Wheeling and Principia to Big Rivers Final
Wheeling and Principia to Big Rivers Final
Wheeling University raced past Marian 39-30 to win their Big Rivers Conference semifinal Saturday evening in West Virginia.
Wheeling led almost the entire game, but it wasn't until the late minutes of the game that they had a cushion they could be happy with—Marian kept plugging away and would not be dismissed.
Clearly this would be a game of contrasts. Wheeling's reputation is one of a team that throws the ball around and plays fast and open. Marian's is that they need to run their system, win set piece, and work the phases. It did turn out that way, but both teams showed flashes of what the other team can do. In the opening moments Marian had the ball and looked to work their way edge to edge. But they lost the ball in the ruck and quickly Wheeling center Michael Muleya burst down the sideline and was gone. Just a few seconds into the game and Marian was down 5-0.
The Golden Knights did respond. They handled Wheeling coming up in their face quickly and found some space down the wing. Zach White sped down the sideline and looked set to score but was tackled just before he could dive in. The tackle, however, was high, and with no other defenders around it was a penalty try and Marian took a 7-5 lead.
But a knock-on at midfield set up a scrum for Wheeling right after that and the Cardinals went right with a nifty move and Lawula Batu dove in at the corner. That made it 10-7, and while Marian fullback Tommaso Lorenzetti slotted a long-range penalty to tie it up, the Golden Knights could not regain the lead.
And in fact that tie didn’t last. Wheeling pressured right off the restart, and a blocked kick resulted in a scrum from which No. 8 Rua Karimazondo picked up and took over the line. Joe Iye made the difficult conversion and it was 17-10.
The teams went back-and-forth through the rest of the half. Marian worked their game through phase after phase, but they needed to keep the ball, and the odd knock-on or holding-on penalty hurt them badly, because Wheeling wanted to play quickly. The Cardinals did go to the boot a few times and Marian struggled to get out of trouble in short order. Iye added a penalty, but just before halftime Marian got a try over. Some good running from centers Clay Peters and Billy Reiter got them close and when the Golden Knights got a penalty they surprised Wheeling by going wide to put Peters over. Lorenzetti slotted the penalty and the half ended 20-17 for Wheeling.
Both sides, but especially Marian, wanted to take care of the ball. But Wheeling also had a plan to use their restarts as they had leading to Karimazondo’s try. It worked.
Marian had the ball and some territory as the second half began, but a holding-on penalty flipped things around for them. Wheeling had to work through a few rucks, but did get a couple of penalties and eventually sent it out wide where openside flanker Aaron Juma went in at the corner. From the restart Wheeling kicked deep and swarmed in to pin Marian in their 22. They forced a penalty, tapped quickly, and put Karimazondo over for his second. Receiving the restart this time Wheeling kicked deep and swarmed in once more. They eventually turned the ball over and lock Clarouly Meca powered over. Iye’s conversion made it 39-23 and with time slipping away Marian now had to score three times to come back.
But they still struggled to handle Wheeling’s kicking game, and needed a little better continuity. They did get a bit of magic from flyhalf Zivan Mynhardt when he chipped over and gathered before spinning a pass out wide. But that pass was whistled for being forward and the try that was begging didn’t come.
Eventually, however, Wheeling got a yellow card for repeated infringements, and with the man advantage Marian got over and converted. But there wasn’t enough time, and Wheeling held on 39-30.
For Marian Head Coach John Harley this was a story of a team that really, really needed to take care of the ball, and needed to be quick over that ball to secure it, and they didn’t do it enough. For Wheeling Head Coach Michael Geibel, this game was a chance to show not only his team’s ability to play fast, but the power of a nicely-developing forward pack.
For Marian, the centers Peters and Reiter were dangerous, while lock Sebastian Conley performed well in the lineout and in open play, while scrumhalf Max Hendry along with No. 8 JD Farrell were outstanding. Wheeling got excellent games from Muleya at center and Iye at flyhalf. And of course Karimazondo was hugely influential. Juma was all over the field making plays. Meca at lock matched the work rate of Conley, while hooker Laurence Old played intelligently and was always there to fix a problem.
While the lineouts was a fun battle, Wheeling's scrum was surprisingly good, and they scored several tries off that platform.
"I think they matched our physicality to be honest," said Wheeling's Juma. "Because every other team would've been blown apart maybe 60 points at that point but they kept coming in the second half and I'm actually proud of them."
Wheeling will take on Principia. In a rather fractious game in which the Thunder Chickens were held in check more than they had been all season, Principia held on 15-11.
Both teams worked hard and at the same time struggled to do all the things they are used to doing. Thomas More had to work its pattern, but also be conscious of Principia’s ability to burn them in transition. Principia, in the end, was a shade more athletic and their pace and acceleration saw them through.
So it’s Wheeling vs Principia in Chicago in the final, and, we understand, Marian vs Thomas More for 3rd and potentially an at-large bid to the NCR playoffs.
