WWAR Generals make it three straight Division I titles
After two straight years of battling the Ability360 Heat in the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Wheelchair Rugby Invitational Division I final, the Wounded Warrior Abilities (WWAR) Ranch Generals faced off against a new title-game opponent this year.
They came away with the same result. And now, they’re three-peat title winners.
The WWAR Generals rolled to a 64-48 Division I PVA Wheelchair Rugby Invitational championship win over the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) Texans on Sunday afternoon at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Ky.
WWAR jumped out to a 10-5 lead halfway through the first period and kept pushing from there. The Generals led 20-12 after the first quarter and 40-21 at halftime with tries from a handful of players, including Stuart Robinson, Anthony McDaniel, Josh Wheeler, Chuck Melton and more.
A Royal Air Force veteran and two-time wheelchair rugby Paralympian for Great Britain, the 43-year-old Robinson was named Division I Tournament MVP.
Robinson, who lives in Morecambe, a coastal town in Lancashire, England, served in the British Air Force from 1999 to 2016 as a regiment gunner. He was injured in 2013 from an improvised explosive device blast while serving in Afghanistan, leaving him a bilateral amputee. He lost his lower leg, and his right leg had to be amputated later, and he also has a left shoulder nerve injury.
Before being injured, he used to play able-bodied rugby. So, he took the to the sport.
“To find a sport where you can get that same level of contact, not only that, but the opportunity to have that bond with teammates, that camaraderie, teamwork, looking out for one another … just kind of made all sense to tick all the boxes,” Robinson says.
He’s played plenty of the sport, from Great Britain club and other high-level international teams for many years, to competing in two Invictus Games for this country and then leading Great Britain to a wheelchair rugby gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics and a fourth-place finish at the 2024 Paris Games. He joined the WWAR Generals four years ago after a tournament in Tampa, Fla. Robinson liked what they had to offer.
“It was a great experience to find out what their organization is about and how they help support veterans, how they give us opportunities to play high-level sport, and what it means to be able to play,” he says. “So, it made a lot of sense to just kind of come across and take this opportunity to play as much as I can with them.”
This year, it was a smaller Division I field at the PVA Wheelchair Rugby Invitational.
After having six Division I wheelchair rugby teams last year, only four — the WWAR Generals, WWAR Warriors, TIRR Texans and Lakeshore Demolition — competed this time. But Robinson says that allowed the Generals to get players and some different lineups ready, especially heading into the United States Wheelchair Rugby Tournament in April at Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Ala.
“We just kind of tried to give every lineup that we had a lot of minutes to make sure that we get some experience and make sure that we’re all ready to go,” he says.
Lucky Bounces Save Shepherd
Meanwhile, Shepherd Center captured the seven-team Division II title, as the Smash hung on for a 51-49 victory over the Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association (WASA)/Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute (CKRI) Lightning on Sunday morning.
It all had to do with a lucky desperation play from Samuel Robb.
Shepherd Center led 46-43 with 3 minutes, 48 seconds remaining before committing a couple of turnovers that put WASA/CKRI right back in it.
After Conlan O’Brien’s try got WASA/CKRI to 48-47 with 1:31 left, it looked like the Lightning would force another turnover. With Robb running out of time to get the ball past the halfcourt line and a defender tightly on him, Robb punched the ball into the air downcourt. It bounced four times to teammate Duane Morrow, who raced past another defender to catch up to it, and Morrow scored a try with 1:10 left in the game.
Robb still couldn’t believe that it led to points and didn’t end up a mistake.
“I don’t have the longest overhand pass, and we were coming up on our 12 seconds to get it over half. And so, it was kind of a desperation play more than anything. I’m sure if I tried that 10 more times, I wouldn’t get it. But that time, it just happened to work. So, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, I guess,” Robb says.
A 32-year-old Atlanta resident, Robb has played wheelchair rugby the past 20 years. He sustained a level C7 spinal cord injury after getting a viral infection during a family vacation to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts when he was 13 months old, and later found wheelchair rugby in 2006.
This marked the second title in two weeks for the Smash. Shepherd Center won the Southern Slam Division II wheelchair rugby tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., one where each team has four players playing five games with no substitutions. Robb thinks the team has grown when facing adversity the past two weeks.
“It’s a game of mistakes in a lot of ways, or a game for who can make the fewest mistakes. And for the last couple of years, I feel like we’ve been working on kind of staying positive and stuff like that when mistakes happen, because I think we were up four or five for most of that game. And, you know, I think in the past, maybe we collapsed when those mistakes pile up,” he says.
Wildcats Take Division III
Finally, in Division III, the Northeast Passage (NEP) Wildcats won the title. The Division III six-team tournament featured a round-robin tournament and didn’t have a championship game. NEP went 5-0, closing their tournament with a 47-34 win over the Ohio Buckeye Blitz on Sunday morning. The Wildcats also defeated the Pittsburgh Steelwheelers (60-27), Grand Rapids Thunder (61-13), Maryland Mayhem (53-27) and Gaylord Warriors (51-50 in overtime).
Paralyzed Veterans Of America (PVA) Wheelchair Rugby Invitational
Day 3 Results
Feb. 1
At Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Ky.
Division III
Gaylord Warriors 50, Pittsburgh Steelwheelers 24
Maryland Mayhem 50, Grand Rapids Thunder 31
NEP Wildcats 47, Ohio Buckeye Blitz 34
Division II
Seventh Place
Denver Barbarians 48, BORP High Fives Storm 35
Fifth Place
Oscar Mike Militia 48, Carolina Crash 33
Third Place
Jefferson Moss-Magee Eagles 53, MedStar NRH United 33
Championship
Shepherd Smash 51, WASA/CKRI Lightning 49
Division I
Third Place
Lakeshore Demolition 49, WWAR Warriors 48
Championship
WWAR Generals 64, TIRR Texans 48
Division III Awards
Best High-Pointer: Michael Henley, Maryland Mayhem
Best High Mid-Pointer: Armand Brunelle, Gaylord Warriors
Best Low Mid-Pointer: English Harper, Maryland Mayhem
Best Low-Pointer: Brian Amundsen, Gaylord Warriors
MVP: Michael Baney, Ohio Buckeye Blitz
Division II Awards
Best High-Pointer: Pasqual Paco Torres, Jefferson Moss-Magee Eagles
Best High Mid-Pointer: Kyle Peterson, WASA/CKRI Lightning
Best Low Mid-Pointer: Ryan Engelby, WASA/CKRI Lightning
Best Low-Pointer: Scott Stokes, Shepherd Smash
MVP: Scott Stokes, Shepherd Smash
Division I Awards
Best High-Pointer: Anthony McDaniel, WWAR Generals
Best High Mid-Pointer: Josh Wheeler, WWAR Generals
Best Low Mid-Pointer: Paul Hopkins, TIRR Texans
Best Low-Pointer: Ed Crouch, WWAR Generals
MVP: Stuart Robinson, WWAR Generals
Other Awards
Jeremiah Butler Best Smile Sportsmanship Award: Sha’Mar Armwood, Maryland Mayhem
Jerry “Bull” Baylor Mentorship Award: Mike Whitehead, WWAR Generals
Event Of The Year (Courtesy of the United States Wheelchair Rugby Association): Paralyzed Veterans Of America Wheelchair Rugby Invitational