American International College is now 1-0 in The ECRC after taking apart Northeastern 46-5 Saturday.

For Head Coach Josh Macy, it was a victory that he welcomed against a Northeastern team that is going through some transitions.

“They graduated some really great players last year,” said Macy. “For us it was a comfortable win. We played structured rugby, but really I think we only played the way we wanted to about two-thirds of the time.”

Still a very young team, AIC is asking a lot of freshman flyhalf Jihad Khabir, whose job it is to get the offense moving. It’s rare to see a freshman with that job, but he is, said Macy “adjusting.”

All of them are adjusting, as AIC is a young team, and one that sometimes has to harness its enthusiasm.

“We are a small school making a name for ourselves,” said lock and lineoutcaller Corey Momsen. “We wanted to build off a really good 7s season last spring, and we were set to play Army last week. But when we got there, we couldn’t play because of lightning. That was tough because we really wanted to play. We were really eager to get on the field and hit somebody.”

Momsen added that the team was able to channel that frustration into some good rugby, but it’s a delicate thing.

“We can lose focus, and I think for someone like me, my role is to lead by example and be a solid player they can follow,” he said “To carry on the momentum from last year we need to stay focused.”

AIC managed to do this and scored 46 points in nasty weather that cut into the scoresheets at games across the region. Having a turf field helps, but the Yellow Jackets also survived the slippery ball and the adrenaline to put together a comprehensive early-season performance.