Wheeling Jesuit travels to Davenport this weekend for a meeting of ranked teams (WJU is #26 and Davenport #18) in a non-conference game.

For WJU, this is part of a solid path of improvement for the fall. WJU pushed top ACRC team Kutztown two weeks ago and last week beat St. Bonavanture 29-10.

Prop Andrew Ohmann and scurmhalf Zach Stramanak both scored to stake WJU to an 12-10 halftime lead - Stramanak’s quick-tap, with Brandon Stine’s conversion, negated a 10-5 SBU lead.

In the second half the Cardinals’ defense improved and Allan Hanson, Dawson Day, and Inosi Kau all touched down.

“We’re starting to come together,” said WJU Head Coach Eric Jerpe. “We are getting that level of trust that we need. But we’re still a young team and we are still maturing. That’s something we learned against Kutztown. We hung with them much better than last year, but we still have a ways to go.”

Davenport, meanwhile, got a bit of a wakeup call last week as they lost 49-12 to Arkansas State last week. The good news was that JP Eloff is back on the field and kicked four penalties, but the Panthers were without captain and prop Angus MacClellan, who is with the USA Selects team in Canada.

“There are some players who are very difficult to replace just like that,” said Davenport Head Coach James Wood. “Angus is a great player for us, but it’s also his leadership.”

Still, Wood looks at his team’s September 20 defeat of Bowling Green as an indication of what they can do.

“We are still working on stringing more phases together,” said Wood. “That’s something we have to do better. But also against Arkansas State, we were down a man for about a half and it’s very difficult to be a team of their caliber in that situation. We are really looking forward to facing Wheeling Jesuit.”