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OMBAC won the Belmont Shore 7s Saturday to take the second Southern California seed to the national 7s club championships.

OMBAC fielded a team that was a combination of very young and very experienced, and coach Craig Hartley said that combination is still coming together.

“We missed a conversion and lost to Back Bay at the beginning of the day, and that was a hiccup for a young team,” said Hartley. “But I wasn’t worried. They were phenomenal in practice, one of the best weeks we’ve had. I knew they’d come together.”

Missing a few players due to family commitments (Zach Pangelinan), a chance to play for the Guamanian Xvs team (Ryan Claros) and work (Jarvis Albury), OMBAC won the tournament with only ten players.

The five-team qualifier bracket included Belmont Shore II, Santa Monica, Back Bay and Huntington Beach. The original plan was to have the top two teams play off in a final, but organizers wisely scheduled Belmont Shore II and OMBAC to meet at the end of the day, guessing that the two teams would have the best records of the day, and that game would end up as the final.

So it was, with OMBAC, getting better with each game, prevailing.

“We are working on the chemistry of this team and I think as a result guys who weren’t here will have to earn their way onto the squad,” said Hartley.

Longtime 7s impresario Jason Raven anchored the team at scrumhalf, but the squad was captained by new 7s Eagle Alex Ross.

“He is a good, quiet leader,” said Hartley.

With Tai Tuisamoa – the only non USA eligible player on the team – challenging well for restarts, OMBAC relished in the overall work rate of forwards Joe Fontana and Ryan Howe.

“Fontana is everywhere,” said Hartley. “His engine does not stop. He and Ryan both know they need to challenge for ball. They know their roles and they do it really well.”

This is still a work in progress, said Hartley, but it’s still OMBAC, and OMBAC is back in the national tournament.’”