LOGAN — For the Logan Chieftains, Friday night's annual OHSAA "Jamboree" exhibition football game in Logan Chieftain Stadium was all about continuing to make steady progress.
They won both on the scoreboard — 13-7 over the Sheridan Generals in a scrimmage stopped after three quarters — and in the eyes of many intrigued onlookers who wanted to see what the Purple & White would look like in their final tune-up before next Friday's season opener at Lancaster.
"Our scrimmages led up to tonight pretty well," said Logan coach Billy Burke. "We had some things we had to correct with Logan Elm; that was more of a practice situation that progressed into more of a game (last Friday) at Circleville, then even better tonight. We have progressed the way you would expect us to progress.
"The thing I said to the kids (after last night's scrimmage) is that it just sounded and felt pretty good," he added. "Sometimes you can just close your eyes on the sidelines and you can hear a team communicating with each other and a team cracking pads. You know they're playing well, and I think that was us this evening."
They won both on the scoreboard — 13-7 over the Sheridan Generals in a scrimmage stopped after three quarters — and in the eyes of many intrigued onlookers who wanted to see what the Purple & White would look like in their final tune-up before next Friday's season opener at Lancaster.
"Our scrimmages led up to tonight pretty well," said Logan coach Billy Burke. "We had some things we had to correct with Logan Elm; that was more of a practice situation that progressed into more of a game (last Friday) at Circleville, then even better tonight. We have progressed the way you would expect us to progress.
"The thing I said to the kids (after last night's scrimmage) is that it just sounded and felt pretty good," he added. "Sometimes you can just close your eyes on the sidelines and you can hear a team communicating with each other and a team cracking pads. You know they're playing well, and I think that was us this evening."
The Chiefs clicked in building a 13-0 lead through their first three offensive series. Sophomore quarterback Lane Little threw the ball well (6-of-8 for 87 yards and a touchdown), and six different Logan players had at least one reception, paced by sophomore Isiah Smith's three catches for 54 yards.
Smith turned a short pass in the left flat into a 32-yard gain on the evening's second play from scrimmage (there were kickoffs, punts and placement kicks, but no kick returns and all possessions started at the 30-yard line) before Little and senior receiver Dominick Stevens connected on a nifty, over-the-shoulder 22-yard touchdown aerial in the back right corner of the end zone.
Senior running back Isaac Schmeltzer was also sharp, rushing 12 times for 76 yards, finding ways to break tackles and elude others.
Logan drove to the Sheridan 9-yard line on its second series — which was quelled by a holding penalty before senior Charles Bowlby missed a 37-yard field goal wide to the left — but the Chiefs came back undaunted after the Logan defense held Sheridan to a three-and-out series.
A10-yard Little-to-Smith pass, a 23-yard ramble by Schmeltzer and a 15-yard penalty on the Generals for pass interference pushed the Chiefs deep into Sheridan territory.
After Schmeltzer ripped off a pair of 7-yard runs, senior Nick Kost carried twice on direct snaps from center, scoring on the second run from three yards out, to make it 13-0 Chiefs after Bowlby split the uprights with the PAT kick.
Meanwhile, the Logan defense played well, holding the Generals to just five first downs and 94 total yards ¬— all on the ground — when it was first team against first team in the first half. During that time frame, Logan collected 13 first downs (10 in the first quarter alone) and 187 total yards.
The Generals used a trio of 18-yard runs to reach the Logan 20 late in the half, but senior Brock Emerson and junior Keith Martin sacked the Sheridan quarterback on third-and-seven to all but quell the uprising.
Kost completed 1-of-2 passes in the third quarter for 13 yards and junior quarterback Caleb Lewellen connected with sophomore receiver Brendan Karns on a 9-yard pass on the final play of the scrimmage. Sheridan scored on a 4-yard touchdown pass with 6:30 left in the third (and final) quarter.
Senior Evan DeLong and juniors Nathan Cocks and Casey Phillips all had a reception as well, and DeLong, sophomore Cole Baron and freshman Rawn Riggs carried the ball for the Purple & White.
The Chiefs showed they will be a diverse team this fall while getting a lot of players involved on both sides of the ball.
