WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Wilkes University football team will represent the Landmark Conference in the Chesapeake Bowl Challenge for the second consecutive year after defeating Catholic University 40-15 at Cardinal Stadium.

Wilkes improves to 6-3 on the year with a 4-1 record in Landmark play, while Catholic falls to 4-5 and 2-3 in conference play.

The Colonels got the ball to open the game and quickly drove down the field with a 31-yard strike from Xavier Powell (Poughkeepsie, NY/Arlington) to Devin Higgins (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley), followed by a Powell 16-yard rush to take the team into the Catholic redzone. While the Cardinal defense held firm, Wilkes put the first points of the day on the board with a Nick Volpone (Delco, PA/Ridley) field goal to make it 3-0.

After a Cardinal punt, Elijah Jules (Red Bank, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) broke off a 35-yard run to take the Colonels into the redzone once more, and the senior running back punched it in a few plays later for a touchdown. After the Volpone extra point, Wilkes quickly held a 10-0 lead.

The scoring settled down and soon the game became a defensive duel, but the Colonels found the endzone again late in the second quarter after a pass interference call set the Colonels up at the Catholic seven-yard line. One play later, the ever-reliable Jules hit paydirt again to make it a 16-0 game after a failed two-point conversion with 4:13 left to play in the half.

Rob Barbieri (Avoca, PA/Pittston Area) gave the Colonels the ball right back after the score with a 22-yard interception return, and the Colonels quickly struck again with a 22-yard touchdown run by Jules to go up 23-0. On the first Catholic play of the drive, Michael Kevin Cornick III (West Philadelphia, PA/William Penn) joined the fun and intercepted quarterback Joey Gulbin as well. A second Volpone field goal as time expired grew the Wilkes lead to 26-0 at the halftime break.

The Wilkes defense opened the second half emphatically, as Tallen Murray (Vineland, NJ/Saint Joseph Academy) and Steele Hess (Allentown, PA/Whitehall) both sacked quarterback John Whelan and forced a three and out. After Wilkes punt and a Catholic turnover on downs, Jules found the endzone for the fourth time on a four-yard run set up by a 39-yard reception by Janas Simms (York, PA/William Penn) to make it a 33-0 game.

Catholic scored their first points of the contest in the fourth quarter as Whelan found Nathan Miscichowski to cut the lead to 33-7, but one more Jules touchdown put the final nail in the coffin for the Cardinals as the Colonels extended their lead to 40-7. The Colonels rested their starters the rest of the game and Catholic would score one more touchdown and two-point conversion to make the final score 40-15.

Jules led the Colonel offense with 27 carries for 183 rushing yards with five touchdowns, matching the program record for touchdowns in a single game set by Brett Trichilo against Lebanon Valley in 2003. Under center, Powell passed for 183 yards and rushed for 25. His top target of the day was Higgins, who had two catches for 47 yards. On defense, Murray led the way with nine tackles, two for loss, and 1.5 sacks, all team-highs.

Whelan led the Cardinals with 116 passing yards and two touchdowns, with Andrew Tabor and Zach Williams tied for the most receiving yards with 36. On the ground, Williams led the team with 39 rushing yards as the Colonels held the hosts to only 55 total rushing yards. On defense, Michael Hopkins led the team with eight tackles.

The Colonels return home to close out the regular season on Saturday, November 16 for Senior Day against Moravian University. Kickoff is set for 12:00 p.m.