Thriller in the City of Brotherly Love
Thriller in the City of Brotherly Love
In a thrilling, back-and-forth match in the Mid-Atlantic's D1AA conference, West Chester came back to beat hosts St. Joseph's 39-33 to take a game that was on an edge throughout 80 minutes.
West Chester began the match on the font foot thanks in large part to a big shove in the scrum that earned a penalty, but they were not the first to score.St. Joe's defense held the Rams in check and a holding-on penalty forced by openside flanker PJ Degnan, forced the turnover. Degnan was a big part of St Joe's on the evening.
The Hawks attacked wide, got a penalty for a high tackle, and opted for a lineout-and-maul. That was stopped by WCU, but illegally, and from a tap penalty move St. Joe's went left, then right, and put Brian Donahue over. Jeffrey George made the difficult kick and his goalkicking would have a major impact in this game.
West Chester, however, can be very dynamic.
"It's easy to forget about the basics," said West Chester Head Coach Bjorn Haglid. "We work hard on our scrum and makoe sure we have a good scrum, and we have some very good backs so we work on our ball handling."
The interplay among the backs was impressive and it was clear there was trust in that group.
A charge through from Aidan Malley saw the center mage big gains before he popped an offload out the back. The Rams spun it wide, got closer, and finally the forwards finished it off with big tighthead Rich Amero charing over. No conversion, and it was 7-5.
The center pairing of Malley and Eli Ross continued to work together, with both able to run, pass, and link up in support.
All of that allowed wing Diohnny Ruiz to asked questions of defenders, cutting back inside and making several tacklers miss. One such run of a planned move form a scrum, saw the wing cut across from the right sideline almost to the left. He was just dragged down only to pop a pass off the deck to flyhalf Zak Elgogari, who finished it off in the corner to make it West Chester's lead at 10-7.
Back came the Rams again as they looked to be taking control of the match. Good work from the forwards as a whole once again set up a platform and this time it was a Ross break and an offload to Malley that produced a long-range try. No conversion, however, and it was 15-7.
Momentum Shift
"Momentum is a big thing in rugby, especially collegiate rugby." said St. Joe's Head Coach Mike Williams after the game, and he had a point. It was at this point that the Hawks regained that precious momentum.
It all started with a penalty off the restart, and immediately St. Joe's took the lineout, won the throw with lock Jimmy Riley snagging the ball, and set up the maul. West Chester had no answer and over went the Hawks to get within three at 15-12.
West Chester started to commit more and more penalties and were fortunate not to get a card. However, they did find themselves backed up. St. Joe's took another maul, were sowed considerably this time, but had the patience to get it over once more. Kick good from George and the Hawks had regained the lead at 19-15.
Patient and well-executed maul from @HawkRugby vs West Chester. Ended up a WCU win but a great night of rugby. pic.twitter.com/IgA6FIl5t0
— Alex Goff (@goffrugbyreport) September 27, 2025
With the Rams in penalty trouble St. Joe's found opportunities to test them wide. and after pushing West Chester back on either side, the Hawks forwards went to work to take it over. Once again Dugnan was heavily involved in getting work done, while Riley was a key ground-gainer. However, the activity and focus from scrumhalf Nolan Sasaki.
The half ended, then, 26-15 with St. Joseph's fairly comfortably ahead and West Chester realizing that they needed the ball back, and needed to cut out the penalties.
A Different Half
As often happens in these types of games, the scoring dried up for a bit in the second half. When you have 41 points scored in the first period, the coach's first words at the halftime talk have to be about defense. They were, and both sides worked hard to keep the game outside their own 22. West Chester had by far the better of it in the scrum, and the St. Joseph's lineout was excellent, and that meant that each side had one aspect of set piece from which to launch.
Degnan was again excellent on his defense and Riley was again dangerous with ball in hand. Malley broke through but was isolated.
Unfortunately West Chester started to get some injuries, and as the half progressed they would lose two-thirds of their back row.
However, they still had their backline and their tight five. The interplay between props Amero and Richie Nathan in the forward pods was enjoyable to watch and forced St. Joe's to commit numbers to the tackle. And then the backs could go to work.
Another attack wide almost put Ruiz in at the corner but he cut back inside rather than risk being isolated on the edge. No matter, the support wss there, and eventually an inside ball to Malley put him over. Again no conversion, so it was four tries to four, but St. Joe's led 26-20.
Some slick ball handling from West Chester had St. Joe's scrambling again, and when they were not 10 meters back on a quick tap the Rams widely opted for the scrum. That was a secure source of possession for West Chester, and at the same time this would lock up the mobile forwards from St. Joe's. It worked, they ran a short ball off Ross and were in under the posts. Conversion good, and West Chester, amazingly, had the lead back at 27-26.
St. Joseph's charged on back and were within a few meters of the tryline, but a knock-on in contact get West Chester a lifeline. They took it, chipping over the top and having wing Nick Vyvlecka do superbly to chase the ball down and not get thrown into touch in the process. West Chester sent it wide again but with a bit of an iffy pass that skittered along the ground. No problem, as Nathan scooped it up like it was nothing and charged on for about 30 meters to put West Chester, rather unconventionally, into the St. Joseph's 22.
That didn't lead to a score, but eventually the pressure told, and a nice run from Danny Ansa allowed Ross to set up Malley again.
A conversion here would have put West Chester up bby two scores, but no joy. It remained 32-26 and the Hawks had a chance to come back.
Which they took.
Brandon Bispo swooped in for a thundering positive-grade tackle in which he ripped the ball away, giving St. Joe's possession in the West Chester 22. The Rams held on there. but the Hawks kept up the pressure, and when Sasaki spotted Ansa was hobbling around they sniped right, and scored. Conversion good from George and St. Joseph's led 33-32 with time winding down.
Time, of course, for one more episode.
West Chester pursued the restart nicely and forced a penalty. The Rams tapped quickly, St, Joe's was scrambling again, and West Chester scored under the posts off a quick tap. Kick good and that was it. There was time for one more attack from St. Joseph's but West Chester won the restart and ran the clock out.
It was a very entertaining game and, as Williams said, one of momentum.
West Chester's ability to score with not much possession was a big factor, but St. Joseph's almost won it anyway.
