IOWA CITY - Both the Iowa Central A-side and B-side rugby teams won titles here Sunday at the Hawkeye Classic 7s Tournament. 

In the A-side final, the Tritons posted a 19-12 victory over the University of Northern Iowa. In the fall, the Panthers reached the D2 final four. 

During the tournament, the A-side outscored its opponents, 123-27, while the B-side did the same by a total of 124-27.

"It was just a really good day with a strong spirit and bond between the guys," Iowa Central head coach Brent Nelson said. "We took 20-plus with us and it can become a long day of sitting, playing and sitting. But these guys all did a great job of keeping the energy-level high and building each other up. It really made for a fun day and was great to see how much they all want to push each other to get better."

Andre Greenup scored on the final play to give the Iowa Central A-side the win over the Panthers. Greenup finished with five tries on the day, while Chris Santos had four. Edgar Galindo, Phoenix Twala and Herbert Evans handled conversion kicks.

"We had some injuries so other kids did a nice job of stepping up," Nelson said. "Tucker Eriksmoen stepped into a role and did a nice job, as did Jon Goeppner. He is a sophomore who has worked hard and waited for his chance, and he took advantage of it.

"Andre had a great day, really showing his skills, and so didn't Dakota Southworth on defense."

For the B-side, Andrew Thexton had four tries with Peter Adeoye and Wayne Cosper adding three. Makiti Mereke and Marcus Cross handled conversion kicks.

"For our first time out, it was a good day," Nelson said. "We handled some teams pretty good, but had to fight past UNI in the finals. It was good to get back out there and hopefully start to build towards a good spring."

The Tritons will compete in Minnesota in March. 

-By Dana Becker