With playoff hopes hanging by a fraying thread, winless Warren visits Logan Chieftain Stadium Friday night


By CRAIG DUNN Sports Editor cdunn@logandaily.com

LOGAN — This season’s Logan Chieftains football Senior Night will likely be more bittersweet than most others.
Friday night, Logan’s 19 seniors will clasp hands and take the traditional post-game Senior Walk across the Logan Chieftain Stadium field one last time after leading the Purple & White to Logan’s best football record in six years.
The Chiefs, with their post-season playoff aspirations hanging by a fraying thread, host the winless Warren Warriors in Friday’s regular-season finale.

Kickoff for Logan’s last home game is 7 p.m.

Even if the Purple & White (7-2 overall, 1-1 Southeastern Ohio Athletic League) win — the Warriors (0-9, 0-2) have lost 17 consecutive games and 23 of their last 25 — a home playoff game is totally out of the question, and their chances of achieving a league title and/or a post-season Division II playoff berth are remote at best.

By CRAIG DUNN Sports Editor cdunn@logandaily.com

LOGAN — When faced with tournament elimination, professional poker players contend that all they need to have a chance at the big money is “a chip and a chair” so
they can keep playing.

While the stakes aren’t worth millions of dollars, of course, that’s about all the Logan Chieftains have going for them when it comes to reaching the post-season Division II playoffs.

Despite a 7-2 record, and going into the final weekend of the regular season in ninth place in the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s DII Region 5 computer ratings (the top eight finishers make the playoffs), the odds are stacked against the Purple & White playing an 11th game this season.

Ninth place is Logan’s lowest ranking of the season. They were in the top two through six games (while starting the season 6-0), but began to gradually slip with losses to Jackson (week seven) and Columbus DeSales (week eight).
This week, the Chiefs fell out of the top eight despite last Friday’s win at Gallia Academy because the Blue Devils had only won one game all season… and that was over winless Warren, whom the Purple & White host tomorrow night in their regular-season finale.

There are six Region 5 teams (Massillon Perry, Worthington Kilbourne, Uniontown Lake, Licking Heights, Youngstown Boardman and Tri-Valley) that Logan cannot pass regardless of what happens over the weekend, and getting past seventh-place Wooster is all but impossible.

Perry and Kilbourne have already clinched playoff berths, according to dependable figures compiled by OHSAA playoffs guru Joe Eitel (joeeitel.com).

The only way Logan plays a game 11 is for eighth-place Mansfield to lose (not to mention tenth-place Massillon Washington and 11th-place Columbus Walnut Ridge) and to basically get just about every possible break in the playoff book.
A new website on the scene this season, “Drew Pasteur’s Fantastic 50” (fantastic50.net) gives the Chiefs a 1 percent chance of getting all those breaks and making the playoffs.

(It does, however, list their chances at beating Warren at 99.5 percent).
At least the Chiefs still have that poker player’s chance; Logan would already be mathematically eliminated in each of the other three Division II regions.

Teays Valley (7-2), whom the Chiefs beat in week two, actually has a higher points average (17.1833 to 16.2833) and also sits ninth in its D2 Region 6.

It’s way too time-consuming to get deep into the numbers, but in order to achieve a maximum computer average of 19.45 points (as per Eitel), Logan needs to win Friday night (Warren won’t be helpful when it comes to picking up any second-level points) and have all the following scenarios play out:

• Shadyside (3-6) to defeat River Valley (7-2). With a win, Shadyside (playing at home) actually has a chance at making the playoffs in Division VII Region 25 with a 4-6 record. River Valley is probably in line to reach the post-season in Division V win or lose.

• Nelsonville-York (1-8) to defeat Athens (5-4): For the most part, this game is a wash since Logan has defeated both teams, but the Chiefs would achieve an extra point if D5 N-Y beats D3 Athens. The Buckeyes, however, have lost eight-straight games for the first time in decades.

