The Buckeye Valley football team took care of business in its home opener Friday night in Delaware, making big plays on both sides of the ball en route to a thrilling 27-23 win over visiting Ashland.

The Arrows (2-1), led by 6-foot-5, 210-pound sophomore quarterback Nathan Bernhard — already holding offers from Penn State and Iowa State — broke the scoring seal with a 25-yard field goal off the foot of Carson O’Brien.

The Barons (1-2) answered with a big play, though, as Nathan Huss found Garrett Slater for a 70-yard touchdown strike less than 30 seconds later, making it a 7-3 game with 6:35 left in the opening quarter.

The back-and-fourth battle continued the rest of the way.

Ashland led 10-7 after Bernhard found Michael Franz for a 25-yard TD later in the first, but BV went up 13-10 when Huss sprinted into the end zone from 65 yards out midway through the second.

Another Huss-to-Slater connection, this time from six yards out with 25 seconds left in the half, made it a 20-17 game at the break and, after Bernhard scored on an 11-yard keeper midway through the third, Huss scored from a yard out on the ensuing series to put the Barons up for good.

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

Delaware Hayes 42, Mount Vernon 0

The Pacers had little trouble knocking off their second rival in three weeks, blanking the visiting Yellow Jackets Friday night in Delaware.

After a scoreless first quarter, Hayes (3-0) broke things open with 28 points in the second.

Jake Lowman led the charge, completing 13 of his 22 passes for 280 yards and four touchdowns.

Austin Koslow was his top target, finishing with five grabs for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Garrett Brown also had a nice night, collecting four receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown. Cooper Goble also had a receiving touchdown in the win.

Hayes is slated to return to action Friday night against visiting Big Walnut. The action is set to get underway at 7 p.m.

Big Walnut 41, Franklin 14

The Golden Eagles broke a 7-7 tie with 34 unanswered points over the course of the second and third quarters en route to a dominant non-league win over host Franklin Friday night.

Austin Kawasaki returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown to break the scoring seal and, after Franklin evened things up with a long touchdown of its own, Nate Severs and Garrett Stover combined for three second-quarter touchdowns to help Big Walnut (1-2) take control for good.

Severs erupted for 138 yards and three touchdowns while quarterback Jake Nier threw for 135 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 50-plus yards in the win.

Owen Pollock was Nier’s top target, finishing with three receptions for 57 yards and a score.

Gahanna Lincoln 46, Olentangy Liberty 28

Andrew Leonard hit Evan Nelson for a 13-yard TD to give the Patriots a 21-7 lead midway through the second quarter, but the host Lions outscored them 39-7 the rest of the way, including 26-0 in the fourth, to put the finishing touches on a non-league win Friday night in Gahanna.

Diore Hubbard led Gahanna with 155 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

QB Brennen Ward had a nice night, too, finishing 12-for-17 passing with 228 yards and three touchdowns.

Despite the loss, Leonard was even better than his counterpart, completing 27 of his 44 passes for 343 yards and four touchdowns.

Christian Moulton had six receptions for 68 yards and two touchdowns while Jake Struck had seven grabs for 137 yards in the setback.

Next up, Liberty will host Olentangy Berlin Friday night at 7 p.m.

Olentangy Berlin 38, Dublin Scioto 0

Harrison Brewster had a big night, accounting for four touchdowns on the way to a lopsided non-league win over the visiting Irish Friday night in Delaware.

Berlin (2-1) led 17-0 by the end of the first quarter and 31-0 by the break.

Brewster finished with 117 yards and two touchdowns through the air and 57 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground.

Alejandro Agiular also had a nice night, finishing with 75 rushing yards, while Joe Beaumier and Zach Siegrist each caught touchdown passes for the Bears.

Hilliard Darby 28, Olentangy Orange 21

The Pioneers’ Levi Davis ran for 88 yards and a touchdown and threw for 174 yards and another couple scores, but it wasn’t enough as the visiting Panthers escaped with a non-league win Friday night in Lewis Center.

After Aiden Hambell and Sage Kean both scored from three yards out, giving Darby a 14-0 edge early in the second, Orange answered with two touchdowns of its own — a 68-yard keeper from Davis and 17-yard connection between Davis and Junior Maalaelu — to even things up by halftime.

Two Kaleb Dotson TD runs gave the Panthers a 28-14 fourth-quarter lead before Davis found Terryn Thomas for a four-yard TD to account for the final margin.

Next up, Orange (1-2) will take on host Olentangy Friday night at 7 p.m.

Olentangy 31, Westerville South 14

Ethan Grunkemeyer completed 16 of his 25 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns — one each to Gavin Grover, Jackson Wiley and Sam Uhlenhake — and the defense made more than a few plays of its own as the Braves improved to 3-0 with Friday night’s lopsided non-league win over the host Wildcats.

Daniel Stephens anchored the defense with two sacks.

Will Beinecke also had a sack and one of Olentangy’s two interceptions (Lucas Jackson had the other).