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Tritons move to Final Four

IRVING, Tex. — The Iowa Central rugby team showed why they are viewed a quickly-rising program, throttling Tarleton Rugby Club here Saturday, 54-5.

With the convincing win, the Tritons advance to the Challenge Cup Final Four to be held in April.

Evian Akers, who was named the MVP, had three tries, while Jabaree Leopold, Rodney Hinton, Matt Barker, Quentin Jones and Victor Wong all had one each.

Barker was 1-for-2 on penalty kicks and 4 of 6 on conversions, while Ani Mteto was 1-for-1 on penalty kicks.

“This was a long way to come just to play a match to qualify for the final four,” ICCC head coach Brent Nelson said. “I used that as a motivator, telling the kids that if they are going to make us come all this way, we need to make it worth it; and we did.

“I thought as a whole, our team speed was too much for them. These guys left it all out there.”

Braden Eger, a former high school teammate of Colter Johnson at Webster City, was honored with the team MVP award from Nelson. Johnson was injured recently and missed the match.

“We gave Colter the ‘Heart and Soul’ award,” Nelson said. “And Braden was honored by our team after stepping into Colter’s spot and really doing a phenomenal job.

“Jabaree was also great out there from his fullback position. We had several subs come in during the second half and they did a great job for us, as well.”

Nelson was also happy with the amount of support given to his new program.

“I just want to thank the fans that made the long trip with us,” Nelson said. “And also a special thanks to the Iowa Central broadcast team for airing our match live. They did such a professional job that the event organizers hired them to do the other two matches during the event.”

The Tritons won the Mid-America RFU Championship this past November to advance to the round of eight. They will join Trinity, Bethel and the winner of the Pacific Coast Region Championship April 22-23 in Cheswick, Penn.

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