The Buckeye Valley football team more than held its own, but things turned in visiting Delaware Hayes’ favor down the stretch as Favour Akih scored two of his three touchdowns in the second half to spark a 28-14 season-opening win Friday night.

With the game tied 7-all, the Pacers (1-0) took the lead for good late in the third quarter.

After both defenses got stops to start the second half, Hayes took over at its own 32 with 6:36 left in the quarter.

Akih started the drive with a nine-yard burst and, after he picked up a pair of first downs with short runs, quarterback Caleb Rowe connected on a screen pass to move the ball inside the 20. His next completion, an 11-yard TD pass to Garrett Brown, gave his team the lead for good as Chaz Sakala followed it up with the extra point to make it a 14-7 game with 1:43 left in the third.

Hayes all but sealed the deal early in the fourth when, on a fourth-and-one play from the 30, Akih made a cut in the backfield to make a couple Barons miss before streaking up the middle for a 30-yard score.

The Barons, who played hard for first-year coach Grant Georgic from start to finish, answered on the ensuing series — a drive which culminated in a 30-yard TD pass from Nathan Huss to Hayden Mays with 5:42 to play.

Gradin Gentner added the PAT to make it a 20-14 game, but that’s as close as it would get.

The Pacers all but sealed the deal on the next drive when Favour scampered in from 17 yards out for his third score of the night at the 2:09 mark of the fourth.

The Pacers were simply too much down the stretch. Early on, though, the Barons more than hung around.

Neither team was able to move the ball early as BV fumbled away the first possession of the game and the Pacers responded with a quick three-and-out to give the ball right back.

The same didn’t hold true on special teams, though, as BV returned the ensuing punt for a touchdown.

The Barons’ Zaine Furr, after letting it bounce once, fielded the punt inside his own five-yard line, made one man miss and was off to the races. Gentner added the point-after attempt to make it a 7-0 game with 9:09 left in the first quarter.

The teams took turns trading possessions for the rest of the half, with the defenses continuing their solid play. BV forced a fumble on Hayes’ second possession — Owen Hall recovered the loose ball at the Pacer 18 — but Hayes was able to wiggle off the hook with a stop on a fourth-and-seven play from the 33.

Rowe was sacked on the first play of the ensuing drive, then picked off by Tristan Pemberton on the second, giving the ball back to BV in enemy territory.

The Pacer D, aided by a big tackle for loss by Romin Rivers, stood tall again, though, getting another fourth-down stop just before the end of the quarter.

Hayes looked to crack the scoring column early in the second, but a bad snap prevented Sakala from even attempting the 33-yard field goal he trotted onto the field to kick. The snap went wide of its target, with BV taking over at midfield after the miscue.

BV drove into field goal range on its ensuing possession, but couldn’t convert either as Gentner’s 17-yard attempt was blocked.

It was then, with less than four minutes left in the opening half, the Pacers finally got going. Rowe hit Brown to move the chains on a huge third-and-eight conversion and, on the very next play, Akih found a crease and raced 77 yards down the sideline for what turned out to be the game-tying score. Sakala nailed to extra point to even things, 7-7, with 2:46 left in the half.

From there, Akih and Hayes had all the answers.