and Dartmouth had already met this season in the Ruck the Rock championship game where Wheeling won 24-14, one of their closest regular season wins. This time though it was the National Championship and there was a little more on the line.
Wheeling again fell behind early by a Dartmouth score and conversion kick at the 4:56 mark to take a 7-0 lead. Wheeling again had a quick bounce back score with 3:32 left in the first half to tie the game 7-7. Dartmouth was not going to roll over that easily though and scored as time ran out in the first half to take a 12-7 lead into the half. This time Wheeling was going to have to come from behind if they were going to win. Wheeling's offense always gets the attention, but as they say defense wins championships, and Wheeling has a great defense that has had seven shutouts throughout the season. After some back and forth to start the second half Alex Nyamunda made a huge play, forcing a turnover, breaking a tackle, and scoring. The conversion kick was good and Wheeling then led 14-12 with 3 minutes left to play. The Wheeling defense then stood their ground, not allowing Dartmouth to score, and coming away with the National Championship Victory.
Individually, Alex Nyamunda led the tournament with 8 total tries and was named MVP of the tournament.. Nyamunda had an answer for every opponent's problem and came up with the biggest plays when his team needed him most. Wheeling has so many talented players but the NCR 15's player of the year did it again in the biggest moment propelling his team to a third National Championship. Postgame, Nyamunda was quick to credit the whole program for this victory and the players who did not get the opportunity to travel in helping the team prepare everyday for this moment. Nyamunda also gave a shout out to Panashe Mugorogodi who is a name that all rugby fans are going to be getting used to hearing a lot in the coming years.
Other Cardinals with big individual weekends were Shadreck Mandaza and Taku Musingwini. Mandaza was fifth in the tournament in total points scored with 44 on six tries and seven conversion kicks. Musingwini wasn't far behind with 27 points on three tries and six conversion kicks. It wasn't any individual though that was the reason Wheeling won this National Championship. It was the comradery this team has, just as the past two teams have had, and coming together as one especially when only seven minutes remained in their season and they were down by five. They came together to not allow another point and found a way to put up seven of their own to continue to write their history.
