By SPENCER WAUGH for The Logan Daily News

THE PLAINS — For the first time since 2007, the Logan Chieftains and the Athens Bulldogs will meet on the gridiron.

And while the two teams will meet in The Plains, just like they did in 2007, not much else is the same, including a completely renovated Rutter Field at Scott Riggs and Family Stadium that many Chieftain fans will be seeing for the first time.

In 2007, Logan won its fourth-straight Southeastern Ohio Athletic League championship while the Bulldogs were limping to a last-place finish before moving to the Tri-Valley Conference.

The Purple & White recorded a 12th-straight victory over their rivals by a 62-6 score. While Logan would go on to success the next two seasons, the last five years has seen the program fall from the lofty heights achieved from 1999-2009.

For the Green and Gold, however, the move to the TVC-Ohio has paid dividends.

By CRAIG DUNN Sports Editor cdunn@logandaily.com

A poll of Southeastern Ohio Athletic League media indicates the conference's 91st football championship will likely be decided Oct. 9 when the Jackson Ironmen visit the Logan Chieftains.

A panel of eight sportswriters and Internet personnel — with each conference school represented by at least one voter — picked the Ironmen to successfully defend their 2014 title, the key game being in week seven when Jackson and Logan meet in Logan Chieftain Stadium.

The annual poll was conducted by The Logan Daily News.

The poll was close, however, with Jackson (29 total points) edging Logan (27), followed by Gallia Academy (15) and Warren (9). Points were awarded on a 4-3-2-1 basis for first place through fourth, respectively.

Jackson (five) and Logan (three) garnered all of the first-place votes and both teams received all of the second-place votes as well. Gallipolis was picked for third on all but one of the ballots.

Three different teams — Gallipolis (2012), Logan (2013) and Jackson (2014) — have won the last three championships. Jackson unseated Logan as league champion with a 42-7 win last October in the Apple City en route to a 10-0 regular season.

Logan has won 26 conference championships, Jackson 23, Gallia Academy 17 and Warren one. Jackson has claimed three of the last five after Logan took five straight between 2005 and 2009.

The league is down to four members after Portsmouth departed for the Ohio Valley Conference at the conclusion of the 2014-15 school year, and charter member Gallia Academy also leaves the SEOAL for the OVC when the current 2015-16 school year ends.

While the 91st season will not be the conference's last — SEOAL administrators have determined Jackson, Logan and Warren will remain together until one of those three schools finds another league — it will be the last, at least for the near future, with at least four members.

Four schools is the fewest number of members in conference history. The league was formed in 1925 and is the longest-running non-city athletic conference in Ohio.

Veteran Logan football team takes aim at regaining SEOAL title, reaching state D2 playoffs

By CRAIG DUNN Sports Editor cdunn@logandaily.com

LOGAN — To make a pointed observation about his 2015 Logan Chieftains, head coach Billy Burke called upon the words of a pretty darn good coach who knows a thing or two about football talent.

“I read a quote from Urban Meyer several years ago along the lines of ‘you can get by with winning about half of your games on talent,’ ” Burke says, and “ ‘with a little hard work, you’ll win a couple more games. But when you have great leadership, that’s when you can start talking about championships.’

“That’s where we are,” Burke continued. “I’m happy with our leadership. The expectation is a championship of some sort; whether that’s a league title (or) a good playoff run… you never know.”

By CRAIG DUNN Sports Editor cdunn@logandaily.com

LOGAN — Seniors Bryce McBride, Isaiah Smith and Lane Little did exactly what they are expected to do — make big plays — as the Logan Chieftains hooked up with the Sheridan Generals in their final pre-season football outing Friday night.

Although Sheridan eventually won Friday's OHSAA "Jamboree" scrimmage 27-20 in Logan Chieftain Stadium, the aforementioned trio led the Purple & White to 14 quick points as Logan's first-string players outscored Sheridan's.

"We got off to a pretty fast start and I was happy with that," Logan coach Billy Burke said shortly afterward. In last Friday's scrimmage at Circleville, "we started slow but we finished well.

"I kind of have this expectation for us to be as perfect and flawless as we can be all the time, and maybe I'm a little hard on the guys about that expectation," he added, "but at the same time, that's how good I think we can be."