Men’s Rugby Prevails at Guelph in Season Opener

Saturday, September 6

Guelph, Ontario

1:00 p.m.

Army West Point

Guelph

The U.S. Military Academy men's rugby team hosted the rugby team from the Royal Military Academy - Sandhurst for a friendly match at West Point, N.Y. on April 30, 2025. The match was played during the week of the annual Sandhurst Military Skills Competition and saw RMA - Sandhurst come away with the victory with a score of 26-24. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Alan Brutus)

Men’s Rugby Prevails at Guelph in Season Opener

September 06, 2025 | Men's Rugby

GUELPH, Ontario – Down, but never out.

Army West Point Men's Rugby responded to a second half deficit with 19 unanswered points in the second half of its season-opener at Guelph, on its way to a 38-28 win Saturday over its Canadian rivals.

Down two scores, the final 12 minutes saw three Army tries as the side stormed back to ultimately win by 10. Andrew Bardak found the try zone to cut the deficit to two points, before Chance Loudenback took an offload to score in the 75^th minute. The ensuring conversion put Army ahead 33-28 and kept the lead permanently.

George Hemmen received the ball from Howie Heller and scored in the 78^th to create late separation for Army.

Each year, Army and Guelph will square off in a home-and-home, two-match series entitled the Cannon Cup. The Gryphons will make the return trip to West Point in Spring 2026. The series name comes from the presence of cannons of both squads' campuses, including Guelph's 'Old Jeremiah.' Each year, the series winner will retain the cup.

Saturday's win, which puts the Black Knights at 1-0 on the season, is Army's second consecutive over the Gryphons dating back to a season ago. It also puts the team halfway to an outright Cannon Cup win.

Army started fast in Ontario. Cort Schmidlin recorded a try on an offload from Loudenback to put the Black Knights on the board first.

After a Guelph try and conversion leveled the fixture, the Black Knights responded with a Gabe Savage try and Heller conversion at the 33^rd minute before halftime to Army ahead 14-7 at the break.

Guelph came out of the locker room however firing on all cylinders, scoring 14 unanswered to jump to a 21-14 advantage.

Cort Schmidlin scored a try in the 59^th to cut the margin to two points, but Gryphons stretched their lead to two scores with a try and conversion in the 68^th, going ahead 28-19.

Three Army scores however would put the Black Knights back ahead late in the second half, with a two-score win eventually secured.

Match Scoresheet

Cort Schmidlin - Try                      5-0
Howie Heller - Conversion            7-0

Guelph - Try                                  7-5
Guelph - Conversion                     7-7

Gabe Savage - Try                       12-7
Howie Heller - Conversion             14-7

Guelph - Try 14-12
Guelph - Conversion 14-14

Guelph - Try 14-19
Guelph - Conversion     14-21

Cort Schmidlin - Try                      19-21

Guelph - Try                                  19-26
Guelph - Conversion                   19-28

Andrew Bardak - Try                     24-28
Howie Heller - Conversion            26-28

Chance Loudenback - Try            31-28
Howie Heller - Conversion           33-28

George Hemmen - Try                38-28

Next Up

Army returns to Anderson Rugby Complex for its home opener September 12, with a 6:00 p.m. fixture vs. Walsh to commence its four-match fall home slate.

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 baseball and other programs at goarmywestpoint.com.