Gahanna Lincoln scored 35 unanswered points after falling behind early and routed rival New Albany 35-3 on Friday, Oct. 2, in front of the Homecoming crowd at GLHS Stadium.

The win pushed the Golden Lions to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the OCC-Ohio division. New Albany fell to 5-2 and 1-1 in league play.

New Albany struck first. Linebacker Brandon Mabatah recovered a Gahanna fumble on the game's opening play, and four snaps later Blake Barr drilled a 38-yard field goal just 1:20 into the contest.

That was the last time the Eagles led.

Gahanna answered when quarterback Grey Kegley hit Carter James on a short screen pass that James turned into a 35-yard touchdown, capping a three-play drive set up after Tank Rhodes sacked New Albany quarterback Drew Jackson at the 2-yard line. Kegley then found tight end Jayden Elston for a 2-yard scoring strike at the end of a 14-play march that included two fourth-down conversions, making it 14-3.

On the very next play from scrimmage, defensive back Kaiden Farris jumped a Jackson pass and returned it 31 yards for a pick-six, stretching the lead to 21-3 with 3:40 left in the first half.

Gahanna's defense held New Albany to seven rushing yards and 65 total yards in the first half, according to Yahoo Sports. Jackson was 6-of-11 for 58 yards with two interceptions before halftime. Through six games entering the contest, the Lions had allowed just 39 points total. Linebacker Howard Bates led the unit with 36 tackles, while Taiwan Johnson had five tackles for loss and two sacks, according to cleveland.com.

Kegley opened the second half by hitting a wide-open Marki Wallace for a 40-yard touchdown on the Lions' first offensive snap, ballooning the margin to 28-3. Wallace finished with four catches for 106 yards. Kellen Rachal's 19-yard rushing touchdown with 3:12 remaining in the fourth quarter triggered the running clock and set the final score.

Kegley finished the fame 14-of-20 for 194 yards and three touchdowns. Entering the game, he had completed 66 of 105 passes for 850 yards and six touchdowns on the season, with two more scores on the ground. Running back Leon Cummings had carried 92 times for 546 yards and six touchdowns.

The matchup pitted two ranked programs. The Columbus Dispatch had Gahanna at No. 3 and New Albany at No. 7 in its Central Ohio Top 10 entering the week.

Head coach Bruce Ward, who became Gahanna Lincoln's all-time winningest coach with his 91st victory on Sept. 18 at Hilliard, now sits atop the Division I, Region 3 playoff bracket with an unbeaten squad. Evan Murfield led New Albany's receivers with four catches for 50 yards.

Gahanna has now won six straight in the rivalry and leads the all-time series 22-3.