Forget the fact the Buckeye Valley defense gave up 50-plus points in each of its first two games.

Forget the fact it was going up against a tough quarterback in sophomore Nathan Bernhard — a 6-foot-5, 210-pounder already holding offers from Penn State and Iowa State — in Week 3.

None of it mattered Friday as Buckeye Valley made more than enough plays on both sides of the ball, especially the defensive one, to notch a thrilling 27-23 win over visiting Ashland in its home opener.

Bernhard and the Arrows (2-1) had chances late.

They took over at their own 20 trailing by four after an interception in the end zone on a fourth-down play with 2:30 left.

On the very next play, though, BV’s A.J. Grout intercepted Bernhard to give his team the ball back in the red zone.

The Baron (1-2) offense came up empty on the ensuing series, but the defense more than made up for it on the Arrow drive after that … again.

Bernhard hit Cayden Spotts to push the ball to the 27 before connecting with Gabe Baith on a fourth-and-three from midfield. A few quick hitters later, Bernhard hit Baith again inside the five-yard line, but the Arrows, without any timeouts, couldn’t get off another play before time expired.

“We rode our guys pretty hard last week about giving up 59, giving up 56 and not tackling well,” BV coach Matt Stephens said, “and we really challenged them. We hit twice during the week this week, which we don’t typically do, just to get more physical.”

The plan was to bend, but definitely not break.

“I told our guys we’re going to play man, we’re going to come after them and we’re going to lose some battles — and we lost some early — but the kids stuck to it and I’m really proud of them,” Stephens said. “We started 0-3 last year and we very easily could’ve gone 0-3 this year with this schedule that we have, but for us to get one here … look out. I’m really excited.”

Ashland broke the scoring seal when Carson O’Brien hit a 25-yard field goal with seven minutes left in the first quarter.

Buckeye Valley answered with a big play, though, taking a 7-3 advantage less than 30 seconds later as quarterback Nathan Huss hit Garrett Slater for a 70-yard touchdown connection on the second play of the ensuing drive. Gradin Gentner added the extra point to make it a four-point spread with 6:35 left in the first.

From there, the back-and-fourth battle continued.

The Arrows took a 10-7 lead when Bernhard found Michael Franz from 25 yards out late in the first quarter.

The Barons went up 13-10 when Huss sprinted into the end zone from 65 yards out with 8:57 left in the half.

Ashland again had an answer — this time in the form of a five-yard TD pass from Bernhard to Tyler Sauder — but the Barons took a 20-17 lead into the break thanks to a six-yard TD strike from Huss to Slater with 25 seconds left in the quarter.

The second half featured more of the same.

Bernhard used his legs to get the job done late in the third, scoring from 11 yards out to make it a 23-20 game with 4:49 left in the quarter, but the Barons had yet another answer … and it only took a minute.

Marcus Hemphill returned the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Arrow 34 before Huss hit Matt Hall for a big gain all the way to the four. Two plays later, Huss scored on a one-yard keeper to account for the final margin.

Next up, Buckeye Valley will take on host Washington Courthouse in non-league action Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Also: Delaware Hayes 42, Mount Vernon 0; Gahanna Lincoln 46, Olentangy Liberty 28; Hilliard Darby 28, Olentangy Orange 21; Olentangy 31, Westerville South 14; Olentangy Berlin 38, Dublin Scioto 0; Big Walnut 41, Franklin 14.