The Delaware Hayes football team punctuated its most successful season in the last 14 years with a convincing 38-0 win over visiting Franklin Heights Friday night in Delaware.
The win bumped the Pacers’ overall record to 7-3 — the program’s first seven-win season since 2008 — and featured a record-setting performance from receiver Austin Koslow.
The junior, who finished with six grabs for 111 yards and a touchdown, closed the season with 1,027 receiving yards — a new school record.
Hayes ended all the drama early, scoring 17 points in the first quarter and another 14 in the second to all but seal the deal by the break.
Koslow’s TD came in the first, making it 10-0 on the heels of a 36-yard field goal from Cooper Goble.
Josh Russell scored from 10 yards out later in the quarter before a 20-yard touchdown run from Sawyer Sand and 10-yard scoring strike from Jake Lowman to Kaden Gannon accounted for the halftime score.
Lowman then found Wyatt Kirtland for a 10-yard touchdown in the third to smooth out the scoring summary.
Lowman completed 13 of his 20 passes for 186 yards and four touchdowns (bumping his total to 21 on the season) while Sand ran for a team-best 73 yards.
Olentangy Berlin 31, Thomas Worthington 0
The Bears (7-3, 4-1) secured their first OCC crown in program history with one of their most complete games of the season, blanking the host Cardinals (6-4, 2-3) in the regular-season finale Friday night in Worthington.
Harrison Brewster was solid, completing 15 of his 25 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns — one to Aaron Nebraska to open the game’s scoring and the other to Jared Moeller to put Berlin up 21-0 late in the first half.
Mason Ziegler was good, too, rushing 19 times for 136 yards and two more touchdowns.
The defense, though, was great. It limited Thomas to just 142 yards of total offense while forcing a pair of turnovers.
Harvest Prep 47, Buckeye Valley 12
Levi Richards powered his way into the end zone from four yards out midway through the second quarter, pulling the Barons (6-4, 5-1) within a score at 20-12, but the host Warriors (10-0, 6-0) scored 27 unanswered the rest of the way to run away with an MSL-Ohio win Friday night in Canal Winchester.
The loss was BV’s first in the last seven games, and first in league play. For Harvest Prep, the win wrapped up an outright league title.
Richards’ score, set up by a Mitchell Melfe interception, kept things close until Marchello Cox and Aidan Rogers scored on back-to-back possessions to give the hosts all the momentum heading into the break.
The Barons’ other score — a 24-yard strike from Nathan Huss to Tanner Domyanich — made it a 6-6 game late in the first quarter.
Canal Winchester 21, Big Walnut 14
The Golden Eagles (8-2, 5-2) scored a pair of second-half touchdowns to claw back into things, but couldn’t climb out of an early 21-0 hole en route to a loss at the hands of the host Indians (6-4, 4-3) in Friday night’s regular-season finale.
Jake Nier found Nicky Pentello for a 13-yard touchdown to get Big Walnut on the board with 2:45 left in the third quarter, and found him again for a 28-yard score midway through the fourth to make it a one-score game, but that’s as close as it got as Canal held on.
Maxton Brunner led the Indians in the win, rushing for 136 yards and all three touchdowns.
Marysville 35, Olentangy 32
Ethan Grunkemeyer hit Jameson Rossler for a touchdown, then found Gavin Grover for the two-point conversion to make it a three-point game with 1:13 left, but the Braves (4-6, 1-4) couldn’t recover the ensuing onside kick as their comeback fell just short Friday night in Marysville.
Grunkemeyer also threw touchdown passes to Jackson Wiley, Andrew Leech and Zach Griffith in the setback.
