By CRAIG DUNN Sports Editor [email protected]

LOGAN — Mainly because they haven’t had all of their primary personnel on the field for a single snap this fall, the Logan Chieftains are still trying to figure out their identity as a football team.

Hopefully, they have some reinforcements on the way.

The Purple & White hope to get senior wide receiver/defensive back Nick Maniskas and sophomore running back/DB Cole Baron back in time to play Friday (7:30 p.m. kickoff) when they host the Newark Wildcats in Logan Chieftain Stadium.

By CRAIG DUNN Sports Editor [email protected]

LOGAN — Thanks to improvements in technology, tracking defensive statistics has become much easier in recent seasons.

Outside of interceptions, all-time Logan High School records for tackles and assists do not exist. They weren’t even kept for many, many seasons, and in several others the numbers were sketchy at best.

Assists can especially be construed in different ways depending upon the coaching staff and/or the sheer eye of the beholder who compiled them.

That said, Dean Jordan’s 28 total tackles — seven solos and a whopping 21 assists — against Teays Valley have to rank right up there in the all-time LHS upper echelon. Especially the 21 assists.

Pass defense: The Chiefs have yet to face a pass-first offense, but that’s about to change. Newark’s Grant Russell would likely be an All-Ohio quarterback if he played most of his games in southeast Ohio; instead, seven of his 10 games each season are in the rugged Ohio Capital Conference Ohio Division. Getting Nick Maniskas and Cole Baron back to rotate into the defensive backfield would be a big boost.

Passing game: Logan’s pocket passing game took a serious blow when Lane Little was sidelined with an injury, and last week’s game against Teays Valley was somewhat of a trial-by-fire for wildcat-formation quarterback Nick Kost. While not a pocket passer, Kost is a tough young man and an excellent athlete. As Logan coach Billy Burke has pointed out, he’ll need time to roll out and throw the ball to keep Newark from stacking nine or 10 defenders along the line of scrimmage.


Fewer penalties: Granted, last week’s officiating crew tossed laundry all over the place, and a lot of it — both against the Chieftains and Teays Valley Vikings — seemed unwarranted. The Chiefs have been pretty good thus far about limiting their mental mistakes, and it will need to continue.


Ball control: While obviously easier said than done, the Chiefs simply have to find a way to at least break even in time of possession — and/or plays from scrimmage — to keep this game from becoming a shootout. If it’s anything like last year’s game in Newark (a 35-32 Newark victory), they’ll have a tough time winning it.


Continue improvement: Southeastern Ohio Athletic League play begins in a few weeks and, while the season’s first five games are anything but exhibitions, and the results are important, the Chiefs need to continue their steady improvement going into what might be a wide-open SEOAL race.


— compiled by sports editor Craig Dunn

By SPENCER WAUGH for The Logan Daily News

NEWARK — Logan coach Billy Burke has talked during the pre-season, and through the first two weeks, about the ability to adjust his defense based on the opponent.

That flexibility has only been challenged by personnel, thanks to the run-heavy offenses played by both Lancaster (five pass attempts) and Teays Valley (eight).

Friday night, when Logan plays the second of a two-game series with the Newark Wildcats at Logan Chieftain Stadium, it’s not out of the question for the Wildcats to look to the aerial route 40 times.

Grant Russell (6-4, 215, senior) completed 24-of-47 passes for 265 yards last week against Westerville North and became the school’s all-time career leader in passing yardage.

Russell is a four-year starter and the key to the Wildcat offense. Russell passed for 241 yards in last year’s win over Logan.

Logan held to zero first downs, minus-9 yards in first half of penalty marred non-league loss

By CRAIG DUNN Sports Editor [email protected]

LOGAN — It’s awfully difficult to swing momentum in your favor when you can’t establish any in the first place.

Such was the case for the Logan Chieftains — a team already in transition two weeks into the young football season — in a 26-13 non-league setback at the hands of visiting Teays Valley Friday night in Logan Chieftain Stadium.

