After a month long road trip, Wheeling Jesuit Varsity Rugby earned its homecoming victory, beating Notre Dame College 34-13 in front of an estimated crowd of 1,500 under the lights at the James LaRosa Complex.  In their inaugural season Wheeling Jesuit’s record stands at  4-1-1.

Freshman #8 Pete Malcolm (Miami, Fl) put in two tries to lead WJU with 10 points.   Four other Cardinals also got on the board with tries of their own. Wheeling Jesuit Head Coach Eric Jerpe credits the score-line to an improved team effort.

“I think we did a pretty good job tonight of supporting guys who made line breaks. I think we left a lot of points on the field, but overall I’m happy with the performance.” Said Jerpe

Opening the scoring for WJU in the first half was Dante Walters (Elk Grove, CA) who powered through the Notre Dame defensive line and sprinted in 30 meters for WJU’s first try of the match, fending off tacklers along the way.   Just 8 minutes later, Pete Malcolm would score his first try after picking the ball up at the base of a scrum, and sprinted in 20 meters untouched. Just before halftime, Mike Probert (Frederick, MD) finished off a fine display of passing from Jamey Barlow (Columbus, OH) and Pete Malcolm to finish a well worked team try, bringing the score to 19-6 at the break.

Jamey Barlow would make several more nice line breaks, running clean lines with the ball in hand, and would be rewarded for his efforts early in the second half with a try of his own to put the Cardinals up 24-6. Max Lum (Advance, NC) finished off another piece of hard running from Prober t to finish the scoring for the Cardinals, and bringing the final score to 34-13.

WJU returns home again next week to face John Carroll University in their final match of the fall season next Saturday at 1pm. The Cardinals are now 4-1-1