By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News Sports Editor
LOGAN — Players and coaches who make up the immediate Logan Chieftain football family didn’t necessarily share in the playoff excitement that enveloped Logan Chieftain Stadium Friday night.

And that was just fine with them. The Chieftains fully expected to be in the state Division II playoffs when they got under way Friday night, and they fully expect to achieve plenty of success along the way.

They dispatched visiting Dublin Jerome 23-7 for the Chieftains’ first-ever home playoff victory and for just the third post-season win in school history.
Yet while that is all well and good for the undefeated (11-0) Chieftains, they have bigger fish to fry.

“We got them out of that mode about being excited just being in the playoffs… I’ve been preaching that all week,” Logan coach Dale Amyx said afterward. “I said to them ‘you expected to be here… we expected you to be here… and everybody in the stands expected you to be here. This is another game, and we need to win and move on.

“They bought into that,” he added. “There was no (celebratory) soaking the coaches or anything like that after the game. They all feel this is the first step (in the playoffs) and now we have to take another step.”

That next step is about as big as it gets. The Chieftains, seeded third in Region 7 and ranked No. 5 in the final state Associated Press poll, play second-seeded and second-ranked Louisville (also 11-0), picked by many to win the state title, next Friday in a regional semifinal. The neutral site for that game will be announced Sunday.

Dublin Jerome (6-5), which squeaked its way into the region’s No. 6 seed despite a mediocre overall record, gave the Chiefs all they could handle most of the game.

The Celtics even became the first team to score on the Purple & White in the second quarter all season when Connor Rosenbaum capped off an 11-play, 73-yard scoring drive with a 7-yard run at the 10:39 mark.

That touchdown and subsequent extra point drew the Celtics within 13-7, and the Chiefs knew they were in for a tight game.

“We came into this game knowing we could win,” said senior defensive end Jon Neff. Jerome “played some pretty good teams in the (Ohio Capital Conference) around Columbus, and when you get into the playoffs anything can happen.”

What happened Friday night was that the Logan defense, with Neff recording three quarterback sacks and chasing Jerome signal-caller Kevin Jackson practically down nearby state Route 328, shut the Celtics out the rest of the way.

Jerome had a couple more scoring opportunities, but Logan forced six punts, stopped two drives on downs and picked off a pass on the Celtics’ final nine offensive series. All told, Jerome punted the ball nine times Friday night.

“(Jackson) is a great runner and he got outside me a few times — he made me get yelled at when coach Amyx ripped me a couple times — but I did what I could,” Neff said. “(Assistant) coach (Pat) Walsh told me to get some pressure on him, and I tried.”

And he succeeded. He also had plenty of help from fellow defenders Cary Maclaughlin, Stephen Miller, Zach Adams and Michael Snider, among others.

“Our defense just played great,” Amyx beamed. “We bailed ourselves out holding them on a fourth down (and with an) interception, and I think holding that team to seven points is big. The defense has just done a great job, especially the last two weeks.

“(Jerome) had good coverage and did some things we hadn’t seen,” he added. “That was probably the first team we played this year, maybe other than Chillicothe or Zanesville, that had enough skill to match us.”

Logan tailback Clay Morgan ripped off a 60-yard run on the Chiefs’ second possession of the game to get the Purple & White deep into Jerome territory before quarterback Patrick Angle went 26 yards with a keeper to the Jerome 2-yard line.

Morgan then bulled off right tackle for a touchdown with 6:18 left in the opening period to give Logan the lead.

“We went in thinking we could run the ball and that’s what we came out doing,” Amyx noted. “Then they began putting more (defenders) in the box and that kind of hurt us, so we went outside and hit the quicker passes and started moving the ball that way.”

It looked like the Chiefs might be on the verge of breaking the game open when they went 75 yards on nine plays to paydirt on their next possession.

Angle hit Jaushua Huntsberger with a big 29-yard pass play down the right sideline to get the Chiefs into scoring position. The duo hooked up again moments later, with Huntsberger making a tough catch in traffic at the goal line, to complete a 5-yard scoring play.

Logan led 13-0 with 1:51 to play in the opening period.