"There's a fine line between not showing everything and still getting live work in, so I think we played a lot of what is us — and that is what we were after," Burke said, "to see what we could do with the things we have in and really evaluate how hard our kids were going to play. I think they proved they could play pretty hard. (They) did that tonight.
"I would say we looked pretty smooth out there," he added. "That was an easy scrimmage to coach because everything was going the way we wanted it to, meaning that guys were getting in and out of the game, guys were getting lined up, we were in rhythm on offense (and) we were playing well on defense. It wasn't the hit-or-miss that you sometimes get in a scrimmage situation. The game flowed pretty well for us.
"I don't know if we could ask for much more this evening."
Friday's Jamboree game benefits the OHSAA's catastrophic insurance fund. Each school makes a $500 contribution in return for playing the additional scrimmage.
Coming Tuesday: The Logan Daily News offers day one of “Five Days of Football,” counting down to — and the beginning of — the 2013 Chiefs season. Look for a preview story as well as the team roster on Tuesday.
Smith turned a short pass in the left flat into a 32-yard gain on the evening's second play from scrimmage (there were kickoffs, punts and placement kicks, but no kick returns and all possessions started at the 30-yard line) before Little and senior receiver Dominick Stevens connected on a nifty, over-the-shoulder 22-yard touchdown aerial in the back right corner of the end zone.
Senior running back Isaac Schmeltzer was also sharp, rushing 12 times for 76 yards, finding ways to break tackles and elude others.
Logan drove to the Sheridan 9-yard line on its second series — which was quelled by a holding penalty before senior Charles Bowlby missed a 37-yard field goal wide to the left — but the Chiefs came back undaunted after the Logan defense held Sheridan to a three-and-out series.
A10-yard Little-to-Smith pass, a 23-yard ramble by Schmeltzer and a 15-yard penalty on the Generals for pass interference pushed the Chiefs deep into Sheridan territory.
After Schmeltzer ripped off a pair of 7-yard runs, senior Nick Kost carried twice on direct snaps from center, scoring on the second run from three yards out, to make it 13-0 Chiefs after Bowlby split the uprights with the PAT kick.
Meanwhile, the Logan defense played well, holding the Generals to just five first downs and 94 total yards ¬— all on the ground — when it was first team against first team in the first half. During that time frame, Logan collected 13 first downs (10 in the first quarter alone) and 187 total yards.
The Generals used a trio of 18-yard runs to reach the Logan 20 late in the half, but senior Brock Emerson and junior Keith Martin sacked the Sheridan quarterback on third-and-seven to all but quell the uprising.
Kost completed 1-of-2 passes in the third quarter for 13 yards and junior quarterback Caleb Lewellen connected with sophomore receiver Brendan Karns on a 9-yard pass on the final play of the scrimmage. Sheridan scored on a 4-yard touchdown pass with 6:30 left in the third (and final) quarter.
Senior Evan DeLong and juniors Nathan Cocks and Casey Phillips all had a reception as well, and DeLong, sophomore Cole Baron and freshman Rawn Riggs carried the ball for the Purple & White.
The Chiefs showed they will be a diverse team this fall while getting a lot of players involved on both sides of the ball.
"There's a fine line between not showing everything and still getting live work in, so I think we played a lot of what is us — and that is what we were after," Burke said, "to see what we could do with the things we have in and really evaluate how hard our kids were going to play. I think they proved they could play pretty hard. (They) did that tonight.
"I would say we looked pretty smooth out there," he added. "That was an easy scrimmage to coach because everything was going the way we wanted it to, meaning that guys were getting in and out of the game, guys were getting lined up, we were in rhythm on offense (and) we were playing well on defense. It wasn't the hit-or-miss that you sometimes get in a scrimmage situation. The game flowed pretty well for us.
"I don't know if we could ask for much more this evening."
Friday's Jamboree game benefits the OHSAA's catastrophic insurance fund. Each school makes a $500 contribution in return for playing the additional scrimmage.
Coming Tuesday: The Logan Daily News offers day one of “Five Days of Football,” counting down to — and the beginning of — the 2013 Chiefs season. Look for a preview story as well as the team roster on Tuesday.
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