Iowa Central CC became the first team to qualify for NCR's CRC with a victory at the Sunshine 7s in Gainesville, Fla.
The Tritons overcame an early loss to Notre Dame to beat those self-same Fighting Irish in the final.
Notre Dame and ICCC met up for the opening game in pool play with UND winning 21-19. It was a tough loss for Iowa Central, but Head Coach Brent Nelson said his team showed they could put phases and continuity together and there was reason to be confident.
However, they also knew now that games against Auburn and Clemson were must-wins.
"We knew if we lost the second match it would be over for us," said Nelson. "So the guys played with a lot of urgency. They played lights-out defense."
ICCC took a 14-7 lead into the final moments but Auburn had the ball and a chance to tie it up. But an interception take all the way iced it 21-7. Clemson provided a tough opponent as well. They had beaten Auburn 40-0 and lost a close one to Notre Dame so this game would decide who would make the semifinals. The game was back-and-forth but Iowa Central's attack started to find its feet and the Tritons won 31-21.
Meanwhile, in Pool A, Queens, Alabama, and South Carolina all finished up 2-1. Queens lost to Alabama early so were in desperate need of wins after that. After a big win over Florida, Queens was still in control as long as they won. Going into the final round South Carolina was 2-0 with a points difference of +12. Queens was 1-1 but with a PD of +26, and Alabama was a +5 and 1-1. So Alabama needed to win and hope Queens lost or USC lost by enough to get the rub of the points difference green.
Queens overcame USC 28-21 and Alabam beat Florida 34-17 and so Alabama and Queens moved on to the semis.
