St. Ignatius Brilliant in Winning Ohio 7s Championship

10.31.2022

St. Ignatius won the Rugby Ohio Boys Fall 7s championships, unleashing a smart, skilled game plan that pushed aside opponents in all of the preliminary tournaments as well as the finals tournament on Sunday.

The Wildcats ended the fall 18-0, including eight shutouts and a points for-and-against of 668-58.

Led by veteran backs Aiden Pickston and Ryan Putka in the backs, and with Cole Sutkus having a breakout fall as a forward, Ignatius played wide ball, were accurate in their passing, and disciplined and physical in their defense.

The final was something of a surprise, however. Throughout the fall St. Xavier of Cincinnati had been looking to be the main rival for Ignatius. With the Ohio 7s season split between North and South, these two teams never met. Despite losing a game to Archbishop Moeller 21-17 a week before, St. X was favored to be in the final. St. X defeated Perrysburg in Sunday's quarterfinal 38-0 and were an impressive combination of size and speed. With Alex Robinson and Patrick Jennings running with purpose and linking nicely through halfback Oliver Weidner, St. Xavier looked nicely in control.

But along came Highland. The club team came in determined to shake things up and after winning their quarterfinal met St. X with a strong physical presence. St. Xavier ran out to a 10-0 lead, but a knock forward at the tryline prevented them from pulling further ahead.

"I take responsibility for that, that was me on the wing ... it's going to haunt me," said Jennings.

At the end of the first half Highland broke through. with Gabe Blower slicing wide to dive over. Blower provided a nice spark for his team, clearly not wanting to back down. That score made it 10-5 at halftime and Highland hung on, causing a couple of key turnovers in their 22. And then with time up St. Xavier's composure slipped a little. They committed a penalty and got 10 more meters marched off for backtalk. Still, St. X. really just needed to defend and wait for a mistake. Instead, another penalty, this time handling the ball on the ground, opened up a chance for Mitchell Hennessey to break through and feed Kolton Rogers to go under the posts for the try. Hennessey converted and Highland had won 12-10.

"We were playing like we were taught to play in practice," said Hennessey, who added that he felt he held onto the ball too long before sending that pass ... although it seemed to work out in the end.

But perhaps the key moment was Blower's try at the end of the first half. That had St. X looking over their shoulder a bit.

"Once game Gabe scored that try it kind of sent a message that we weren't done yet," said Hennessey. And certainly they weren't.

In the end that was the big moment for Highland. St. Ignatius's overall class was evident as they pinned Highland in their 22 and punished mistakes, winning 36-5. With Liam Craighead and Aidan Miczak providing key links in the chain, Will Riley joining Sutkus as a power move up the middle, and when Putka wasn't finishing tries, Brian McGrath was, Ignatius played a wide game that involved passing, not being afraid of contact on defense but avoiding unnecessary contact on attack, and being fit.

Pickston was outstanding as a kicker and playmaker, and if you assumed he would pass he could burn you up the middle. He was the MVP, although later said he thought Sutkus should have received it.

Also notable was the St. Ignatius substitution plan. Coaches Matt Pickston and Bill Craighead simplified their substitutions and it worked enormously well. Teams in 7s get five substitution moments—you could bring on five different players for five other players, or you can rotate one player in and out to give that one player a rest. Most coaches bring in their subs at different times through the game. The Ignatius coaching staff subbed en masse, bringing in all five with four or five minutes to go to close out the game, and this was the strategy they used all fall.

The result was a group of players who played together as a unit on a regular basis, who all got significant minutes, and were fresh and able to finish games. The approach also took the stress out of it.

"I didn't have to keep track of how many subs I'd sent in," said Pickston the coach. "And the players weren't there wondering when they would go in; they all knew how it would work."

St. Xavier beat Moeller in the 3rd-4th game, unleashing a more free-wheeling attack that they had hoped to showcased in the final.

There were other small victories as well. Olentangy had most of their regular 15s players playing football, so this fall's 7s team was young and very inexperienced. They didn't win a game ... until the final tournament, where they found how much they'd improved to land their first victory.

Dayton, led by a really strong day from Dakota Faulkner, put a scare in several opponents. Hudson, disappointed in losing the opening quarterfinal, suddenly could look at that game, a 12-5 loss to Highland, and realized they were one score away from the team that made the final.

The boys contest had a Shield bracket for teams not as successful through the result season to still play for something, and there was also a JV competition which features two teams from Ignatius and from St. X., with teams also from St. Edward, Walnut Hills, Moeller, Marysville, and the Dayton Northern Force.

All told about 300 boys players were in action over the weekend.

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