With his Cavaliers trailing 16-13, Knights took a keeper up the middle before cutting down the left sideline to find what appeared to be a wide-open lane to the Logan end zone 72 yards from the line of scrimmage.

And there’s no catching the league’s top football athlete in the open field, right? Right?
Wrong.

Chieftain cornerback Mason Mays, not giving up on the play, chased down the Chillicothe standout five yards short of the goal line to preserve Logan’s precarious lead. Then, four plays later, the Logan defense kept Knights out of the end zone on a fourth-and-a-foot quarterback sneak to completely snuff out the scoring threat.

There were more obstacles along the way, but the Chieftains had turned away the biggest threat to their dominance of Southeastern Ohio Athletic League football. They held on for a 23-13 victory Friday night at Chillicothe’s Herrnstein Field for their fifth-consecutive league crown.

It also marked the 29th consecutive SEOAL win for the Chieftains, who earned the school’s 24th all-time conference championship — four better than Jackson’s 20 — for top honors in the league’s 84-year history.

The 2008 Chiefs (10-0) thus finished a regular-season football schedule undefeated for the sixth time in school history, joining the 1934, 1964, 1977, 2000 and 2001 teams in reaching that rare achievement.

And the football fun isn’t over — hopefully not by a long shot — as Logan hosts a Division II Region 7 playoff opponent still to be determined next Friday night in Logan Chieftain Stadium.

The Chiefs will enter the post-season tournament as the region’s No. 3 seed and will host the No. 6 seed, which appears to be either Columbus Watterson (5-4) — if the Eagles knock off state powerhouse Youngstown Cardinal Mooney tonight — or Dublin Jerome (6-4) if they don’t.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association will announce official playoff pairings Sunday morning.

But today’s the time to celebrate one of the hardest-earned championships in school history. Nothing about this winner-take-all game was easy for either the Chieftains or a very talented and game Chillicothe (7-3) team which, despite the loss, will still host a Division III playoff game next weekend as well.

First off, the weather played the biggest role. It rained nearly all day in southeast Ohio, including Ross County, and the game was played in a steady rain until early in the second half.

“The weather was a big factor tonight,” said Logan coach Dale Amyx. “I think it affected us quite a bit on fumbles and things like that… but it worked both ways.”

The weather and field position pretty much spiked Logan to a quick 8-0 lead.

Backed up to the shadow of their own goal line, the Cavaliers were forced to punt and Logan’s Seth Sigler blocked punter Drew Basil’s kick through the back of the end zone for a safety with 9:52 left in the opening quarter.

Chieftain sophomore Zach McDaniel then returned the ensuing free kick almost untouched 64 yards for a score and an 8-0 Logan lead just 12 seconds later. Logan missed the extra point… but were the Chiefs on their way to winning in a rout?

Uh, no.

Both teams put together good drives later in the half — the Chiefs had a potential touchdown pass from quarterback Patrick Angle to fellow junior Jordan Rutter broken up at the goal line by Chillicothe’s Casey Oates on a fourth-down play early in the second stanza — and the Chiefs took that 8-0 edge into the intermission.

But, boy, did things get interesting in the second half.

With field position meaning so much in a game between two evenly-matched teams played on wet, slippery turf, the Purple & White gave six points away on the opening series of the second half.

The Chiefs went away from their spread offense on the final series of the first half and the opening series of the second to try to play power, ball-possession football. But Chillicothe forced the Chiefs to punt.

With the ball on the Logan 29, a fourth-down snap from center sailed high over Angle’s head. He tracked the ball down in the end zone, but made an inexperienced mistake and tried to kick it away. Chillicothe’s Eric Young blocked it and Isaac Beverly recovered in the end zone to draw the Cavaliers within 8-6 with 10:02 left in the third period.

“We got the ball back at the end of the first half and got pinned deep,” said Logan offensive coordinator Kelly Wolfe. “We went to the base (offense) because we didn’t want to make any mistakes there (and) got a couple first downs. We all felt we matched up well with them and we could push them around a bit and run the ball.

“We gave it a couple of attempts and it worked a little bit, but it wasn’t getting what we needed done,” he added. “So we went back to what we do best. That’s what we told the kids… we tried it, it didn’t work, and we’re going back to what we do best.

