Jagger Barnett threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as the Big Walnut football team started fast and never looked back en route to a 49-19 league win over visiting Franklin Heights Friday night in Sunbury.
The Golden Eagles (4-3, 2-0 OCC) led 28-0 at the break and went up by as many as 35 when Barnett found Craig Norman for a 27-yard score with 9:16 left in the third quarter. It was the second time the two hooked up for a TD in the game.
Barnett’s other touchdown pass — a 39-yarder to break the scoring seal at the 6:45 mark of the first quarter — was to Sam Fortney.
Barnett ran into the end zone untouched from six yards out late in the first to make it 14-0. Tyler Crotinger, who ran for a team-high 78 yards, and Max Lenz also scored on the ground.
TalonDre Barker had a game-high 206 rushing yards to lead the Falcons (3-4, 0-2 OCC).
Delaware Hayes 28, Dublin Jerome 7
The Pacers snapped their three-game skid in a big way Friday, using a dominant defensive effort to knock off the first-place Celtics on the road.
After stopping Jerome (5-2, 3-1 OCC) on a fourth-and-two play from the Celtic two, Hayes (3-4, 1-3 OCC) used a 99-yard scoring drive to all but seal the deal. Already up 21-7, Jahi Broussard-Nash capped the march with a four-yard TD run with nine minutes to play in the game.
After the Celtics scored the game’s first TD late in the first, the Pacers went to work. Blake Eiland tied things up with a 29-yard run early in the second and Laquans Banks-Christian gave his team a lead it never relinquished with a 37-yard run 2:49 before halftime.
Eiland ran the ball 20 times for 139 yards and two TDs. He also had two key interceptions on defense. Other Hayes standouts included Broussard-Nash, who ran for 109 yards and his TD; and Nabil Abdus-salaam, who had three catches for 78 yards.
Hilliard Bradley 21, Olentangy Berlin 19
A.J. Mirgon ran for three touchdowns as the visiting Jaguars (2-5, 2-2 OCC) built a 21-3 lead they parlayed into a league win over the Bears Friday night in Delaware.
Berlin (4-3, 3-1 OCC) scored the final 16 points of the game — Jacob Lewis connected on a 21-yard field goal and Jacob Moeller completed touchdown passes of 56 and 36 yards to Johnny Spinner and Jack Nebraska, respectively — but the comeback fell just short.
Olentangy Liberty 37, Westerville South 20
After trailing 13-3 at halftime, the host Patriots outscored the Wildcats 35-7 in the second half to notch their seventh straight win to start the season Friday night in Powell.
Jackson Roberts, who threw for three touchdowns in the win, hit Kyle Wilson for a 27-yard score to put the Patriots (7-0, 2-0 OCC) up for good, 16-13 with four minutes left in the third.
Wilson had two grabs, both touchdowns, for 47 yards while Brennan Rowe led Liberty on the ground with 11 carries for 83 yards and a touchdown of his own.
Brayden White threw for 289 yards and three scores to lead the Wildcats (4-3, 0-2 OCC).
Columbus Academy 49, Buckeye Valley 6
Anthony Hughes found Andre Ash for a four-yard TD midway through the second quarter — a score that made it a 14-6 game — but the Barons (0-7, 0-4 MSL) couldn’t get any closer as the visiting Vikings (4-3, 3-1 MSL) rolled from there Friday night in Delaware.
