WESTERVILLE — Standing in front of his team after the game, Delaware Hayes head coach Ryan Montgomery applauded them for always doing everything the coaching staff has asked of it this season.

Friday night’s 36-33 win at Westerville South may have been the perfect representation of that commitment as it took everything Hayes had to survive an early first-half haymaker from South and a wild, back-and-forth second half.

Cooper Goble’s 26-yard field goal gave Hayes the three-point lead with 2:31 to play, and a furious Westerville South rally came up empty as a short field goal attempt on fourth down fell well short of the crossbar to seal the Hayes win in the final seconds.

With the win, Hayes improves to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in OCC-Capital Division play, just a game back of Canal Winchester (7-0, 4-0).

Hayes quarterback Jake Lowman had another prolific evening, completing 19 of his 29 attempts for 286 yards and three touchdowns. Receiver Austin Koslow was on the end of nine of those passes for 191 yards and a touchdown as the special duo continued to wrack up big-time numbers.

Hayes took an early 3-0 lead on a 20-yard field goal from Goble, but South proceeded to build a sizable first-half lead on the strength of its formidable rushing attack and an opportunistic passing game. Dominic Birtha’s 29-yard touchdown pass to Jeramiah McDuffie on third-and-12 capped off a seven-play, 77-yard drive to give South its first lead of the game at 7-3.

A seven-yard touchdown run by Ian Gordon extended the South lead to 13-3 after a mixed extra point, and South began to seize all early momentum in the game.

Koslow quickly stemmed the tide on the ensuing kickoff as he fielded the ball at his own 14 and raced up the Hayes sideline for an 86-yard touchdown return to get Hayes back to within three points at 13-10.

Stops continued to be difficult to come by for the Hayes defense, however, and South needed just two plays to increase its lead to 19-10 on the ensuing drive. Gordon’s 68-yard touchdown run finished off the drive, putting South back in control with 7:34 remaining in the first half.

In need of an answer, disaster struck for Hayes on its next possession. Lowman was stripped of the ball on a third-down scramble, and South’s Neyo Thomas came away with the loose ball to set South up with prime field position at the Hayes 30.

Two plays later, it was Birtha and McDuffie connecting for their second touchdown of the game on a wide-open completion of 29 yards. The extra point was good, and South had opened a 26-10 lead with under five minutes to play in the half.

With the game getting late early, the Hayes offense delivered two critical scoring drives just before the half to get back into the game. Lowman’s nine-yard touchdown pass to Goble cut the South lead to 26-17 with 1:42 left in the half, capping a massive nine-play, 95-yard drive.

After a quick three-and-out from South, Hayes was back in business once again in the closing seconds of the half.

Taking over at its own 46 with just 32 seconds left in the half, Hayes needed only three plays to find the end zone. Lowman’s pass to Josh Russell was good for 22 yards to move the ball to the South 32. Following a spike to stop the clock, the Lowman-to-Koslow connection came through once more.

After evading pressure and scrambling to his right, Lowman lofted the ball to the end zone, and Koslow ran under the ball for a 32-yard touchdown. Goble’s extra point was good, and Hayes headed to the locker room trailing just 26-24 despite the rough start.

Hayes wasted no time erasing the remainder of the South lead courtesy of another big special teams play. A disastrous South possession to open the second half led to a punt attempt out of its own end zone. The punt was blocked by Hayes, and South fell on the live ball in the end zone for a safety and tied game.

The two teams traded stops throughout the third quarter before Hayes finally broke the tie early in the fourth quarter.

After taking over at his own 27 just seconds into the fourth quarter, Lowman found Koslow deep down the middle of the field with a step on a defender. Koslow laid out to make a spectacular diving catch that was good for 42 yards, and Hayes was out and running.

Seven plays later, Lowman found Jaliq Wilson for a four-yard touchdown pass. With the extra point, Hayes had taken a 33-26 lead, its first since the opening drive of the game, with 8:34 to play.

The lead lasted just 55 seconds, though, as South running back Nasir Phillips raced 70 yards on the first play of the ensuing possession to put South into position to tie the game. The run pushed Phillips over 200 yards for the game.

Birtha finished off the drive two plays later with a two-yard touchdown run, and the two teams were once again level with 7:39 left to play.

Hayes answered back with a 10-play drive that ate up more than five minutes, ending with Goble’s go-ahead and field goal and setting up a frantic final possession by South.

After beginning at its own 27, South was into Hayes territory in just three plays as the clock ticked under 1:20 to play. Birtha’s completion to McDuffie had South knocking on the doorstep of delivering a dagger at the Hayes 9 with under a minute to play, but a series of incompletions forced the short field goal attempt on fourth down.

The kick never had a chance, however, and the Hayes sideline erupted as Lowman and the offense trotted back out onto the field to take a knee and run out the final seconds of a gritty, hard-earned victory.

“We started off rough a little bit, but we came back and played as a team,” Hayes defensive back Jermaine Dukes said following the win. “We kept our heads high, and I’m just happy we won. It shows us that we can beat anybody if we just continue to play as a team and keep our heads up.”

Montgomery said of what his team showed in the win, “It’s been a long time since Delaware Hayes has started 6-1. I think a lot of people looked at us as a 5-1 football team and then kind of write us off, don’t put us on the same level as some other teams. But these guys in the locker room believe. This community believes, and this coaching staff believes. And we have a great group of seniors who always lead.

“Westerville South has had a great program for many, many years, and our guys were resilient. (South) jumped on us and we battled back, chipped away. I knew (defensive coordinator) Justin Malivuk would get stuff figured out. I have faith in them, and I’m just really excited for our players.”

Montgomery said it was business as usual on the sideline after Hayes fell into the early hole, especially knowing they had a big-play offense that could quickly get them back into the game.

He added, “It’s been a while since we can go into week eight and there’s a lot to play for for us. That’s what our guys wanted, and that’s what I challenged them to do.”

Hayes will look to continue its push toward an OCC-Capital Division title next week when it travels to Dublin Scioto (2-5).

Reach Dillon Davis at 740-413-0904. Follow him on Twitter @DillonDavis56.