Gahanna Lions roar loudly in 31-21 win over Olentangy Orange

*I used the rosters from Hudl and Maxpreps.*

Gahanna, Ohio: On Friday I made the short drive to Gahanna High School to watch (3-0) Olentangy Orange battle (1-2) Gahanna in a really big O.C.C. matchup. Before getting into the game, I wanted to say that it was a pleasure to meet and speak with Coach Stout and Coach White from Gahanna. Both of these coaches, along with Coach Sayers from Columbus Northland, have an awesome podcast called 614 HEADSETS, and I recommend everyone listen to it.

Things started off rough for the Lions when Kentucky recruit Brennen Ward threw into double coverage where Evan Thompson easily made the pick. Defense would continue to be the master, with Eddie Jenings getting to Orange quarterback Levi Davis for a 7-yard loss. Then, with 6:09 left in the quick-moving opening quarter, Pioneers Kameron Robinson got to Avion Brown for a loss of two. The Lions would be the first to score when Brown broke a tackle to go 19 yards, then out of the hold of Jake Bushelman, Madden Vieta easily made this a 7-0 game, with his point after kick with 3:37 left in the quarter.

In the 2nd quarter, the Lions would get a nicley thrown ball by Ward to Jaden White to pick up 26 yards, but the Pioneers defense recovered nicely to hold the Lions to zero points on the drive by holding on fourth down.

Orange would get a fine 52-yard run from Cohen Weaver, then it was a pass by Davis to Will Musgrove for a gain of 19 yards. Weaver powered his way in from 2 yards out, followed by the point-after kick from Wyatt Lidke to lock things up at seven with 6:53 left in the half.

Orange would be back at it when Weaver jolted to a 13-yard pickup. He would close out the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run to put his team up 14-10 with 2:46 left in the half. The drive went for 60 yards on 5 plays.

The Lions would close the gap to 14-10 on a 27-yard field goal that capped off an 11-play 69-yard drive. The half came to a close with the score remaining 141-10, but not before Weaver toasted the Lions defense for 20 yards on another sweet run.

The third quarter got underway with the Pioneers getting a 20-yard catch from Terryn Thomas. Weaver would bully his way for a 9-yard gut run with 11:14 left on the clock. He followed that up with an 18-yard gain, where he again made tacklers look silly. The 7-play, 75-yard drive ended on a 25-yard run by Lucas Fickle, who also made breaking tackles look easy to make this a 21-10 game with 9:39 left in the quarter.

Ward would hit Jake Bushelman for a 36-yard touchdown to make this a 21-17 game. Four straight running plays opened up the 5-play, 65-scoring drive for the Lions.

The Lions defense would stop Orange when Michael Morman put Weaver on the ground for a 2-yard loss to force a Pioneers punt with 4:54 left on the clock. On the ensuing drive, Ward threw a beautiful little screen pass to Dangerous Jayden Gwinn, who twisted and turned his way to a 72-yard touchdown, putting the Lions up 24-21, with 2L47 showing on the clock.

#66 Marshawn Lee-Gaines would get to Davis for a loss of two. Davis shook off the sack when he found a wide-open Thomas for a gain of nineteen with 0:34 seconds left in the exciting third quarter.

Davis was under heavy pressure and somehow found a way to throw the ball right to Becket Miller on fourth and ten to move the chains. Terrell Holcomb would come up with back-to-back big plays for the Lions. He first got to Davis for a loss of seven, then he threw Thomas down for a 5-yard loss. Davis would throw a pick six to Bushelman to put the Lions up 31-21 with 1:20 left in the game.

The Lions defense ended things with two solid plays. First Morman got to Weaver for a 2-yard loss, then Eddie Jennns #5 got Davis for a 12-yard loss.

My unofficial stats

Orange

55 plays

309 yards

Passing, 6-20 1 Int

Lions

58 plays

386 yards

Passing, 16-25, 2 TD's, 1 INT

 For all of my game photos copy and paste the link below

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