By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News

LOGAN — Coaches Dale Amyx of Logan and Phil Mauro of Canal Winchester exchanged some football talk when they happened to meet by chance one day last summer.

” ‘Wouldn’t it be something to play (each other) in the playoffs?’ ” Amyx recalls saying.

It will indeed come to pass Friday (7:30 p.m.) when the Chieftains and Indians hook up in an opening-round Division II Region 7 playoff game in Logan Chieftain Stadium.
It’s the first step on what the Chiefs hope is a five-week journey that ends Friday, Dec. 4, in Massillon’s Paul Brown Stadium… but, as they’ve done so well all season, they’re not looking ahead to the second step until the first is complete.

A Logan-Canal Winchester matchup couldn’t have happened until this season since this is the first time the two schools have ever been in the same playoff division, much less the same region.

While the Chiefs dropped from Division I to Division II prior to the 2007 season, this is Canal Winchester’s first year in Division II after climbing from Division III.

Both teams are playoff-tested, so neither team should have a deer-in-the-headlights look when they meet Friday night.

There’s a lot of interest state-wide in this game. It’s Friday night’s feature game on SportsTime Ohio, which will carry the game live, and the Ohio News Network, which will show the game via tape delay.

The undefeated (10-0) Chiefs, making the school’s eighth all-time appearance (and their fourth straight) have a bit of an edge when it comes to playoff experience. This will be the fourth playoff game in three seasons for this group of Logan seniors.

Canal Winchester is appearing in the playoffs for the fifth time in school history.

“We know (the playoffs) were expected. We’ve bought ourselves five more weeks of football,” said Amyx. “These seniors who are in their third year on the varsity have been in the playoffs before and they know what it’s like.”

The Indians (8-2) were in the DIII playoffs last fall when they lost an opening-round game at Chillicothe, 13-7.

The two teams have one common opponent: Hamilton Township, whom the Chiefs defeated 49-7 in week three and the Indians blanked 43-0 in a week-eight Mid-State League Buckeye Division game. But since the Rangers were 0-10 this season, it’s hard to use that game for comparison purposes.

However, the Chiefs are also familiar with CW foes Bexley, Amanda-Clearcreek, Circleville and Logan Elm.

To that end, the Chieftain coaching staff has been burning the midnight oil breaking down game films of the Indians. They’ve seen the two games Canal Winchester lost (Westerville Central and Amanda-Clearcreek) and a late-season game (Logan Elm) the Indians won.

And Amyx came away impressed.

“They’re a well-balanced team on offense,” he said. “I can say they’re the most balanced team we’ve seen all year. They’ll mix things up more than any other team we’ve played. We’ll have to make a little bit of adjusting on defense.”

The Indians lost 17-13 to Westerville Central in week three and 7-0 to Amanda-Clearcreek in week six. Westerville Central, a Division I school, went 5-5 while Amanda-Clearcreek finished 10-0 and claimed the top playoff seed in Division IV Region 15.

“I think against Central they may have been out-athleted, but they still had a chance to win the game,” Amyx said. “The Amanda game was played in the mud and Amanda kind of out-physicaled them, but it was only 7-0 and (the Indians) had some chances (to win) there.

“Logan Elm was up on them 20-7 at halftime but (CW) really mixed things up in the second half and came back to win,” he added.

The Indians knocked off the Braves 23-20 in week nine. Logan Elm also reached the playoffs, earning a No. 4 seed in Division III Region 12.

Amyx said Canal Winchester has a good balance of size and speed.

“I’d probably lean a little toward (comparing the Indians with) Zanesville” for speed and “something like Jackson in size, although not as big as some of their linemen,” he pointed out.

The Indians’ balance starts with quarterback Justin Whitlatch.

“In the games we saw, when they needed a big play, (Whitlatch) takes over,” Amyx said. “You’ll see him roll out and take off. He broke a long run against Logan Elm that helped them win that game.”

Amyx noted Canal Winchester will spread things out and get a lot of people involved on offense.

“Everyone gets a touch, not just one particular guy, and they spread things around,” Amyx said. “They do a lot of counter stuff in the backfield, and that’s something we had trouble with (particularly against Lancaster) early in the year, though we haven’t seen it as much lately. Their tailback (Michael Mainella) is a good runner and (fullback Zack Hitchens) is tough on short-yardage situations.

“They run their defense out of a 3-4 base but will walk their ends up and make it look like a 5-2,” he added, pointing out that Hitchens, a linebacker, is particularly tough.

“He’s a guy we have to look for on both sides of the ball,” Amyx said.

The Chiefs particularly wanted to see the Westerville Central and Logan Elm game films because both teams run a spread offense similar to Logan.

“We see teams moving the ball on them but we also see (the Indians) forcing them into mistakes,” he noted.

Mauro was head coach at Lancaster when the Golden Gales made their first-ever playoff appearance in 1989 and was a coach at Columbus DeSales prior to that. Amyx and Mauro have never met as head coaches.

“I think he’s the kind of coach who molds his offense around what kind of kids he has, and the gun (offense) works for them,” he said. “It’s a different look, sort of a four-deep look.”

Amyx feels the primary challenges the Indians offer are their diversity and balance.

“They don’t make a lot of mistakes, and they’re very opportunistic,” he said. “And those are some of the reasons they’re 8-2.”

On the other side of the coin, the Chiefs are 10-0 for a lot of reasons as well, particularly their ability to focus game-to-game on a particular opponent.

Still, it’s no secret the bar for success is set as high as it can get in the Chieftain locker room.

“We have a great opportunity to keep it going… and our goal is a state championship,” Amyx said.

Friday night’s game will be on SportsTime Ohio, which will carry the game live, and the Ohio News Network, which will show the game via tape delay.