The Delaware Hayes football team picked up a solid bounce-back win Friday night, using a fourth-quarter touchdown to flip a late deficit into a 24-20 non-league win over visiting Columbus Marion-Franklin.

“Our kids battled tonight,” Pacer coach Scott Wetzel said. “They fell behind, but fought back. This young group needed a win, and it was a great team win.”

After the Red Devils’ Dimar Thomas returned an interception for a touchdown, giving his team a 20-17 lead late in the third quarter, Pacer quarterback Austin Dowell capped a solid drive with a one-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter to seal the deal.

The Pacers ended the game with a bang, but started it just as well, taking a 10-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Dowell opened the scoring summary the same way he finished it — with a one-yard TD run.

Cooper Goble added a field goal later in the quarter to balloon Hayes’ edge to 10-0 before Marion-Franklin got on the board when quarterback Deaire Summerall found Chrishawn Adams for a 15-yard scoring strike a minute into the second quarter.

The Pacers increased the spread back to double digits, scoring on a two-yard pass from Dowell to Sawyer Sands with less than a minute left in the first half, but the Devils came out of the locker room with purpose to start the third quarter. They got back within striking distance on another TD toss from Summerall before Thomas’ pick six gave them a brief lead.

Next up, Hayes (1-1) will take on visiting Westland in non-league action Friday night.

Big Walnut 42, Zanesville 19

Nate Severs had himself a night, rushing four 143 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Golden Eagles to their second straight lopsided win to start the season Friday night in Sunbury.

Big Walnut (2-0) racked up 328 yards of total offense, with 265 of those yards coming on the ground.

The game was tight early, with the Eagles trailing 13-7 when Zanesville’s Kanye Evans scored on a 60-yard run with 3:51 left in the first quarter. The Eagles’ Nicky Pentello evened things up with a 26-yard TD run of his own, though, and Big Walnut outscored Zanesville 29-6 the rest of the way to run away with things.

BW quarterback Jake Nier completed 10 of his 15 passes for 63 yards while adding another 54 yards on the ground.

Isaac Mayle had 104 yards and a touchdown on 10-for-19 passing while Evans finished with just 65 yards on the ground despite the big touchdown run early.

Graham Local 31, Buckeye Valley 20

Dalton Dodds hauled in a five-yard TD grab on the final play of the first half, bringing the Barons within 10, 24-14, but they couldn’t shake off a slow start en route to a non-league setback Friday night in St. Paris.

The Barons fell behind by as many as 17 when Graham’s Zach Vanscoy scored on a 38-yard run with 1:02 left in the first half.

Dodds’ TD grab got BV (1-1) back within striking distance at the break, but another Vanscoy touchdown run, this time with 5:56 left in the third quarter, helped swing the momentum back in Graham’s favor.

Jake Smothers and Alex Contreras accounted for Buckeye Valley’s other two scores with long touchdown receptions of 50 and 56 yards, respectively.

Also: Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin 28, Olentangy 27.