The ECRC Conference has come down to this weekend with 7-0 AIC facing off with 7-0 Boston College.

AIC was expected to be in this situation, showcasing a speedy, exciting team that can bring the grit up front. In fact, it might be the tight five of AIC that has impressed the most this season.

Meanwhile, Boston College plays impressive defense and has shown some nifty skills out wide, as well. Their defense on the wing and at fullback has the potential to stifle AIC.

“Our preparation has been pretty good,” said AIC Head Coach Josh Macy. “Daylight savings hurts us every year, but the athletic department has made the field turf more available to us in these waning weeks of the season. That was a massive help last night as it gave us two hours to work on forwards and backs skills respectively.” 

Women’s Head Coach Dimitri Efthiniou has been working closely with the backs while Rob Guiry has been drilling the forwards, giving Macy the chance to look at the big picture, and how it all fits together.

AIC will be without some impressive players, including flanker Marcus McIntyre, prop and captain Skyler Adams, center Cristian Ortega, scrumhalf Justin Owens, and flanker Gavan D'Amore-Morrison.

But Macy said his team has adjusted well to absent players throughout the season. And the interior backline of Jihad Khabir, Adrian Ray, and Jacob Ponder will challenge defenses and set things up for outside backs Deshae Edwards, Christian Adams, and Lui Sitama.

At BC, “we're feeling confident,” said co-captain Ben Nathan. “Every game that we’ve played so far this season has been building up to this point, and we're ready to play our best rugby of the year on Saturday. 

“AIC is a great rugby team, but we're not afraid of them coming into this match. We've been prepping specifically for this game for a couple of weeks now, and we feel we match up well with their style of play. We need to outhit them and be the aggressor on Saturday, making sure that we finish our tackles to take away their ability to score off quick offloads.” 

BC also has some injuries, and Nathan said the team is also deep.

What BC will have to watch for the quick taps, and make sure they can control the pace of the game.

And, they have to out-hit.

“After 80 minutes of rugby on Saturday I know that we will have left everything we have on that field, and hopefully we'll come out on top.”

Both Boston College and AIC are expected to be at the ACRC Bowl Series on November 20-21. Only one can do it as ECRC Champions.