GAHANNA – With his team clinging to a four-point lead in the waning moments of a Division I Region 3 semifinal at Gahanna, Olentangy Liberty senior Jayden Hawk had the unenviable task of having to cover speedy wide receiver Marki Wallace on a deep route.

However, when Gahanna quarterback Grey Kegley launched the ball toward Wallace, Hawk didn’t panic.

Instead, the 5-foot-11, 165-pound safety sprinted toward Wallace, leaped high in the air and snagged an interception at Liberty’s 28-yard line with only 49 seconds on the clock to clinch a hard-fought 14-10 win over the Lions.

“When I found myself going up against their best receiver all alone, it was a great opportunity to seal the game for my boys,” said Hawk, who has three interceptions this season, including one late in the third quarter that helped the Patriots clinch a 15-0 victory over Olentangy Berlin in a Region 3 quarterfinal a week ago. “We both went up for the ball, but I was able to get in front of him and extend my arms to catch the ball before he could.

“This was the biggest play of my life, and I’m glad I was able to make the most of it. But give credit to our guys up front, because they put pressure on their quarterback and made him throw it when he did, so this was a great team effort.”

With the victory, the fourth-seeded Patriots improved to 8-4 and advanced to the regional final Nov. 20 to square off against sixth-seeded Pickerington North (10-3).

Liberty defeated North 21-9 in the 2024 Region 3 final on the way to capturing its first state championship.

Top-seeded Gahanna finished 11-1 in its 13th-season under coach Bruce Ward, who is the Lions’ winningest coach with 97 victories. Gahanna had nipped Liberty 14-13 in overtime in a regular-season meeting on Sept. 4.

“When I saw the ball in the air, I just held my breath, because he’s a great receiver, who was tough to contain the entire game,” said fourth-year Liberty coach John Sansbury, whose squad has won three consecutive games and eight of its last nine contests. “But Hawk is an aggressive, confidant safety, and he made a great play to seal the deal once again.”

Hawk’s interception capped off a masterful defensive performance for the Patriots, who stymied all three of the Lions’ fourth-down conversion attempts and held Gahanna to just 82 rushing yards on 27 carries (3.03 yards per attempt).

With defensive linemen Jackson Lane, Ben Rucker and Max Zigo, linebackers David Anyanechi, Knox Brenning, Carter Cole and Chase Thornton, outside linebackers Griffin Gardner and Cooper Kauf, and cornerbacks Callan Flanagan and Lucas Straub leading the way, Liberty’s 3-5 defensive front used a variety of blitzes, stunts and twists to keep Kegley under constant pressure in the backfield.

The Lions drove to Liberty’s 23-yard line early in the second quarter, before Kegley threw an incompletion while under pressure on a fourth-and-three play.

Kegley was sacked by Lane at midfield on a fourth-and-9 play with seven seconds left in the second quarter, to preserve Liberty’s 14-3 halftime advantage.

And Kegley threw an incompletion in the end zone while running for his life from a host of defenders on a fourth-and-three play from Liberty’s 7 on Gahanna’s first drive of the third quarter.

“We were able to put a lot of pressure on their quarterback to make him uncomfortable most of the game,” Sansbury said. ”We are a zone cover-three defense, and everyone stepped up and did their jobs.

“Those stops on fourth down were huge plays for us. And our punter, Cooper Wagner, deserves a lot of credit for pinning Gahanna back several times with poor field position.”

Gahanna’s defense turned in an even more stifling performance, limiting Liberty to just 64 rushing yards on 34 attempts (1.88 yards per carry) and 155 total yards, including just 22 yards in the second half.

Linebacker Desmond Nelson and lineman Taiwan Johnson both had sacks to lead the Lions’ dominating effort.

“Both defenses are special, and it was tough to get anything going, offensively, in the second half,” Sansbury said.

But the Patriots managed to score all of the points they would need to win the game in the first quarter, producing touchdowns on their first two possessions.