Gahanna grits out 10-7 win over Hilliard Darby to remain undefeated

Friday, September 18, 2026
By Steve Blackledge
sblackledge@cbussports.com

Gahanna’s Marki Wallace (12) had five catches for 80 yards, including the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter at Hilliard Darby Friday. Photo: John Hulkenberg

HILLIARD, Ohio – After the customary postgame speech to his team, 13th-year Gahanna football coach Bruce Ward walked toward reporters, exhaled deeply and offered an eye roll that said a thousand words.

Ward’s unbeaten Lions – ranked fifth statewide in both the Associated Press poll and MaxPreps’ power rankings – came away from Hilliard Darby Friday with a 10-7 nonleague win that could be categorized as either ugly or hard-earned depending upon whether you prefer to view the drink as half-empty or half-full.

“Whatever the case, I’m tired of having those,” Ward said, obviously recalling a 14-13 overtime win over Olentangy Liberty two weeks earlier.

“Honestly, I tell them after every win that it takes a lot of work to win an Ohio high school football game and they should embrace it and be proud of it. Do I feel fortunate to get out of here with the ‘W’? Lord, yeah. We can play a lot better than we did tonight and we have to if we’re going to achieve the goals we’ve set forth.”

Across the field, Darby second-year coach Brad Burchfield had to be feeling even more flabbergasted as his team squandered numerous chances to knock off arguably central Ohio’s premier Division I squad.

“In a nutshell, we probably made one more mistake than they did,” he said.

The game unfolded precisely how Burchfield hoped it would with his run-heavy team chewing up clock and moving the sticks in stretches while his defense, for the most part, locked down Gahanna’s big-play threats.

Gahanna running back Leon Cummings left the game early in the fourth quarter with an injury, limiting the Lions’ offense down the streatch at Darby Friday. Photo: John Hulkenberg

On the game’ opening series, Gahanna (5-0) marched deep into Darby territory but settled for a 23-yard field goal by Jacob Ashton.

Neither team scored the remainder of the half.

The Panthers (3-2) blew a golden opportunity when a 61-yard bomb from Jonah Marsh to Cedric Holman was negated by a penalty.

Gahanna put itself in a position to score just before halftime but quarterback Grey Kegley was intercepted by Braylon Griffith deep in Darby territory.

Sensing the opportunity to steal a program-defining win, Darby came out like gangbusters in the second half, mounting an all-run 10-play, 59-yard scoring drive featuring a barrage of counters, misdirection plays and reverses. On fourth-and-1 at the nine, Griffith got the needed yardage, then was pushed nearly seven yards into the end zone by his fired-up line.

“With our style of play, we felt like could play the chess game and give ourselves a chance going to the fourth quarter,” Burchfield said.

On their Panthers’ next series, things went sideways fast. On a fourth-and-2, Gahanna stormed through the line and clobbered punter Kohen Kornegay for a loss of eight before he could get it off. To observers, it might have appeared to be a fake punt gone wrong, but that was not the case.

“Frankly, we knew their kicking game wasn’t the greatest and we were thinking we had a chance to get some penetration and make something happen there,” Ward said.

Given a short field, the Lions needed only five plays to score as Kegley connected with Marki Wallace on a 7-yard TD with 10:54 remaining.

Wallace, who made five catches for 80 yards, said he drew up what would stand as the winning TD.

Hilliard Darby’s Kohen Kornegay (6) ran for 105 yards Friday against Gahanna, his fifth straight game over 100 rushing yards. Photo: John Hulkenberg

“We call it the spray release dig and we just missed hitting on it on earlier in the game because Grey’s throw was a little short,” Wallace said. “When we were in the huddle, I said, ‘Let’s try that one again,’ and we did.”

Added Ward, “We’ve got some receivers who can go up and get it. I was teasing Marki a little about not catching one earlier and I think he wanted to prove me wrong.”

The strong-armed Marsh, who had issues overthrowing deep balls all night, was picked off by Mark Thorpe III, who returned it 40 yards deep into Darby territory.

“I saw the whole play developing as he dropped back to throw,” Thorpe said. “Our goal on defense coming in was to try to stop the run and make them throw … and when they did throw make sure and not let No. 4 (Holman) beat us down the field. We had to grit this one out, but you need to win these types of games along the course of the season.”

But, lo and behold, Gahanna – with first-and-goal at the 4 – handed Darby another gift as Kegley was intercepted by Holman at the goal line with 3:23 left. Darby, however, was unable to advance past midfield and failed to convert on fourth down.

Limited to just 235 total yards and 11 first downs, Gahanna took a jolt when standout running back Leon Cummings went down early in the fourth quarter with an ankle sprain. He was later seen on crutches.

Kornegay picked up 105 yards on 18 carries to pace Darby, which managed just one first down after taking the lead. It marked his fifth consecutive 100-yard game.

With the win, Ward became Gahanna’s all-time winningest coach with 91 wins, surpassing the mark of Mike Lanza.

Gahanna’s Marki Wallace (12) celebrates with his teammates after scoring the Lions’ only touchdown in their 10-7 win at Darby Friday. Photo: John Hulkenberg