Army remains atop the Rugby East after holding off a determined Wheeling Jesuit squad Saturday.

Penn State keeps close to West Point with a huge win over West Virginia, while the Kutztown Golden Bears opened their conference account with a win, and Iona won also to move to 2-1.

But the story may well be that the DIA conference has a large gap between the stronger teams an the weaker teams. Buffalo is now 0-3 and has not scored a point. St. Bonaventure has been more competitive, but sits 0-3, as well, and West Virginia, in conference and non-conference games, continues to leak points.

Iona moved to 2-1 with a 33-10 victory over Bonnies, with Tyler Ringwood scoring two tries, and Lavar James, Greg Amaty, and the ever-present Mike Marino scoring, as well. SBU got tries from Dan Dillon and Ryan McGovern. Amaty kicked four conversions for a personal point goal of 13. 

Kutztown raced past Buffalo 79-0, using their impressive pace to break open the UB defense. It’s no surprise that speedy backs such as Alex Faison-Donahoe, Robert Stortz, and David Snead scored more than one try. John Sage scored a try and kicked seven conversions in the blowout that basically told us that Kutztown is fast, strong, and opportunistic, and Buffalo is not. 

Penn State won big, as well, thumping West Virginia 75-5. Jimmy Ronan once again was excellent with his kicking, while the Penn State back row started to take control.

And then there was Army, in the tightest game of the weekend. Cam Hargis, Andy Sullivan, and David Huff scored tries, and Thomas Del Pino kicked two conversions and three penalties for a 28-3 halftime lead.

But WJU did not buckle, scoring a try early in the second half and adding a second, a penalty, and another try to make it 28-23 with about 18 minutes to go. But Army recovered, and Peter Basnight capped off a scrum move to score the game-sealing try, which Del Pino converted.

This was a huge win for Army, which now sits 3-0 with three bonus points. But, the Knights still have Kutztown, Penn State, and Iona to play.