By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News Sports Editor

LOGAN — Woe to the coaching staff that downplays the importance of special teams.

The Logan coaching staff certainly never has… and rest assured that they never will.

A sampling of the importance of special teams:
    Seth Sigler blocked a Chillicothe punt out of the end zone for a safety on the Cavs’ first possession last week. It marked the first safety by the Chiefs or their opponents all season.    Logan opponents hadn’t missed a placement kick (extra point or field goal) all season until last Friday, when the Cavaliers’ Drew Basil, a tremendous soccer player and one of the best kickers in the state, missed both an extra point and a 39-yard field goal. The conditions were far less than ideal for the kicking game, both for placements and punting, as both teams also wound up getting a punt blocked.    Zach McDaniel’s 64-yard touchdown return on the ensuing free kick following Sigler’s blocked-punt safety counts statistically as a punt return. Mason Mays leads the team in punt-return yardage, averaging 11.9 yards per return while McDaniel and Jordan Rutter both own PR touchdowns.    Defensively, the Chiefs only allow 16.3 yards per kickoff return and 8.3 yards per punt return, with their opponents’ best efforts this season being just 33 and 17 yards, respectively, without a special-teams touchdown.    Jon Neff is averaging 38.1 yards per punt and Patrick Angle 37.8 yards per kick. Three Logan punters (Angle 58, Neff 47 and Ryan Sigler 46) have boomed a long one this season. Angle has two punts over 50 yards this fall.

    Multi-talented defender: With Chillicothe running the ball most of the time last Friday night, the Chiefs moved Angle to a defensive end to help contain quarterback Caleb Knights and halfback Eric Young and keep them from turning the corner.

“At first, I couldn’t believe I was doing it… but after I played a few snaps it all came back to me,” Angle said after the game. “It wasn’t too bad a situation.”

As a result, Angle had a season-high eight tackles (two solo) as well as two first-hits and one tackle for loss. A standout defensive end as a sophomore, the coaching staff felt Angle’s defensive talents for the 2008 team were more suited to playing safety… but it’s nice knowing the Chiefs have such flexibility to fall back upon like they did last week.

    Tackling en masse: Even though Knights threw 47 passes against them last season, the Chiefs knew he would primarily be a running threat last Friday, especially when taking into consideration the rain, slick grass and muddy field conditions.

As a result, the Chiefs did a lot of gang-tackling, which was reflected in the tackle numbers the coaching staff gleaned from the game tape. Six players were involved in at least 10 tackles: Michael Snider led the way with 17 (one solo and 16 assists), Zach Adams (two solos, 14 assists) and Cary Maclaughlin (one solo, 15 helpers) were both involved in 16, Clay Morgan (two solos, 12 assists) had 14, Stephen Miller (11 assists) 11 and Mason Mays (five solos and five assists) 10.

In addition, Neff had two sacks — bringing his season total to 11 — and Adams was involved in four tackles that resulted in lost yardage for the Cavaliers.

    Injury report: Senior Weston Andy, a starter for the Chieftains all of last season, started last Friday at left tackle as the result of an injury to sophomore Tim King. Logan coach Dale Amyx said King may be cleared to play this week but Andy will be the starter.
 
 

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