• Gallipolis (1-8) to defeat Jackson (8-1): Highly, highly unlikely. Jackson is playing for an outright SEOAL championship and hopes to somehow score a home Division III playoff game. The Ironmen have clinched a playoff berth but are balanced precariously in fourth place in D3 Region 9 and, like the Chiefs last week, will not get much of a computer-points payout by beating the Blue Devils.

• Teays Valley (7-2) to defeat Logan Elm (6-3): The Vikings are playing for an outright Mid-State League Buckeye Division championship as well as for their post-season lives. Their situation is similar to that of the Chiefs except that beating a six-win Braves team might just be enough to propel the Vikings to the post-season.

• Meigs (6-3) to defeat Alexander (8-1): The Marauders still have a mathematical chance at reaching the playoffs in Division IV Region 14 because they would score a boatload of points by knocking off Alexander. Meanwhile, the Spartans — coached by Logan graduate and former Chieftain quarterback Alex Penrod — have clinched a playoff berth (a Division V Region 17 home game, in fact) and are seeking to win the TVC Ohio Division championship outright. They clinched a tie for the division title for the first time in school history two weeks ago. Meigs can tie Alexander for the TVC Ohio title with a win.

• Cambridge (3-6) to defeat Byesville Meadowbrook (8-1): The Bobcats have been competitive, but Meadowbrook is seeking its first-ever post-season playoff berth and desperately needs this win to keep its Division IV Region 13 hopes alive.
Even if all these scenarios play out — and no less than two of them probably won’t — the Chiefs still need lots of other help, such as a Mansfield (7-2) loss to visiting Mansfield Madison (5-4), a Massillon Washington (4-5) loss at Canton McKinley (6-3) and a Walnut Ridge (6-3) loss to visiting Columbus Independence (6-3).

And still, even should all three of those teams lose, teams that Mansfield, Massillon Washington and Walnut Ridge have already defeated have to lose most of their games this weekend.

Obviously, you can only control your own playoff destiny and not that of other teams. Going into Friday night, three Logan opponents (Gallipolis, Nelsonville-York and Warren) are a combined 2-25. The combined record of the seven teams Logan has defeated is 26-38 (a .406 winning percentage) while Jackson and DeSales are a combined 16-2 (.889).
“If you look at how they traditionally play, we’re looking at seven to 14 more wins between them,” Logan coach Billy Burke pointed out. “But that’s stuff you cannot control. You can dwell on that all you want and drive yourselves crazy, or just know that if we had taken care of business (by beating Jackson and/or DeSales) we wouldn’t have to worry about how many wins everybody else got.”

While mathematically possible, a playoff berth is just about improbable. The Chiefs still have a poker chip and a seat at the table… but they’re about to go all in against an opponent that flopped quad aces.

More records: In addition to setting a new school single-season record for touchdown receptions (15) last week, Isaiah Smith has 865 reception yards — just 29 yards off the school single-season record — and last week set a school record by catching a pass in his 25th consecutive game.

Quarterback Lane Little has spread around his single-season record 27 TD passes. Eight different players, including Smith, have been on the receiving end of a six-pointer.

When all is said and done, both Smith and Little will be in the all-time top 10 in several career categories.

SEOAL finales: When Gallia Academy leaves the SEOAL at the end of the current school year, the league will soldier on while Logan, Jackson and Warren all seek membership in other leagues. Unless a school(s) joins, the league will fold if/when one of those three schools find a new full-time home.

That said, when Logan hosts Warren and Jackson entertains Gallipolis Friday night, it will thus be the last time two SEOAL
football games are played on the same night.

Logan and Warren will continue to play each other, but the Gallipolis-Jackson rivalry — which has been played nearly every year for a century — will be on hold at least for a year.

Gallia Academy’s 2016 schedule is already full. The Blue Devils already have three non-conference games slated, and will play seven games in their new league, the Ohio Valley Conference, leaving no room for a rivalry game with Jackson (or, for that matter, with Logan).

Officials from Gallipolis and Jackson have indicated, however, that they want to somehow work the game back onto their respective schedules down the road.

