Former Chieftain standout Patrick Angle ready for senior season at Ohio Northern
By SPENCER WAUGH for The Logan Daily News
ADA, Ohio — It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since Patrick Angle played his last game as a Logan Chieftain.
Angle, the starting quarterback who led Logan to consecutive 11-1 seasons in 2008 and 2009, left LHS as the most-accomplished quarterback in school history. The 31-4 career record over three varsity seasons by Angle and his classmates is tied for the best all-time at LHS.
Since Angle left, Logan has had two head coaches, five starting quarterbacks (in four seasons), and won only 12 football games.
The post-LHS world didn’t start the way Angle hoped it might, either. But like the Chieftains, a new start has turned around his fortunes.
ADA, Ohio — It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since Patrick Angle played his last game as a Logan Chieftain.
Angle, the starting quarterback who led Logan to consecutive 11-1 seasons in 2008 and 2009, left LHS as the most-accomplished quarterback in school history. The 31-4 career record over three varsity seasons by Angle and his classmates is tied for the best all-time at LHS.
Since Angle left, Logan has had two head coaches, five starting quarterbacks (in four seasons), and won only 12 football games.
The post-LHS world didn’t start the way Angle hoped it might, either. But like the Chieftains, a new start has turned around his fortunes.
Angle seemed to be overlooked after graduating from LHS. He earned the Associated Press’s Division II Offensive Player of the Year Award in 2009 — the first LHS football player to be given a statewide award — and twice was given first-team All-Ohio honors. He still holds nearly every recordable LHS passing record.
The opportunity to receive a scholarship and compete at the NCAA’s second-highest level seemed like the perfect fit. Youngstown State was looking to rebuild when Angle committed in the spring of 2010.
Things didn’t go as planned.
“I redshirted my first season, and it was hard to spend the year away from playing games,” Angle said recently. “Football had been a part of my life since I was a kid.”
Unfortunately for Patrick, during his redshirt season, Kurt Hess was establishing himself as the Penguins’ starter.
“It was different to sit and not be out there,” added Angle. “It can be frustrating when you get stuck behind an upperclassman.”
Angle did not attempt a pass for the Penguins in 2011, his redshirt-freshman season and appeared in only four games in 2012. During the off-season, he decided to seek a transfer so that he could finally get back on the football field.
Transferring to a lower division would mean that Angle could start playing games in 2013 and not lose a year of eligibility. Ohio Northern University quickly emerged as the right fit for the former Chieftain.
As a bonus, a familiar face was there to greet him when he moved to Ada. Cary MacLaughlin, a 2009 LHS graduate and former teammate, had worked his way into the starting rotation on the ONU defensive line.
“It was pretty cool to play with Cary again,” Angle said. “At YSU I didn’t know anybody when I got there, and when you think about it, not too many guys get to play with their high school teammates again.”
Angle won the starting quarterback job over the off-season and started all 10 games for the Polar Bears during the 2013 season. ONU finished the season with a 6-4 record — including a 5-4 record in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) — and Angle was named honorable mention All-OAC and All-Academic All-OAC.
“It’s been good so far (at Ohio Northern)” said Angle, who passed for 1,974 yards and 16 touchdowns while completing over 62 percent of his passes. “There has definitely been an adjustment to playing at the college level. Last year was the first time I’ve really played since high school, it’s been great to get back on the field instead of watching from the sidelines.”
Patrick added the biggest differences from high school were “the speed of the game, both in terms of the players and the speed of decision-making. Also the size. Coming from Logan, our linemen were maybe 6-2 and 260 pounds whereas now all my linemen are 6-4 to 6-5 and close to or over 300 pounds.”
The increased size and speed obviously hasn’t phased him too much, as the stats and awards from 2013 show. He will, however, look to avoid a repeat of his start from last season.
“I actually sprained my ankle in the first game last year,” he said. “Luckily, our bye week was the second week of the season so I could rest it and not miss a game, but it definitely bothered me until the fifth week of the season or so.”
Angle believes that ONU, which opens its season Saturday at Washington (Missouri), will win a few more games in 2014.
“We played in a lot of blowouts last year, both our wins and our losses,” Angle said. “We should be more competitive against the teams who beat us and I hope we can turn one or two of those results around.”
As for individual goals, the former Chieftain wants to play well but more importantly, “it’s about consistency.”
