Men’s Rugby Wins Spring Opener at St. Thomas (FL)

Saturday, February 28

Miami Gardens, Fla.

6:00 p.m.

Army West Point

St. Thomas (Fla.)

Photo by: Walter Schmidlin

Men’s Rugby Wins Spring Opener at St. Thomas (FL)

February 28, 2026 | Men's Rugby

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Powered by the Miami cafecito on Saturday night, Army West Point men's rugby opened its Spring 2026 campaign with a resounding 57-14 win under the South Florida lights over the St. Thomas (FL) Bobcats at AutoNation Field.

Army moves to 8-2 overall with the win and 1-0 to begin its three-match spring regular season.

"We're pretty pleased with this first performance of the season. A lot of effort, solid discipline, and some good moments of resilience when we lost our way a few times. We're excited to get better from here, and know we can be more accurate going forward," said head coach Matt Sherman.

Liam Walsh quickly scored the first points of the match for Army inside six minutes, and Isaac Gamboa followed suit with a try in the 21' before Howie Heller notched his first conversion of the spring to put Army ahead 12-0.

Landin Jacon-Duffy found the try zone in the 25' to make it 17-0 in favor of the Black Knights before George Engels followed just three minutes later, with another Heller conversion making it 24-0.

The Bobcats did get on the board right before the half to make it 24-7 at the break, but Army responded with tries from Dylan Liskey and Jack Reed, and with the help of another pair of Heller conversions, it was 38-7 Army at the 60' mark.

The Bobcats got seven points closer at the 65' mark, but no closer than that, as the Black Knights put the match out of reach with another Liskey try and two scores from Jacob Bottarini in the final 10 minutes. Additionally, Noah Sanchez scored his first two career conversions down the match's home stretch.

Each Army finisher participated in Saturday night's fixture.

Match Scoresheet

6' | Liam Walsh – Try                                                                           5-0

21' | Isaac Gamboa – Try                                                                10-0
Howie Heller – Conversion                                                          12-0

25' | Landin Jacon-Duffy – Try                                                    17-0

28' | George Engels – Try                                                                 22-0
Howie Heller – Conversion                                                          24-0
39' | St. Thomas – Try                                                                         24-5
St. Thomas – Conversion                                                               24-7

52' | Dylan Liskey – Try                                                                      29-7
Howie Heller – Conversion                                                          31-7

58' | Jack Reed – Try                                                                            35-7
Howie Heller – Conversion                                                          38-7

65 | St. Thomas – Try                                                                          38-12
St. Thomas – Conversion                                                               38-14

68' | Dylan Liskey – Try                                                                      43-14
Noah Sanchez – Conversion                                                      45-14

74' | Jacob Bottarini – Try                                                               50-14
Noah Sanchez – Conversion                                                      52-14

78' | Jacob Bottarini – Try                                                               57-14

Next Up

Army is next in action for its spring home opener vs. California on March 14.

Follow the Black Knights

Follow Army Men's Rugby on X @ArmyWP_MRugby and on Instagram @armywp_rugby. Fans can also like Army West Point Athletics on Facebook and learn more about men's rugby and other programs at goarmywestpoint.com.