Gallipolis leads the all-time series with Jackson 49-42-7. The two teams first met in 1914 — playing more than once a season three times in 1914, 1915 (three times), 1916 and 1919 — and have played each year since 1935.
A Jackson win would give the program its 600th all-time victory.

By SPENCER WAUGH for The Logan Daily News

VINCENT — The Warren Warriors will conclude their 2015 season on the turf at Logan Chieftain Stadium on Friday.

And while Senior Night is always bittersweet, the underclassmen and coaches from the Washington County school may be looking forward to turning the page.

The “Big Blue” limp into Logan with an 0-9 overall record, including a pair of SEOAL losses to Gallipolis and Jackson. The Warriors have just one win during the two-year tenure of head coach Anthony Fish… a win over county rival Marietta in 2014.

Barring an upset of the Chieftains on Friday night, the Warriors will suffer their first winless season since going 0-10 in both 2002 and 2003. It would be the third winless season in school history.

The Warren offense is averaging fewer than four points per game. The Warriors have been shut out five times and have scored more than one touchdown in a game just once all season.

Quarterback Bryce Gandee (6-2, 155, junior) is a dual threat in Warren’s diverse offense. The Blue and White will line up primarily in spread formations, but can also go to the “I-formation” under center.

Cole Riffle (5-10, 150, sophomore) will line up in the backfield with Gandee, with Jake Davis (5-9, 185, senior) and Justus Johnson (5-9, 180, senior) lining up as running backs, wing backs, and slot backs depending on formation. Alex Mills (5-9, 145, junior) adds depth in the running game.

Michael Smith (6-2, 185, junior) and Bishop Ford (6-2, 145, junior) are big targets on the outside in the Warrior’s passing game.

Warren doesn’t lack size up front: the Warriors average 235 pounds per man from tackle to tackle. Robert Fish (6-3, 215, senior) and Ethan Walker (6-1, 275, sophomore) are the tackles, with David Rowland (6-4, 220, senior) and John Welch (6-0, 215, sophomore) lining up at guard. Cameron Corser (5-9, 250, junior) is the center.

Warren’s defense is allowing over 40 points per game. No team has failed to score 20 points against the Warriors, and only two teams were held below 30. The Warriors will line up in a 4-3 base defense.

Fish and Smith line up as the defensive ends while Riffle and Scott Cunningham (5-7, 215, sophomore) are the tackles. Zach Rohr (6-0, 155, senior) and Walker add depth on the defensive line.

Davis and Nick Fish (5-10, 175, junior) are the outside linebackers with Rowland manning the middle linebacker spot. Mills and Johnson are the cornerbacks with Ford and Ronald Hill (6-0, 165, sophomore) lining up as safeties.

Robert Fish handles the punting chores for the Washington Countians.

* * *

Logan football historian Spencer Waugh of loganfootball.com previews the Chiefs’ opponent every Thursday in The Logan Daily News. And, Friday night, you can once again listen to Logan Chieftain football live on the Internet by logging onto loganfootball.com, where Waugh and Kevin Dunigan will bring the play-by-play.

Looking to snap a two-game losing streak, Chieftains travel to Gallipolis Friday night in need of a victory


By CRAIG DUNN Sports Editor cdunn@logandaily.com

LOGAN — There will be plenty of time for nostalgia later; right now, the Logan Chieftains simply need to win a football game no matter what team they’re lining up against.

Having dropped back-to-back games — albeit to a pair of state-ranked Division III teams — the Purple & White (6-2) look to rebound Friday night when they make their final football trip to Gallipolis for one last Southeastern Ohio Athletic League clash with the Blue Devils.

Game time at Gallia Academy’s historic Memorial Field is 7 p.m.

A charter member of the SEOAL, Gallia Academy High School is leaving the league at the end of the current school year.
GAHS will join the Ohio Valley Conference (which already includes former SEOAL members Portsmouth and Ironton) and, come the 2016 season, will not be on the Logan football schedule for the first time since 1936.