Angle will be finished with classes after the fall semester, but will have to complete an internship program in the spring before earning his degree in construction management. He confessed that “then I guess I’ll have to get out into the real world.”
Chieftain Nation will have a few opportunities to see Angle without traveling too far.
Ohio Northern will visit Bexley to play Capital on Oct. 18, will play at Marietta on Nov. 1, and will finish its season in Westerville against Otterbein on Nov. 15.
“It would be great if some Logan fans could make it,” he said. “I had some former teammates and coaches make the trip to Muskingum last year when we played against (former Chiefs) Nate (Poling) and Garrett (Clark).”
Finishing his career at Otterbein seems appropriate. His brother, Michael, was a four-year letter-winner for the Cardinals.
“He hasn’t said much, but I know a bunch of those guys from when he was playing,” Patrick said. “I definitely don’t want to lose to them."
The opportunity to receive a scholarship and compete at the NCAA’s second-highest level seemed like the perfect fit. Youngstown State was looking to rebuild when Angle committed in the spring of 2010.
Things didn’t go as planned.
“I redshirted my first season, and it was hard to spend the year away from playing games,” Angle said recently. “Football had been a part of my life since I was a kid.”
Unfortunately for Patrick, during his redshirt season, Kurt Hess was establishing himself as the Penguins’ starter.
“It was different to sit and not be out there,” added Angle. “It can be frustrating when you get stuck behind an upperclassman.”
Angle did not attempt a pass for the Penguins in 2011, his redshirt-freshman season and appeared in only four games in 2012. During the off-season, he decided to seek a transfer so that he could finally get back on the football field.
Transferring to a lower division would mean that Angle could start playing games in 2013 and not lose a year of eligibility. Ohio Northern University quickly emerged as the right fit for the former Chieftain.
As a bonus, a familiar face was there to greet him when he moved to Ada. Cary MacLaughlin, a 2009 LHS graduate and former teammate, had worked his way into the starting rotation on the ONU defensive line.
“It was pretty cool to play with Cary again,” Angle said. “At YSU I didn’t know anybody when I got there, and when you think about it, not too many guys get to play with their high school teammates again.”
Angle won the starting quarterback job over the off-season and started all 10 games for the Polar Bears during the 2013 season. ONU finished the season with a 6-4 record — including a 5-4 record in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) — and Angle was named honorable mention All-OAC and All-Academic All-OAC.
“It’s been good so far (at Ohio Northern)” said Angle, who passed for 1,974 yards and 16 touchdowns while completing over 62 percent of his passes. “There has definitely been an adjustment to playing at the college level. Last year was the first time I’ve really played since high school, it’s been great to get back on the field instead of watching from the sidelines.”
Patrick added the biggest differences from high school were “the speed of the game, both in terms of the players and the speed of decision-making. Also the size. Coming from Logan, our linemen were maybe 6-2 and 260 pounds whereas now all my linemen are 6-4 to 6-5 and close to or over 300 pounds.”
The increased size and speed obviously hasn’t phased him too much, as the stats and awards from 2013 show. He will, however, look to avoid a repeat of his start from last season.
“I actually sprained my ankle in the first game last year,” he said. “Luckily, our bye week was the second week of the season so I could rest it and not miss a game, but it definitely bothered me until the fifth week of the season or so.”
Angle believes that ONU, which opens its season Saturday at Washington (Missouri), will win a few more games in 2014.
“We played in a lot of blowouts last year, both our wins and our losses,” Angle said. “We should be more competitive against the teams who beat us and I hope we can turn one or two of those results around.”
As for individual goals, the former Chieftain wants to play well but more importantly, “it’s about consistency.”
Angle will be finished with classes after the fall semester, but will have to complete an internship program in the spring before earning his degree in construction management. He confessed that “then I guess I’ll have to get out into the real world.”
Chieftain Nation will have a few opportunities to see Angle without traveling too far.
Ohio Northern will visit Bexley to play Capital on Oct. 18, will play at Marietta on Nov. 1, and will finish its season in Westerville against Otterbein on Nov. 15.
“It would be great if some Logan fans could make it,” he said. “I had some former teammates and coaches make the trip to Muskingum last year when we played against (former Chiefs) Nate (Poling) and Garrett (Clark).”
Finishing his career at Otterbein seems appropriate. His brother, Michael, was a four-year letter-winner for the Cardinals.
“He hasn’t said much, but I know a bunch of those guys from when he was playing,” Patrick said. “I definitely don’t want to lose to them."
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