Hilliard Darby buried Miamisburg 44-14 in the OHSAA Division I Region 2 first round Friday, Oct. 30, rolling up 37 unanswered points in the second half to earn the Panthers' first playoff win since 2023.

Darby trailed 7-14 at halftime. Then the ground game took over.

Senior running back Kohen Kornegay led the attack with 18 carries for 132 yards and a touchdown, according to Virtual Box Score. Braylon Griffith scored four rushing touchdowns on runs of 1, 13, 5 and 18 yards, powering the second-half surge. Ameer Al Ani added a 17-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.

Kornegay opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 4-yard rushing touchdown. Miamisburg junior quarterback Finn Freshwater answered with a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes, including a 17-yard strike to Brayden Carpenter, to give the Vikings a 14-7 halftime lead.

The Panthers flipped the game in the third quarter. Griffith punched in a 1-yard score to tie it at 14. A Miamisburg punt then resulted in a safety, giving Darby a 16-14 edge. Griffith followed with a 13-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 23-14 heading into the fourth.

Darby kept pounding. Griffith scored twice more in the fourth quarter before Al Ani capped the rout.

The Panthers ran the ball on nearly every snap. Senior quarterback Jonah Marsh completed 5 of 9 passes for 54 yards. Senior Cedric Holman Jr. caught three passes for 43 yards.

Freshwater finished 15 of 22 for 110 yards, two touchdowns and one interception for Miamisburg, which entered the game on a four-game losing streak with a 4-6 record.

The win improves Darby to 7-4 under second-year head coach Brad Burchfield. The Panthers went 3-7 in 2025 and had not posted a winning season since 2021, according to the Darby football program's records.

Kornegay entered the playoffs with 1,169 rushing yards through nine regular-season games, making him Darby's first 1,000-yard rusher during the regular season since Blake Horvath in 2021, according to the Darby football website.

In other Hilliard playoff action, Hilliard Bradley fell to Beavercreek 24-21 in a Region 2 first-round game, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Darby visits top-seeded Toledo Whitmer on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m.