On Saturday night, the inaugural Big Rivers Rugby Conference (BRRC) Wild Card Playoffs came to Bishop Schmitt Field. It took a while for the offense to get going, but Wheeling picked up a come from behind victory 33-21 against Adrian College. The win moves Wheeling back to the national stage as they earn a berth to the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) D1 15's playoffs.
Both defenses were stout through the game's first 40 minutes with the first try of the night not coming until the final minutes of the first half. The Cardinals got the first scoring chance just a minute into the game as Ayoub Jalli attempted a three point kick. Unfortunately, the kick did not go through. The uprights and the score remained tied at 0-0. Penalties would be a theme throughout the first half as the teams combined for five three-point kicks throughout the first 40 minutes. Adrian College would get the first one through the uprights in the game's 12th minutes the Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead. The offense was having trouble getting going but they would take advantage of some Adrian errors.
The Cardinal's first score would come five minutes later as Jalli attempted his second conversion kick of the day. This time, he nailed the shot from 16 yards out and tied the match at 3-3. Jalli would attempt two more conversion kicks in the half, one in the 29th minute and the other in the 34th. He would kick then through from 13 and 20 yards out and helped increase his team's lead to 9-3 with six minutes to play. Adrian College would get the ball with two minutes left, and pushed it across the try line to give the Bulldogs a 10-9 lead. That would be the score as the teams broke for the locker room.
Adrian College kept the momentum going coming out of the half as they scored the game's second try in the 46th minute. Jalli would head to the kicking tee again in the 51st minute and kicked through his fourth three-point kick of the day to make it a 15-12 affair. After being held back from the try line in the first half, the Cardinals finally broke through in the 51st minute. Joe Iye connected with Aaron Juma, who took it the rest of the way to give Wheeling back the lead at 19-15. The Cardinals would have to ground and pound their way across the try line for their next score as Jose Oltra punched one in front a yard out to make it a 26-15 Cardinal lead.
However, Adrian would not go down without a fight as they pushed another try across in the 72nd minute. The ensuing conversion kick was good cutting the Cardinal lead to just four with just under 8 minutes to play. The Cardinals were looking for some insurance as they were trying to get back to the national stage for the second year in a row. They would get just that two minutes later when Rua Karimazondo scored his first try since September, getting the ball across the near pile on to make it a 31-22 Wheeling advantage. The Cardinals would hold on over the final six minutes and won the game by that same score as they advanced to the NCR 15's playoffs.
It was a big day for rugby kicker Ayoub Jalli, who accounted for 18 of his team's 33 points on the night. He made four three-point kicks and added three conversion kicks to round out a big night. The three tries were scored by Aaron Juma, Rua Karimazondo, and Jose Oltra. While the Cardinals made the national stage a year ago in the NCR Rhino Rugby Bowl, this will be the team's first ever trip to the NCR 15's National Playoffs as a D1 program. Wheeling is looking to make some moves as they chase down a national championship.
The Wheeling University Rugby team will now wait to see who their opponent will be in the first round of the NCR 15's playoffs next Saturday, November 12th.
Original source can be found here.
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