Saturday’s tournament victory for Ohio State was a huge step forward as the Buckeyes look to a challenging 7s season.

For Captain Aaron Thomas, this was the first step toward qualifying the Buckeyes for a major end-of-season 7s team. And going unbeaten on a sox-game tournament day at the Mooseman 7s was an impressive start.

“The big thing for us was just teamwork,” said Thomas. “It was a lot of guys contributing in a lot of different ways. A lot of teams rely on two or three athletes, and we relied on everyone, letting the ball do the work.”

A smart approach on a grueling day. 

“Had we not been able to play all of our guys, I don’t know how we would have done,” added the captain. “All of the guys contributed and stepped up.”

Jamie Barlow was the MVP of the tournament and was a try-creating machine.

“He was setting up his teammates all day,” said Thomas. “He has a great sidestep and if we needed a try we could count on him to break the line and finish it, or if not, find one of his teammates and set him up.”

Other than that, Jack Walsh was clutch on the conversions - they beat Kentucky 19-17 thanks in part to his kicking.

Meanwhile, Lindenwood-Belleville came 2nd in that tournament, and did well despite a bit of a slow beginning against Alabama, and a tough finish.

“The guys worked really hard,” said L-B head Coach Pat Clifton. “I was glad we were able to come back and beat Alabama a second time. But six games in a day is brutal and while we used everyone, it was still tough.”

Illustrating that point was the scoring timeline of the final, where Ohio State and Lindenwood-Belleville were tied 12-12 at halftime, but OSU ran in three unanswered tries in the second half, in part because L-B just ran out of gas.