Chieftains Win Epic Battle at New Lex' Rockwell Stadium

What a great night of football we witnessed tonight. We saw tonight a great football game with lots of hard hits and two great running games. The game went right down to the wire, but when it came down to it, the Chieftains picked up their 20th straight victory 13-12.

The Chieftains struck first, after a drive in which Harden saw several carries, and Penrod completed a 24-yard pass to Chaz Kline to get the ball inside the 5. Junior Dicken caught a beautiful 6-yard TD pass from Penrod. The ensuing PAT was no good because of a bad snap. For the rest of the first quarter, both teams pushed back and forth. Both teams turned the ball over, as the Panthers lost a fumble and Penrod was intercepted.

New Lexington would strike back in the second quarter. After receiving a Logan punt on their own 29 yard line, the Panthers Drew Cannon burst up the sideline and took the ball all the way to the end-zone. The Chieftains would block the PAT, keeping the scoring even at 6. Both teams would continue to struggle offensively, and the score would still be 6s after the first half of play.

The second half started with a bang. Early in the 3rd quarter, the Panther's Drew Cannon ripped off a 71-yard TD scramble, putting the Panthers on top 12-6. New Lex's 2-point conversion try would fail. Logan wasn't done either though, as Harden returned the favor by going 60 yards on Logan's next possession, and Adam Puhl would add the extra point, and putting the Chiefs on top for good 13-12.

The Chieftains' Jason Dicken would block a punt on the Panthers next possession, but the Chiefs were unable to capitalize. Things would continue to go back and forth, until 8:21 to go in the game. New Lex took over on their own 27 yard line. New Lexington would go to Cannon on 11 straight plays, and found themselves on a 3rd and goal from the 9 yard line. Panthers QB Tyler Huffman rolled out, and was hit by linebacker Derek Harden, and subsequently fumbled the football. DB Jeremy Coakley recovered, and took off down the sideline. The ball slipped out of his hand on the 20 yard line, but luckily it bounced out of bounce. The Chiefs would get to within the 5 yard line, before a Harden fumble would give the ball back to the Panthers.

The Panthers had the ball with one minute remaining, but the Chieftain would put on the clamps. New Lexington got off one big play, an option pass from Cannon to Coleman McCoy for 37 yards. Time would then run out on the Panthers.

The Panthers's Drew Cannon ran for 169 yards on 24 carries, while Logan's Derek Harden ran for 150 yards on 21 carries. Penrod was 7-14 for 48 yards and threw one interception. New Lexington fumbled the ball 7 times, losing four, while the Chieftains fumbled 4 times, losing 3.

The player of the game for week one is Junior Jason Dicken. Dicken caught the lone TD pass, recovered 2 fumbles, sacked the quarterback twice, and blocked a punt. He was all over the field.

The Chieftains weren't perfect on the field, but their record is still 1-0. The Chieftains will start a 3 game homestand Friday when Nelsonville comes calling on Friday at 7:30. The Buckeyes are led by QB Jason Meade, and defeated the Athens Bulldogs 22-7 on Friday night.

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