Wheeling University defeated The Citadel to win the Nail City 7s over the weekend.

The tournament, held at Wheeling featured 12 teams: Wheeling, WVU, Citadel, Robert Morris, Christendom, Franciscan, IUP, Alderson Broaddus, Slippery Rock, Clarion, Frostburg, and a Motley side. They were divided in four pools of three.

Wheeling beat Alderson Broaddus 42-0 and RMU 36-7 to win their pool. Christendom went 2-0 with a close 21-17 win over West Virginia and a comfortable shutout over the Motley side. Citadel also had work to do, edging a very good IUP team 7-5, and beat Slippery Rock 40-12.  Franciscan took the fourth pool 2-0 with wins over Clarion and Frostburg.

The top two from each pool entered the quarters, with Wheeling 36-0 over Frostburg, Christendom 24-19 over IUP, Franciscan 29-10 over Robert Morris, and The Citadel 24-12 over WVU. Wheeling beat Christendom 34-12 to make the final and The Citadel dispatched Franciscan 26-10. 

Christendom went on to take 3rd, while Wheeling halted The Citadel's run with a 38-7 win.

"Very happy with the performance," said Wheeling Head Coach Mike Geibel.

Wheeling did the job despite missing four players who would have expected to play a big role: Stanley Giani, Joseph Iye, Noam Taurin, and Rua Karimazondo. In addition, Jose Oltra suffered an injury early in the tournament, and two other players had to tough it out—Ayoub Jalli and Mohamed Haddar played the entire tournament despite having to fast for Ramadan (during which Muslims cannot eat until after sundown). 

Mike Muleya was especially effective for the Cardinals. Back on the field after sustaining an injury at the NCR All-Star tournament, Muleya was a spark, winning every restarts and helping his side control possession, especially in the final. Geibel labeled him the team's MVP for the day.