Penn State moved to 2-0 in the Rugby East with a tough 38-33 victory over Wheeling Jesuit Saturday.

WJU dropped to 1-1. 

“PSU punished us for our mistakes,” said WJU head Coach Tal Bayer. “I am proud of our effort on the day. Our boys pushed until the end, scoring four tries. It looked like we might pull it out.”

Wheeling Jesuit’s penalty problems were what hurt them, as Penn State scrumhalf Jimmy Ronan kicked eight penalty kicks. The Nittany Lions actually only scored two tries - wing Michael Eife’s score late in the first half, with Ronan’s conversion, helped PSU tie the game at 16-16, and then Eife helped extend his team’s lead in the second half with his second try.

Flanker Zach Reichenbach, flanker Andrew Waggoner, flyhalf Michael Fitzpatrick, and prop Max Lum all touched down for WJU, with wing Brandon Stine convering two and adding three penalty goals.

Also in Rugby East, Iona improved to 1-1 with a 29-0 win over Buffalo. Tyler Ringwood scored two tries, and Andrew Rossi and Evan Staikos added tries. Iona got a penalty try and only two conversions in a game that Head Coach Bruce McLane said was not a strong performance by his team.

“We won and got a bonus point and shut them out, but that’s about it,” said McLane.

In Saturday’s night game, Army posted its second shutout in as many weekend with a 55-0 defeat of St. Bonavanture. the Black Knights were paced by Jake Lachina’s three tries, while Andrew Fargo, Pater Basnight, John Sproul, Adam Irwin, Logan Weiland, and Ammon Tuimanuei all touched down.

"The result was positive and it was certainly pleasing to earn another shutout, particularly as St. Bonavanture battled hard and threatened our goal line on multiple occasions" said Army Head Coach Matt Sherman. "With that said, the primary goal was to improve from last week and I think we acheived that today."

With Army getting a second bonus-point victory and Penn State failing to score four tries for a bonus point, the Black Knights now have sole possession of 1st place in the Rugby East.