GAHANNA, Ohio — The team that could not quite finish the job in September finished it in November. Fourth-seeded Olentangy Liberty marched into top-seeded Gahanna Lincoln’s stadium and upset the previously unbeaten Lions 14-10 on Friday night, November 13, in an OHSAA Division I, Region 3 semifinal, according to the Delaware Source’s game report. The Mansfield News Journal’s statewide scoreboard, The Columbus Dispatch’s scoreboard and High School On SI’s statewide scoreboard all confirmed the 14-10 final.
Liberty’s two first-half touchdowns were all the Patriots needed, the Delaware Source reported. The Patriots jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, and when Gahanna climbed back within 14-3 in the second quarter, the scoring simply stopped — neither team scored in the third quarter, the Delaware Source’s roundup reported.
The Lions made one final push in the fourth quarter, but senior cornerback and wide receiver Jayden Hawk snagged a game-sealing interception to end Gahanna’s last hope late in the fourth quarter, the Delaware Source reported. It was the defensive play a defense that has carried Liberty all fall had been building toward.
The rematch context made the upset richer. Gahanna had beaten Liberty 14-13 in overtime on September 4, back in Week 3, the Delaware Source reported — a conversion stop in overtime was the only thing between the Patriots and this exact result two months ago. On Friday, in the game that ended one season and extended the other, the margin landed on Liberty’s side.
Liberty (8-4) has now won eight of its last nine games since that September overtime loss, the Delaware Source reported. The Patriots beat Olentangy Berlin 15-0 in the regional quarterfinal on November 6 to earn the rematch, and their four losses came against one of central Ohio’s hardest schedules — a record that seeded them fourth but never reflected how dangerous they had become by November.
Gahanna’s season ends at 11-1, its first loss arriving in the round the Lions had targeted all year. The Lions had won four games by three points or less this season, including their last two, the Delaware Source reported — a team living on late-game execution finally met a fourth quarter it could not bend, stopped short by Hawk’s interception with the season on the line.
Central Ohio’s Division I night belonged to the road teams in close games. In the other Region 3 semifinal, Pickerington North beat Upper Arlington 14-10 on Friday, according to The Columbus Dispatch’s live report — a 55-yard winning strike with 6:55 left, the Dispatch reported — which means the Region 3 final pairs the two 14-10 winners of Friday night.
For the wider picture of what a top seed protecting a long winning streak looks like when it works, see Watterson Routs New Albany 45-12 for 41st Straight Win, Regional Final. Gahanna carried an 11-0 mark into Friday with the same target on its back, and Liberty — the fourth seed nobody in Region 3 wanted to draw — is the reason that streak is over.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on: the Region 3 final pairing is set, Liberty against Pickerington North (10-3) on Friday, November 20, but the site is not. The OHSAA will announce regional-final sites on Sunday, November 15, according to the Canton Repository’s bracket report. What is also settled: Liberty’s defense has allowed 10 points in each of its last two playoff games, against Berlin and now against an 11-0 team on its own field.
The state’s other Friday heavyweight pairing shows the level the Region 3 champion will eventually have to meet, as covered in Massillon Blanks Big Walnut 21-0 to Avenge Playoff Losses, Reach Regional Final. Liberty is not there yet — but a team that just won at the region’s top seed does not need to ask anyone’s permission to believe it can get there.
There is one more layer to Friday’s result worth noting for both locker rooms. Liberty’s seniors were freshmen the last time this program made a regional final run of this kind, and Gahanna’s seniors close a two-year stretch in which the Lions lost almost nothing until the night it cost them everything. Playoff football in Ohio compresses a season into single possessions, and Friday the possession that mattered most — Gahanna’s last one — ended in Hawk’s hands.
What happens next: Olentangy Liberty (8-4) faces Pickerington North (10-3) in the Division I, Region 3 final on Friday, November 20, at a site the OHSAA announces Sunday, November 15. The winner advances to the state semifinals on November 27, one win from the state championship game in Canton.
Photo: BPaulLucas, CC BY-SA