Gahanna Lincoln stayed unbeaten Friday night by beating Olentangy Liberty 14-13 in overtime, and the game ended on the final snap when the Gahanna defense stopped Grayson Davis short of the goal line on a 2-point conversion try. The win pushed Gahanna Lincoln to 3-0 and sent Olentangy Liberty to 0-3.
That is why this result is drawing attention in Week 3 of central Ohio high school football. The margin was one point, but the finish was built on a choice as much as a stop: after a Gahanna offsides penalty on the extra point, Olentangy Liberty decided to go for the win in overtime and paid for the gamble when the conversion came up short. For readers tracking football scores across the region, it was the kind of ending that turns a routine Friday update into the game everyone checks first.
Leon Cummings gave Gahanna Lincoln the first overtime lead with a 10-yard run on the opening possession, then added a 4-yard touchdown run in the first quarter on the way to 100 rushing yards on 25 carries. Grey Kegley completed 13 of 22 passes for 140 yards, while Mark Thorpe III helped hold the line with two interceptions. Through three games, Gahanna Lincoln has outscored opponents 73-23, a point total that points to a defense built on pressure, takeaways and control of field position rather than one-sided shootouts.
Olentangy Liberty had kept swinging. Alex Leonard threw for 92 yards and tied the game at 7 when he found Kaidan Schmelmer for an 11-yard touchdown pass with 6:40 left in regulation, and Davis finished with 42 rushing yards before his overtime score set up the final decision. After that, Liberty chose the aggressive route and never got the result it wanted. John Sansbury said the team had exactly what it wanted and would keep taking that chance, because it believed the best way to finish was to leave the game in its own hands.
The night also belonged to another kind of passing display. Worthington Kilbourne beat Canal Winchester 56-35 behind Jackson Szabo, who completed 22 of 34 passes for 414 yards and seven touchdowns. Shawn Rice caught five of those scores and finished with 254 yards on 12 catches, with touchdown grabs of 16, 6, 75 and 5 yards by halftime as Worthington Kilbourne built a 49-14 lead. That is how the team has reached a 52.3-point scoring average through three weeks: quick strikes, frequent touchdowns and enough big plays to make every possession feel like a problem.
Pickerington North also posted a result that said plenty without needing overtime, beating Pickerington Central 27-0. But the lasting image from Friday is Gahanna Lincoln surviving on one defensive play and one refusal to blink. If the same formula keeps working, the rest of Week 3 may be remembered less for the scores themselves than for how Gahanna Lincoln keeps finding a way to win them.
