Buckeye Valley scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to turn a tight game into a solid 27-7 season-ending win over visiting North Union Friday in Delaware.
With the game tied at seven midway through the fourth, senior Nathan Bisang broke the deadlock with an 11-yard TD reception from classmate Ben Spaulding.
BV’s Trent Davies broke a 30-yard run for a touchdown just more than a minute later, making it a 21-7 game, and Joey Verdes smoothed out the scoring summary with a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown with 3:53 left.
“This was a good way to finish our season … with a win,” BV coach Matt Stephens said. “It has been a couple games since we’ve had one and it’s always good to send the seniors out on top.”
North Union (6-4, 3-4 MOAC) got on the board early, making it 7-0 when Luke Krawczyk powered in from a yard out with 4:58 left in the first quarter.
BV (4-6, 3-4 MOAC) had an answer, though, evening things up when Teren Wycoff scored on a nine-yard pass from Spaulding 48 seconds before halftime.
Orange 21, Westerville South 9
Jack Applegate ran for 170 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Pioneers ended the regular season with a league win over visiting Westerville South Friday in Lewis Center.
Orange (6-4, 3-2 OCC) trailed 9-7 before Applegate’s 23-yard TD run made it 14-7 with 9:01 left in the third.
J.D. Dayhuff, who completed four of his seven passes for 83 yards, hit Sam Almond for a 59-yard scoring strike early in the fourth to all but seal the deal.
Applegate broke the scoring seal with an eight-yard TD run at the 7:34 mark of the first quarter.
South got on the board when it forced a safety midway through the second, then took a lead when Brad Robbins scored on an 86-yard run a couple minutes later.
Despite the second-quarter hiccup, Orange pretty much controlled things throughout. The Pioneers finished with an 18-5 edge in first downs and outgained the Wildcats 365-200.
Liberty 35, Westerville North 14
The Patriots completed their conference championship run in style, cruising past the host Warriors Friday in Westerville.
The win, No. 100 for coach Steve Hale, capped a perfect regular season for the Patriots (10-0, 5-0 OCC), who will be the top seed in the Division I, Region 2 playoffs, which kick off next week.
Liberty QB Mitchell Okuley had four touchdown passes to four different receivers in the win.
Hilliard Bradley 31, Hayes 0
The Pacers’ Todd Toney came up with a key sack to force an early field goal attempt, but the host Jaguars made the kick for what turned out to be the only points they would need on the way to a convincing win in the regular season finale Friday in Hilliard.
Hayes (4-6, 1-5 OCC) held Hilliard Bradley (9-1, 5-1 OCC) to just the three first quarter points, but was outscored by a combined 28-0 margin in the final three.
The Pacers looked poised to put some points on the board after recovering a fumble in the fourth. Deven Ward set the offense up in enemy territory with a 23-yard run, but the drive, as was the case with all the others, stalled.
Bradley quarterback Will Phillis completed 14 of his 22 passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns. Daevon Anderson was his main target, finishing with three TDs on the strength of eight grabs for 149 yards.
Big Walnut 36, Canal Winchester 35
David Hunt plowed into the end zone from three yards out and Evan Garcia converted the ensuring two-point conversion to lift the Golden Eagles (2-8, 1-4 OCC) to a thrilling league win Friday in Canal Winchester.
Hunt had a monster game. With the game tied at 21 heading into OT, his 16-yard TD run gave Big Walnut a quick 28-21 lead.
The three scores Big Walnut had in regulation? Yeah, they were his, too. Hunt had a four-yard TD run at the 7:40 mark of the first quarter, a 60-yard score late in the half and a 26-yard touchdown run just over a minute before the break.
The long run ending in the second of his five touchdowns put him over 1,000 yards rushing for the season.
