CHARLOTTE, N.C. Sophomore Jihad Khabir (Washington, D.C.) scored four tries as American International College defeated Atlantic Coast Rugby League Champion Clemson, 54-21, as part of the ACRC Bowl Series this past weekend at the Rugby Athletic Center.
The Yellow Jackets finished their fall 15s season undefeated at 10-0 while the Tigers close the fall at 7-2.
"It was one of the most physical and emotional game that I have played in" mentioned senior Corey Momsen following the game. "I felt it was a great experience for our young team to learn how to control ourselves and play our best rugby."
AIC actually trailed for just the third time all season after the first five minutes down 7-0.
Sophomore Anthony Cutler (Far Rockaway, N.Y.) was able to get the Jackets on the board in the ninth minute off a goal line ruck and freshman Lui Sitama (Olympia, Wash.) added the conversion for the tie score.
That was the beginning of 28 unanswered points to end the first half with the 28-7 advantage as junior Adrian Ray (Washington, D.C.) and classmate Christian Adams (Washington, D.C.) converted on wide balls before Khabir raced into the try zone off a line break for his first score of the day. Sitama connected on each conversion for the lead.
Clemson came out of the locker room poised for a comeback as they notched a try off a quick tap in the 49th minute and the conversion was good to cut the lead in half 28-14.
Khabir then took over blocking a kick and scampering in for the try and after the kick it was 35-14 AIC in the 50th minute.
Cutler registered another try of his own after a Tiger try and Khabir sealed the game away with back-to-back gap shot tries and the final score.
"On top of the support the backs had all over the field, we were able to dominate because of our commitment to defense" commented senior Jamal Hadley following the contest.
Sitama finished the season with 164 points and an eye-popping 60 conversions which shattered previous single-season AIC records. Khabir also set a record of his own with 29 tries moving into second on the all-time 15s scoring list with 199 total points while his 39 tries is nine clear of junior Christian Adams (Washington, D.C.) for the most all-time. After just one semester of play Sitama already ranks third on the scoring list and is just 33 conversions away from the top spot.
This was also a record-setting team as the Yellow Jackets nearly doubled their point production from last fall scoring 747 points in just 10 games. Their 119 tries and 70 conversions also more than double the previous single-season records. To say the spring 7s season will be entertaining is an understatment!
"It's not all the time a team accomplishes the task at hand so effectively" mentioned head coach Josh Macy. "In addition to being undefeated, I was proud of how our guys carried themselves off the field and represented the college."