Teays Valley (2-0) dominated the Chiefs (0-2) in the first half. The Vikings’ 20-6 halftime advantage could have been more substantial had an officiating crew that must have thought it was getting paid by the penalty not called back a pair of TV touchdown runs.

The mess of laundry on the field was ugly, the Chiefs’ inability to tackle in open space was ugly, and the numbers were ugly, especially in the first half.

By CRAIG DUNN Sports Editor [email protected]

LOGAN — Win or lose, new Logan coach Billy Burke has an interesting — and logical — way of dealing with the aftermath of a football game.

"We have a 24-hour rule," Burke said earlier this week. "For 24 hours, you celebrate the win or you beat yourself up about the loss — then you have to turn the page and focus on the next opponent. And I think we've turned that page.

"I look at my watch every time I get done speaking to them on Friday night to see exactly what time tomorrow night they're allowed to turn the page," he added with a chuckle.

For the Chiefs, 10 p.m. Saturday couldn't arrive soon enough last weekend.

That’s when it was time for the Purple & White to put the 57-7 shellacking they absorbed at the hands of the Lancaster Golden Gales in the rear-view mirror and start focusing on their week-two foe, the Teays Valley Vikings.

By SPENCER WAUGH for the Logan Daily News ASHVILLE — An unfamiliar opponent comes to Logan on Friday night for Hall of Fame Night festivities in the form of the Teays Valley Vikings.

Despite being two of the very few Division II or larger high schools south and east of Columbus, this will be the first meeting on the gridiron between TVHS and the Chieftains.

Coached by Steve Evans, the Vikings are coming off a 52-22 rout of perennial playoff qualifier Westfall. Evans, in his fifth year overall at Teays Valley, has guided the Vikings to back-to-back 5-5 seasons.

The Pickaway Countians will bring a triple-option offense to Logan Chieftain Stadium on Friday night, adding a small twist on the wing-T offense the Purple & White faced last week against Lancaster.

Sophomore Drew Pennington (6-0, 167) completed four passes last week — three for touchdowns — in his first start at quarterback for the Blue and Gold. Cody Seison (6-0, 177, senior) and Mason Kauffeld (6-1, 172, sophomore) could also see time under center.

Landon Foreman (5-11, 196, senior) led the Vikings in rushing last season with 623 yards and will start at fullback while Travis Strawser (5-10, 172, senior) will get his share of carries as well. Strawser led TV last week with 78 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

Seth Pettibone (5-6, 133, senior), Anthony Jones (6-2, 177, junior), Tyler Robinson (6-1, 192, junior), and Jordan Haney (5-11, 196, senior) will all play in the wingback spots for Evans’ offense.

Tyler Primmer (6-4, 190, senior) caught 38 passes for 489 yards as a junior and picked up where he left off with three catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns last week against Westfall. Matt Call (6-2, 184, senior) and Rashaad Powell (5-11, 155, senior) are other pass-catching threats.

The offensive line was a strength entering the season and that group got the job done last week. Neal Davis (6-2, 257, sophomore) is a newcomer at center, but the Vikings have experience in tackles Clayton Seymour (6-4, 252, senior) and Luke Maynard (6-3, 217, junior) and guards C.J. Kinzer (6-3, 258, senior) and Jake Gordon (5-8, 182, senior). Thad Smith (6-0, 212, senior) and Tom Cain (6-3, 247, junior) add depth.

Teays Valley will line up in a 3-4 defense. Like the offense, the rotation on the defensive line is solid, but Evans entered the season looking to shore up the linebacking unit.

Maynard, Cain, Davis, Kinzer and Gordon will rotate along the defensive line. At inside linebacker, a pair of former defensive linemen will start in Seymour and Smith.

Robinson and Kauffeld will start at outside linebacker. Call can play either outside or inside linebacker adding depth.

Powell and Jones will be the cornerbacks while Haney, T.D. Gantner (6-2, 168, senior), and Seison will rotate at the two safety positions.

Smith handles the placekicking duties for the Vikings while Primmer will be the punter.

Logan football historian Spencer Waugh of loganfootball.com previews the Chiefs’ opponent every Thursday in The Logan Daily News.