“Nobody panicked. Everything was hard tonight… but our kids kept playing and we gave ourselves a chance to make plays. That’s what we did.”

Angle began atoning for the miscue by blocking Basil’s extra-point kick — the first PAT missed by a Logan opponent all season — to keep the score 8-6.

“At first I didn’t think they were that close to me (and) I thought I could get it off,” Angle said afterward. “I probably should have just kicked it out of the end zone for a safety. That was my fault. I’ll learn from it… hopefully it won’t ever happen again.”

Chillicothe’s defense forced the Chieftains to punt on the ensuing series and the Cavaliers needed just four plays to score the lead touchdown.

Knights (147 yards on 23 carries) took a keeper around left end for a 15-yard scoring jaunt and, with Basil booting the PAT, the Chieftains trailed 13-8 — their first deficit since Lancaster kicked a field goal against them on the very first series of the season opener way back in late August.

“I was worried — I’m not going to lie about it. After they took the lead I was kind of nervous but I still thought we could pull it out,” said senior offensive and defensive lineman Cary Maclaughlin, who has played such a vital role on both sides of the ball for the Chieftains. “But when we get down I just think I’m going to be even more intense and try to fire up everybody else. I’m elected captain… that’s my job and that’s what I try to do.”

Whatever he and his teammates did certainly worked, because the Chiefs — who had been behind for all of five minutes and three seconds all season — only let that total reach 5:25.

Mays, a big-play man all night, took the kickoff 43 yards straight up the middle to put the ball in good field position at the LHS 48. Angle then connected with Mays over the middle on the very first play and, with senior split end Jaushua Huntsberger throwing a terrific screen block to keep a potential tackler at bay, took the ball down the right sideline 52 yards for a touchdown… just 22 seconds after the Chiefs had relinquished the lead.

“I give credit to my teammates,” Mays said. “They did a great job blocking. I knew we needed to make a play, and I was able to get it done.”

Angle then connected with McDaniel in the right flat for a critical two-point conversion that gave the Chiefs the lead by a field goal’s margin, 16-13.

Two Chillicothe plays later, Knights set sail toward the Logan goal line and the go-ahead score. Mays was having none of it.

“I could have sworn we had him in the backfield, but he slipped through somehow,” Mays said. “He’s a great athlete. He broke free… and I wasn’t going to stop till I got him.”

Knights may have let up just a bit as he neared the goal line, not thinking anyone would catch him. But when Mays hauled him down from behind at the Logan 5-yard line, it was a stunning turn of events.

Three plays got the Cavaliers about a foot from the Logan goal line and, instead of trying for a chip-shot, game-tying field goal, the Cavs went for the Chiefs’ jugular on fourth down. But Knights slipped a bit on the exchange from center and linebacker Zach Adams knocked him down short of the goal line to give Logan the ball on downs.

“The kid’s a great runner, no doubt,” Adams said. “That goal-line stand was the definition of the game and that turned it all around. We figured out how to tackle him.”

However, the Chiefs were not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination. The game reached the end of the third quarter with the Chiefs still in danger after two running plays netted nothing and two false-start penalties kept them bottled up on their own goal line.

On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Angle rolled deep to his left in the back of the end zone — precariously-close to the back end line — and hit tight end Jon Neff with a pass around the 15-yard line. Although he stepped out bounds at the Logan 40, the play continued and he was caught over 95 yards away near the Chillicothe 5-yard line. But the rest of the play was called back.

“That was huge,” Angle said. “They thought we were running, they were all stacked inside (and) all my options were open. Jon was wide open, Ralph Robinson was wide open coming across the middle, and I just hit Jon Neff.”

“Kelly told me he was going to run that,” Amyx said. “I said ‘okay… we’re not getting anything with the QB sneaks.’ I was all for it. It was a great call by Kelly.

“I think we turned the ball over right after that, but that got us out of a hole big-time,” he added. “That may have been the play of the game for us on offense. On defense it was hard to count how many big plays we had.”

Oates picked off an Angle pass that was tipped by a Logan receiver on the next play, but at least the Chiefs were out of the shadow of their own goal line. The Cavaliers then drove to the Logan 22, where the series stalled, and brought out Basil for a potential game-tying field goal.

