The Delaware Hayes boys lacrosse team started well enough, and finished with a flourish, but host Olentangy Orange controlled things most of the way en route to a 17-9 win Thursday night in Lewis Center.
The pace couldn’t have been much faster in the early going.
The Pioneers’ Ayden Hanna ripped a shot into the back of the net on the first offensive possession of the game, but the Pacers answered just 13 seconds later when Devin Halliday won the ensuing draw, sprinted into the offensive zone and found an open Cooper Heald, who deposited the pass into the net for the equalizer at the 10:48 mark of the first quarter.
Orange’s Kyle Geller scored off a feed from Ty Martin about a minute later, but Halliday found Cooper Goble for a score to even things back up with 9:04 left in the opening quarter.
The goals kept coming, too, but most belonged to the Pioneers, especially in the middle two quarters. Orange scored the next 5 straight, including tallies from Hanna, Geller and Eli Gleckler, who made it 7-2 with 3:15 left in the first.
Halliday stopped the bleeding with an unassisted goal at the 2:29 mark of the first, but the Pioneers got it back by the end of the quarter, making it 8-3 on Gleckler’s third goal of the game. They scored the first goal of the second, too, ballooning their edge to 9-3 when Geller scored off a feed from Landon Hackler less than a minute into the second quarter.
The Pacers clawed back a bit, getting 2 straight — the first a man-up goal from Heald and the second another unassisted tally off the stick of Halliday — but the Pioneers were too much in the end.
Orange scored 2 goals in the final minute of the half — goals by Cody Miller and Hanna — to make it 12-5 at the break. The Pioneers then won the third 4-0 to all but seal the deal heading into the fourth.
Halliday scored 3 straight tallies at one point in the fourth quarter, and Aiden Maines, who started in the Pacers’ goal, scored with 31 seconds left to smooth out the scoring summary.
Also: Columbus Academy 10, Olentangy Berlin 1; Olentangy Liberty 12, New Albany 2; Olentangy 20, Westerville Central 10.
BOYS TENNIS
Delaware Hayes improved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in league play, topping Westerville North 3-2 in Thursday’s OCC opener.
All three Pacer wins came on the singles courts. Gabe Fogle rallied past the Warriors’ Shrey Shyamalan 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 at first singles, Ryder Kardas beat Tyler Jones 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 at second singles and Grant Lamar beat Eli Lynskey 7-5, 7-6 at third singles.
Also: Olentangy Berlin 3, Dublin Coffman 2; Big Walnut 3, Westerville South 2.
GIRLS LACROSSE
Madison Bricker poured in a game-best 6 goals for Delaware Hayes, but Pickerington Central had 3 players with 4 goals and another with 3 on the way to an 18-8 win Thursday night.
Leela Henry, Brooklyn Miller and Kayla Godwin all scored 4 times for the Tigers. Heather Stoner added 3 goals of her own while Megan Liston stopped 6 shots in Central’s crease.
Anna Fenton and Ellionna Craft split time in Hayes’ goal, finishing with 4 saves apiece.
Also: Upper Arlington 10, Olentangy Liberty 5; Bishop Watterson 19, Olentangy 18.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Olentangy Berlin def. Hilliard Darby 25-23, 19-25, 25-14, 21-25, 15-11.
BASEBALL
Olentangy 3, Olentangy Berlin 2; Olentangy Orange 4, Westerville South 2.
SOFTBALL
Lancaster 11, Olentangy Berlin 0, 5 inn.; Olentangy 11, Grove City 4; Delaware Christian 4, Granville Christian 0; Buckeye Valley 5, Centerburg 3; Westerville Central 7, Olentangy Orange 0; Westerville North 5, Delaware Hayes 2.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Kenyon 21, Ohio Wesleyan 6; Kenyon 11, Ohio Wesleyan 9.