By SPENCER WAUGH for The Logan Daily News

GALLIPOLIS — Logan will make its 34th — and perhaps final — trip to Memorial Field in Gallipolis on Friday night.
The Blue Devils, among the founding members of the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League, will join the long list of departed members following the 2015-2016 school year.

Next season, Gallipolis will compete in the Ohio Valley Conference along with founding SEOAL members Ironton and Portsmouth.

The departure of the Gallia Countians is perhaps the bitterest pill to swallow to old fans of the SEOAL.

The Blue Devils are the Chieftains’ longest uninterrupted rival. The Purple & White have faced Gallia Academy every season since the league began a full round-robin schedule in 1937 with the exception of 1978, when Logan did not play the Blue Devils due to the LHS teachers’ strike that canceled most of the season.

Logan enters Friday night’s contest with a 42-40-1 overall mark against Gallipolis that includes four non-league games played in 1920, 1922, 2008, and 2009. In ’08 and ’09 the teams met as non-league opponents because of the SEOAL divisional format.

The Frenchmen hold the series lead in games played at Memorial Field, 17-15-1, but Logan hasn’t lost there since 2002.

The 2015 Blue Devils recorded their first win last Friday, defeating Warren 31-14 at Memorial Field. Gallipolis had previously lost to Meigs (26-12), River Valley (27-13), Washington C.H. (13-34), Marietta (21-12), Point Pleasant (76-29), Athens (35-0), and Minford (42-6). All seven defeats came against opponents who are currently .500 or better for the season.

Blue Devil quarterback Kole Carter (5-11, 185, senior) has accounted for nearly 88 percent of Gallipolis’ total offense, running for 676 yards and seven touchdowns and passing for 770 yards and nine touchdowns. He has completed 65 of 167 passes (39 percent) with 10 interceptions, while his 184 carries are nearly 75 percent of the team’s total carries.

Eric Ward (5-10, 190, senior), Devin Henry (5-11, 195, senior), Matt Bailey (5-9, 150, senior), and Colton Campbell (6-1, 160, junior) play the skill positions in the Blue Devils’ spread offense.

Bailey has made 27 receptions for 355 yards and three touchdowns with Henry adding 22 catches for 253 yards and two scores. Ward is the team’s second-leading rusher with 28 carries for 66 yards.

Brett Hively (6-0, 185, senior) plays tight end. The rest of the front line is made up of tackles Ty Howell (6-1, 230, junior) and Brett Johnson (6-3, 240, senior), guards Justin Reynolds (5-10, 200, senior) and Anthony Sipple (6-1, 200, senior), and center Drew VanSickle (6-3, 270, senior).

Blue Devil opponents average over 34 points per game while racking up nearly seven yards per rush attempt and nearly six yards per pass attempt. Opponents are gaining nearly 300 yards per game against the Gallia Countians’ 4-3 base defense.
Sipple and Johnson line up as the ends with Howell and Quinton Yager (5-10, 190, junior) playing inside at tackle. Ben Saylor (6-0, 240, sophomore) and Anthony Snodgrass (6-0, 215, junior) will rotate along the defensive line.

Reynolds, Ward, and Carter will all see time at the two inside linebacker spots with Carter and Hively playing at outside linebacker.

Garrett Burns (5-10, 148, sophomore) and Bailey are the cornerbacks with Campbell and Henry playing the two safety positions.

Bailey has handled the point after touchdown duties for the Blue Devils, who are unlikely to attempt a field goal. Bailey, Carter and Henry all return kicks for GAHS.

* * *

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

Question: What are some of your strengths as a football player, and what are some of the things you’ve had to work at the hardest to become the player you are?

Answer: Some of my strengths are knowing how to read to defense, the ability to scramble and being able to throw on the run, and my arm strength.

Q: What does it mean to you to be a Chieftain and what do you want your legacy to be?

