Men's Rugby | 8/4/2016 10:53:00 AM

The Davenport men's rugby team captured fourth place in the USA College 7's National Championship held at Wake Med Soccer Park in Cary over the past few days. The Panthers were dominant in pool play among Division I teams such as James Madison, Iowa and Texas A&M.

Davenport squared off with James Madison in the first match of the tournament and defeated them 27-0. Dominique Bailey scored in the first minute and Thomas Cheslek added another try two minutes later. Kevin Lydon, Bailey and Aaron Cummings quickly made it 27-0 in the first 11 minutes.

The Panthers then defeated Iowa 37-0 in their second match of the day on Friday. Brady Gent had the first try for DU in the first minute. Latthaphon Lormongkol had a pair of trys minutes apart in the 13th minute and Vershawn Burke preceded that in the ninth minute with a try of his own.

On Saturday the final pool play match against Texas A&M resulted in 36-0 win for the Panthers. Mike Houston started in the scoring with a try in the third minute. Burke and Houston scored again in a two-minute span for a 17-0 lead. Lormongkol then scored three trys in a five-minute span.

The Panthers took care of West Virginia in the first knockout round match by a final of 17-7. DU scored early for a 7-0 lead. WVU tied it up at 7-7 in the fourth minute. DU then scored back-to-back trys in the fifth and 11th minute for the winning margin.
On Sunday the Panthers lost to American International 17-5 as Deshae Edwards had the first try for AIC. Carl Smith cut the deficit to 10-5 for DU in the seventh minute. Jihad Khabir wrapped up the scoring in the tenth minute.

The Panthers then fell 24-5 to Arizona State in the third place match. Davenport took a 5-0 lead on Bailey's try in the first minute but it was all Sun Devils after that.