Gallipolis Steals Logan Share of the SEOAL Title

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Gallia Academy, true to championship form, found a way to win. The Chieftains, winners of 6 straight games VS Gallia Academy, winners of 4 straight SEOAL titles, and the only team to beat Gallia Academy in the SEOAL the past 3 seasons, led the Blue Devils 3-0 with three minutes to go. Then Gallia Academy did what they had to do to win. They made a big play. DB Cole Haggerty picked off Logan's Dave Ellis and proceeded to return the ball 55-yards for the game winning touchdown.

The Logan defense played their game of the season. The Chieftains did again. This season Logan has held the league's two top scoring offenses to zero points. But once again, the Logan offense struggled against a solid defense.

Logan had two scoring oppertunities in the second quarter after neither team did much in the first quarter. The first field goal attempt ended in a botched snap. Kicker Jonathan Pippen raced toward the endzone, but was stopped short. At the end of the first half, Austin Rohr ripped off a 51-yard run that got Logan inside the 20-yard line. A 36-yard Jonathan Pippen field goal ended the half with Logan on top 3-0. It looked like that would be enough.

Logan had one other oppertunity in the third quarter. A nice drive came down to a 4 and 1 from the Gallia 25-yard line. But Gallia's defense sniffed out a Dave Ellis QB sneak, and the drive ended.

Gallia's only real threat came midway through the fourth period. Gallia Academy blocked a Josh Sturgell punt and recovered on the Logan 12-yard line. Ty Simmons pushed to the 6 yard line on 1st down, and to the 5 on second. On third down though, the Chieftain "D" caused a fumble, and DB Patick Howe pounced on it, keeping Logan's lead alive.

Logan's offense gained 218 yards of offense. Only 26 of those came through the air on 3 of 10 passing. Austin Rohr was his usual dominating self. Rohr carried the pigskin 30 times for 150 yards. Unfortunately for Logan, he failed to reach the endzone for the third straight game. Steve Call carried 11 times for 40 yards. Call also caught 2 passes for 11 yards.

The Blue Devils "O" was held to just 148 total yards. Travis McKinniss completed just 5-15 passes for 61 yards. Ty Simmons, the league's leading rusher, was held to just 80 yards on 21 carries. Simmons had averaged nine yards per carry coming into the game.

Congratulations for Gallia Academy and Marietta for sharing the SEOAL Championship in 2002.

To the LHS Seniors, thank you for another great season of Logan football. You've been a part of some of the highest highs, and unfortunetly you've now learned how it feels to be a part of some of the lows. But you have no reason to hang your heads. Some of you were called to do some things you hadn't planned on, some of you may have lost starting spots to younger kids. But none of you quit, and you made the school and community proud to call you "Chieftains." Thanks in large part to you and your successes, the bar at LHS has now been risen. The expectations are high - Win the SEOAL, Make the Playoffs, Finish 10-0. These standards have come as a result of your success. Take pride in them, and remember you had a fine career while wearing the purple and white.

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