Gahanna Lincoln tops New Albany in central Ohio high school football Game of the Week

Gahanna Lincoln has one of central Ohio’s top running backs in junior Diore Hubbard, but it showed how complete of an offense it is developing against New Albany on Sept. 30 at Whitehall-Yearling.

In a home game for the Lions while their stadium is being rebuilt, Hubbard got things going with a pair of first-half touchdowns, but their passing game also hit new heights during a 38-24 victory in OCC-Ohio Division play.

Sophomore quarterback Brennen Ward threw for three touchdowns, including a pair of scores to senior wide receiver Makai Shahid, as Gahanna avenged a 31-3 loss to the Eagles last season.

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“They definitely crashed on the run game, so that gave us opportunities to make plays and our wide receivers were catching everything, getting extra yards,” Ward said. “It just all came together. I was ready to step up to the challenge.”

Ward finished 21-for-32 for 255 yards as the Lions improved to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the OCC-Ohio, while New Albany dropped to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the league.

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Ward’s performance, combined with Hubbard’s 164 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries and one touchdown catch, helped Gahanna overcome a rough night on special teams that included a muffed punt and having New Albany turn a blocked punt into a score.

“I’m proud of our kids,” said Lions coach Bruce Ward, who is Brennen Ward’s father. “Our passing game hasn’t been that great as of late, but we knew they were heavy in stopping the run and we were able to catch some things behind them in the middle of the field with Brennen and Makai.”

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Gahanna took a 7-0 lead on a 59-yard touchdown run by Hubbard early in the first period and got a blocked punt by Kamari Burns to set up a field goal midway through the quarter.

New Albany scored its first touchdown when Chidi Mabatah recovered a blocked punt by James Collins in the end zone with 10:23 to go before halftime.

With the game tied at 17 midway through the third quarter, Ward hit Shahid in stride downfield for a 34-yard touchdown pass. The snap wasn’t clean on the extra-point attempt, but Jake Bushelman threw to Elijah King for a two-point conversion to make it 25-17.

“I never get out there on offense, so it felt amazing to score and contribute to the team,” King said. “We all played together so well (defensively) and stood together as a team.”

New Albany answered with a 36-yard touchdown pass from Luka Garver to Christian Manville to make it 25-24, but the Lions responded with a 10-play, 88-yard drive capped by a 32-yard scoring pass from Ward to Shahid to make it 31-24. Hubbard added a 39-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth to seal it.

“(Gahanna is) a very good team, maybe one of the best teams in the state,” Eagles coach Brian Finn said. “We thought we could win this game and we’re going to learn from it.”

Here are three takeaways from New Albany vs. Gahanna Lincoln:

• Miscues by special teams played a major role in how close the game was during the first half. In addition to New Albany’s blocked punt that went for a touchdown and Gahanna’s blocked punt that set up their first score, the Lions had a muffed punt and a 17-yard punt that set up 10 points for the Eagles.

• Brennen Ward was an effective 11-for-17 passing for 114 yards in the first half, including connecting with Bushelman five times and Shahid twice. In the second half, he threw a pair of long touchdowns to Shahid and finished with career highs in passing yards (255) and completions (21).

• Gahanna limited New Albany to six first downs in the first half and gave up only four more after the break. The Eagles were just 1-for-11 on third-down conversions and punted nine times in addition to committing two turnovers.

julrey@thisweeknews.com  

@UlreyThisWeek 

NEW ALBANY: 0-17-7-0–24

GAHANNA LINCOLN: 10-7-8-13–38

GL—Hubbard 59 run (Huliba kick)

GL—Huliba 32 FG

NA—Blocked punt, recovered by Mabatah in end zone (Schuler kick)

GL—Hubbard 11 pass from Ward (Huliba kick)

NA—Schuler 37 FG

NA—Manville 1 run (Schuler kick)

GL—Shahid 34 pass from Ward (King pass from J. Bushelman)

NA—Manville 36 pass from Garver (Schuler kick)

GL—Shahid 32 pass from Ward (pass failed)

GL—Hubbard 39 run (Huliba kick)

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Gahanna tops New Albany in Central Ohio high school football