West Virginia won the Big XII 7s title for the second year in a row, beating Oklahoma 26-19 in overtime in the final Saturday in Norman, Okla.

The Mountaineers made the final by winning their pool, with victories over Oklahoma State (41-0), Kansas (22-5), and Ole Miss (29-10). 

“It was a difficult pool,” said WVU 7s Coach John Baker. “KU was defensively kind of tough and we didn’t score as many points as we would have liked to. Ole Miss were a good team. They’re player-coached but they had some good athletes and it was a physically tough game for us.”

Still, WVU looked very good.

“This was our first tournament - our first chance to play against other teams,” said Baker. “With this being a qualifier [for USA Rugby’s Championship] we knew if we can make a dent now and win the qualifier, we could get it out of the way early. It wasn’t easy. We had only a few guys back from last year, so most didn’t know what they were getting into.”

Luke Ellis, Austin Hoover, and Logan Reece were the only players who played in last year’s Big XII tournament. Baker hoped they would all come together as a team, and he stressed defense and shutting down teams early.

“Defense was first and foremost,” he told Goff Rugby Report. “Because we had some newer guys I wanted to see how they progressed as a team. We hadn’t tackled anyone when we came in, but their tackling was spot-on.”

And so on to the semis, where Kansas State put a bit of a stranglehold on the game, and prevented WVU from moving the ball. The result was a more 15s-style encounter, but a 12-5 win for WVU.

“When we were under stress, the guys reverted back to a 15s style; I think they got frustrated and just went back to what they knew,” said Baker.

But they hung on. Then in the final, OU was dangerous around the fringes of the breakdown, but WVU answered, and the game ended tied 21-21. In overtime, WVU kicked off, but managed to force a turnover. They sent the ball left, brought it back to the right, and Ellis burned two defenders to score and win the game.

“It was the perfect situation for us because Luke can really exploit defenses outside,” said Baker.

Hoover was very solid all day, while the coach praised the team effort.

WVU has now qualified for the USA Rugby Championships in Cary, NC. They will be playing in some other qualifiers, but Baker said now he has the luxury of trying some different combinations as the team hones its approach.

“But that overtime game was not good for my peace of mind.”