Upper Arlington — When the Wildcats struck first just eight minutes in, Hilliard Davidson Head Coach Pat Billman knew his team had seized control of Tuesday’s game against Upper Arlington.
“We don’t score off of corners very often, so it was nice to get that first set piece,” Billman said. “I think once we got that first goal, it opened the floodgates and we knew we had this.”
Zak Gill delivered a perfectly timed header off a corner kick to give Hilliard Davidson a 1-0 lead, and the Wildcats never looked back, building a 3-0 advantage by halftime with goals from Gill, Jarrett Billing, and Oscar Romero.
Upper Arlington finally broke through in the 50th minute when Jonas Brown capitalized on a long pass that flipped the field, slipping past the Davidson keeper to put the Golden Bears on the board.
However, Davidson quickly shut the door on any comeback hopes when Cole Booker struck in the 53rd minute, followed by Gill’s second goal of the night with 20 minutes remaining to seal a 5-1 Wildcats victory. The win also secured their first OCC–Central title since 2022.
“It feels great, winning the OCC is one of the goals,” Billman said. “We were the best team in Hilliard, we were the best in the OCC, and now it is time to recalibrate for the road ahead.”
The accomplishment comes after a rough four-game losing streak in September that threatened to derail their season, a stretch in which Davidson was outscored 13-2 and took a tough OCC loss to Dublin Coffman.
They rebounded with a win over Olentangy Liberty and finished the job against Upper Arlington on Tuesday, something Billman credits to the culture at Davidson.
“Resiliency is one of our culture characteristics, and you have to be resilient,” Billman said. “We knew that four games weren’t going to define us. To finish on a three-game winning streak to be OCC champions feels nice.”
After closing out the regular season on Thursday, the Wildcats will shift focus to the playoffs, opening their postseason journey against Marysville on October 15.
Hilliard Davidson hopes to make a deeper run than in recent years, but with a path that includes Marysville and potentially Olentangy Liberty in the district round, Billman’s squad can’t afford to look too far ahead.
“It is important to take time and appreciate what we have accomplished here,” Billman said. “With that said, we have to take things one game at a time. We have to be consistent, and get to Wednesday because we still have a game on Thursday to play.”
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