The Jerome defense stiffened the rest of the half, however. After the Celtics pulled within 13-7 and then forced a Logan punt, Miller and Neff snuffed out a Jerome drive by sacking Jackson deep in Dublin territory.

Logan’s punt-return team then pressured Jerome punter Eric Ruhl into a 3-yard punt and the Chiefs took over at the Jerome 18. But they couldn’t punch the ball across, however, and settled for Ronnie Burcham’s 31-yard field goal with 1:27 left in the half.

They took that subsequent 16-7 lead into the locker room at the intermission when Huntsberger picked off a Jackson pass at the Jerome 30-yard line in the waning seconds of the half.

“I’ve been waiting all year for someone to start picking on me,” said Huntsberger, listed generously as a 5-foot-10 cornerback. “I’m the smallest guy out there. I figured when the playoffs came that would probably happen.”

On offense “we felt pretty confident we could do most of the things we wanted to do (but) their defense adjusted really well,” he continued. “We ran the ball well on them early and they adjusted. We tried to go back to our passing game and their defense did a great job stopping us.

“But our offensive line got back into gear, Patrick and Clay ran the ball great, and our receivers made a lot big plays.”

So did the defense.

“With the way our defense is playing, (if) we get a decent lead on a team we’ll be able to seal the deal and get the job done,” said Amyx. “I like the way our team kept its composure, even after (Jerome) scored.

“We were able to come back with a nice drive and kick a field goal,” he added. “That’s a two-score difference… and with the way our defense was playing, that was big.”

The two teams combined for four punts, one Logan turnover and one big Chieftain fourth-down defensive stand during a scoreless third quarter.

After Jerome’s Allan Wagner picked off an Angle pass and returned it to the Logan 45-yard line, the Celtics worked their way to the Logan 20, where they were faced with fourth-and-2. But the Logan defense stopped Steve Mehrer inches short of the first down — it looked like the officials spotted the ball short of where he appeared to go down — and Logan took over.

Jerome got to the Logan 30 late in the quarter but was hurt by a 10-yard holding penalty and never really threatened again. Jackson threw 10 consecutive incomplete passes at one juncture of the second half and finished 11-for-39 on the night.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs finally started a clinching touchdown drive late in the third period, going 86 yards on eight plays and scoring a little more than a minute into the final stanza.

With the ball at the Jerome 22, Angle threw high and deep for Mason Mays in the left corner of the end zone. Mays made a leaping catch — his school record-tying 13th TD reception of the season — to put the game away.

Morgan finished with 127 yards rushing on 19 carries while Angle completed 18-of-31 passes for 206 yards, hitting six different receivers in the process and continuing his streak of throwing a TD pass in each game this season. The Chiefs finished close to their season average with 376 total yards.

To a man, the Chieftains know they have their work cut out for them next week against Louisville, last year’s state runner-up, which has scored 415 points this season, including 53 in the first half alone Friday night against Independence.

And also, to a man, they also exude not only confidence but a desire to get back onto the practice field and start making preparations.

“We’re 11-0. We want to be 12-0, and (the players) want to keep it going… they know they get another week of hard practice,” Amyx said. “They’re excited about doing something only one other Logan team has done in history, and that’s get to the second round.

“We got into some tough spots tonight and had to dig our way out,” he added. “The game wasn’t in hand like we’ve had in some games. We had to fight through it. But that’s playoff football, and it gets tougher and tougher every week.

“We’ve told them from day one ‘your goal is to be state champions.’ Our motto — stealing it from Ron Hinton at Amanda-Clearcreek — is ‘if you’re in it, you can win it.’ “

Neff and Huntsberger both agreed.

“We’re going to come in Monday ready to work,” Neff said. “The coaches will have film ready and we’ll be ready to go.”

“I’m really proud to be a part of this team and a part of this program,” Huntsberger said. “Eleven-and-0… that’s awesome. Now we have to keep it going. We know Louisville is a great team and we’ll have to come ready to play next week. We’ll have to study the film hard.

“But this is why we put all the time in during two-a-days and put in all the hard work during the off-season,” he added. “For next week’s game.”

Read More in the Logan Daily News.