A: To me, it means I get to play for such a storied program and that makes me want to give everything I have to this program. I want my legacy to be one of the best players but most of all I want to be known as one of the best teams in school history so we will be talked about years down the road.

Q: What are some of the ways that you show senior leadership to your underclassman teammates?

A: I show senior leadership to the younger quarterbacks by helping with reads and footwork and I help younger receivers by telling them when to break and turn their heads for the pass.

Q: What other sports do you play, besides football, and what is your favorite sport and why?

A: Basketball and baseball. Football and basketball are the same. Football because of the brotherhood with your teammates (and) basketball because I like making no-look passes and driving through the lane and making layups. I also like throwing touchdown passes.

Q: What are some of your top athletic accomplishments or memories?

A: Throwing for 306 yards against Lancaster. All-SEOAL awards for football and basketball, all-district awards for football and basketball, MVP of Beast of the Southeast game in basketball and winning a league championship.

Q: Do you have any pregame rituals or routines?

A: Most of the time, I get up and eat a good breakfast and then go to school. After school I eat pregame meal, then most of the time me and the guys go to someone’s house and chill out and play cards or video games.

Q: Hobbies?

A: In my spare time I usually play sports.

Q: What do you want to do when you are an adult, and why?

A: I want to coach so I can teach younger athletes the game. It will be the closest thing to playing again.

Q: If you could meet one person from any era of history, who would it be and why?

A: Joshua Chamberlain, Civil War general. It would be him because many times he was wounded and was able to lead his guys to victory. People say without him the North would have lost the war. I would want to meet him to learn from his leadership.

Q: Who has had the greatest influence on your life, and why?

A: My parents and step-parents. They do whatever they can to help me with getting things I need for my sports and I know they are my biggest fans. I want to make them proud.

Q: Do you have a nickname?

A: 7 or Little.

Q: Favorite college team?

A: Ohio State.

Q: Favorite television show?

A: The Walking Dead.

Q: Favorite movie?

A: American Sniper or Remember the Titans.

Q: Favorite video game?

A: NBA 2K15.

Q: What’s your favorite school subject, and why?

A: History. I like to learn about where the country has come from and what it has been through. I also like to learn about
the wars.

LOGAN — Keith Thomas hasn’t seen a Logan Chieftain football game in a quarter-century… well, at least not in the way nearly everyone else sees them.

As the team’s dependable game cameraman, Thomas has witnessed all but three Chieftain varsity football games since 1991 through a small lens or viewfinder… and has cherished each and every moment.

“They haven’t fired me yet. I’m still trying to get it right,” he said with a laugh prior to a recent Chieftain home game. “It’s my love of high school football and my love of Logan football.”

Next Friday’s game against Warren will be his final regular-season game behind the camera. He’ll also be around for any and all Chieftain playoff games, then will step aside after making a 25-year, labor-of-love contribution to the football program.
Thomas decided a couple years ago that he wanted to reach the quarter-century mark behind the lens. He’s persevered at doing something he loves despite injury, illness, family issues, weather and being positioned in all sorts of places outside the press box.

Still dealing with fallout from first defeat, Logan travels to Columbus Friday night to face state-ranked DeSales

By CRAIG DUNN Sports Editor cdunn@logandaily.com

LOGAN — While the term itself may sound cliché, the Logan Chieftains can certainly attest to the truth that’s attached to the unfortunate side of the old “what a difference a day makes” expression.

At this time last week, the Purple & White were undefeated and anxiously awaiting their week-seven Southeastern Ohio Athletic League showdown with visiting Jackson.

Late the very next night, they were reeling.

Not only did the Ironmen snap the Chiefs’ eight-game winning streak — and likely claim their second-consecutive SEOAL championship in so doing — but Logan played most of the game without standout running back Bryce McBride.
Still dealing with the fallout of all that, the Chieftains (6-1) now jump from the Jackson frying pan into the Columbus fire with a non-league contest Friday night at perennial state football power DeSales.
Kickoff at St. Francis DeSales High School is 7 p.m.