LEWIS CENTER — The Battle of Olentangy belongs to the Pioneers again. Olentangy Orange scored at least one touchdown in all four quarters on Friday night, Oct. 16, and beat Olentangy 35-24 in Week 9, its third straight win in the rivalry.
The Michigan State commit in the Pioneers’ backfield made sure of it. Quarterback Levi Davis accounted for three touchdowns — two rushing and one passing — as Orange built a lead the Braves spent the whole second half chasing.
Davis’s biggest play came through the air: a 72-yard touchdown pass to Lucas Fickel that stretched the Pioneers’ advantage when Olentangy had crept back within reach. Fickel also ran for a touchdown, giving Orange two players who beat the Braves both ways.
Running back Cohen Weaver added the Pioneers’ other score, and Orange’s scoring in every quarter — a steady drumbeat rather than one big run — kept the Braves from ever seizing the momentum for long.
Few regular-season games in central Ohio carry this one’s weight. The two schools sit minutes apart in southern Delaware County, their students share neighborhoods, youth leagues and offseason training fields, and the winner takes a year of bragging rights that follows both rosters everywhere they go. Friday’s crowd had the size and volume of a playoff game, and the play on the field — touchdowns in every quarter, a 72-yard strike, a fourth-quarter answer every time the Braves threatened — lived up to it.
Olentangy refused to go quietly. Quarterback Luke Chilicki threw two touchdown passes, both to Will Cooper, and kicker Justin Forde connected on a 33-yard field goal as the Braves kept the rivalry respectable into the final minutes.
But the Braves’ defense never found an answer for Davis, and the 11-point final margin reflected a game Orange controlled from its first score to its last. The win is the Pioneers’ third straight in the series, a streak that has tilted Delaware County’s most personal rivalry firmly toward Lewis Center.
Both teams close the regular season next Friday, Oct. 23. Olentangy Orange travels to Dublin Coffman, while Olentangy plays at Hilliard Bradley, with playoff seeding in Division I, Region 2 on the line in both finales.
