A week after winning the 1st Empire 7s Series tournament, AIC will host their own Armory 7s with an eye toward qualifying for the USA Rugby College 7s Nationals.

It looks like a slam dunk for the Yellow Jackets considering how well they’ve performed in a variety of tournaments, including last week where they defeated Kutztown’s 2nd team, Northeastern, Middlebury, Kutztown’s 1st team, and Colgate in the final (the Empire Conference put all of the Empire teams in one pool so the conference 7s standings would be tracked while still opening the tournament up to outside teams).

AIC Head Coach Josh Macy said his team had endured a long layoff since the Las Vegas Invitational, so he wasn’t sure what to expect.

“It was way too much time,” said Macy. “But the way the guys played showed we are on the right track.” 

AIC’s defense was very impressive, and players of all sorts found ways to be effective in the breakdown. The strong players used their strength, but if players weren’t big and strong, they learned to be scrappy and wily. “t’s still a turnover,” said Macy.

Jihab Khabir scored all 19 points in a 19-7 win over touted Kutztown, with Lui Sitama setting him up twice. Scholz Award Nominee Gavan D’Amore-Morrison was a force, as was Christian Adams. Several of the younger AIC players got some time, with Mathew Jones learning to bring his 15s skills as a No. 8 to bear on the 7s field. Jones won five turnovers against Kutztown.

Macy said AIC is getting to the point where there’s little drop off when subs come on, even if he extended the squad for a tournament.

So now on to the Armory 7s. AIC has to be favored, but New England College, despite its coaching turmoil of late, has plenty of talent and 7s understanding. Middlebury and Northeast showed themselves to be solid contenders last week, and Boston College could be tough, too.

Pool A has AIC, UMass, and UConn

Pool B has Albany, UMass Lowell, and Boston College

Pool C has Boston College II, Norwich and Northeastern

Pool D has NEC, Bentley, and Middlebury