But the snap from center was high and Basil slipped on the wet grass. His kick fell a few yards short of the crossbar, enabling the Chieftains to dodge another bullet.

Chillicothe still had one last round of ammunition to fire as Logan fumbled the ball away two plays later and the Cavs took over on the Logan 37 with 8:04 remaining.

Two running plays put Chillicothe at the Logan 28, facing third-and-one, before the Cavs were called for a five-yard illegal procedure penalty — and the Chiefs gave those five yards right back by jumping offsides.

But Knights fumbled the snap on third down, losing a yard, then Young was stopped a yard short on fourth-and-two and Logan took over on downs.

Angle then showed great determination in leading the Chieftains to a game-clinching insurance touchdown.

He took a keeper for 25 yards, crossing into Chillicothe territory, and picked up two more rushing first downs during the drive as the clock ticked down. He also hit Rutter with a key pass and connected with Clay Morgan in the right flat for a huge 14-yard gain and another first down.

Finally, Morgan put the icing on the championship cake by scoring on a 1-yard off-tackle run with 2:33 remaining, and Ronnie Burcham drilled the PAT kick for a 10-point lead. Mays then picked off a long third-and-14 pass by Knights, ending the Cavaliers’ final threat.

“What was good is that the kids never panicked, even when momentum was on (Chillicothe’s) side,” Amyx praised. “I never saw anybody hanging their head or anything like that. They knew we had to go out there and get to work… and they did.

“They executed on both sides of the ball and we finally got the offense going and kept the ball in our hands and not theirs,” he added. “And that (last) score was big. We drove down and scored and ate a bunch of clock. With the game on the line, how many times did our kids come through tonight?”

Plenty of times.

“That goal-line stand (and) those two fourth downs,” Amyx said, and the game “could have went the other way very easily. If Mason doesn’t make that tackle (and) if we don’t make that goal-line stand, it’s a different game.”

“It was a battle,” Maclaughlin said. “That Knights is a good, good quarterback and he’s so shifty. But we did really good shutting him down.”

Make no mistake about it, SEOAL championships don’t get old. Not for Amyx, not for the coaching staff, not for the fans, and certainly not for the players.

Obviously, not all of them have been in uniform for all of the last five titles. But they are quite aware of how much blood, sweat and tears go into winning a championship.

“Man, our hard work has paid off,” Maclaughlin said with a huge grin. “We practice really, really, really hard. I get home and I’m exhausted! They’re hard practices — and it pays off!”

“I’m just overwhelmed with emotion… I’m still crying,” Sigler said in the locker room afterward. “There’s nothing better. Time after time our defense came through and held them. It shows our character as a team… that’s what a championship team should be.”

Adams agreed.

“It shows our ability to overcome anything and we’re going to keep on doing it,” he said.

“Everybody had to contribute to this win tonight,” noted Wolfe. “Every little thing mattered. That last drive Jordan Rutter had a big catch, broke a tackle and got us into a third-and-short situation to keep a drive alive… things like that. Everybody had to contribute tonight… everybody had a part.”

Amyx has now coached the Chieftains to 12 SEOAL championships in his 19 years at the helm. While every title is special to him, he also knows how hard the Cavs pushed his team in this winner-take-all season finale.

“That Zanesville game (a 16-14 week-six win) was fairly close, but this was a big test tonight,” Amyx said. “Not that I want a game like this every week, but it’s a good game right before the playoffs. That was a playoff-type game out there tonight.”

“Tonight was a team effort, the kids played their hearts out and they weren’t going to be denied,” he added. “They wanted that league championship and they wanted to be 10-0. This was a tough one earned. Chillicothe’s an outstanding football team with a lot of weapons. I feel fortunate we were able to beat them.”

Now the Chiefs play the waiting game to find out their opening-round playoff foe.

“We have a new season starting next week,” Adams said. “We’re going for 15-0… we’re not stopping this train.”

The Chiefs have already attained three of their pre-season goals: an SEOAL championship, an undefeated regular season and a playoff berth. Now they want more.

“(Goal) number four is take (the playoffs) one game at a time,” Amyx said. “The (regular) season’s over. Next week is a new season and we want to start 1-0.

Logan Daily News correspondent Spencer Waugh contributed to this story.

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