By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News

LOGAN — You’ve heard the expression “you never get a second chance to make a first impression?”

Well, when it comes to the Logan Chieftains and Ironton Fighting Tigers, “you may never get another chance to make a lasting impression” might be more appropriate.

While “never say never” also comes to mind, the two traditional Southeastern Ohio Athletic League powers meet on a football field for what is expected to be the final time Friday (7:30 p.m. kickoff) in Ironton’s historic Tank Memorial Stadium.
Not only are the five-time defending SEOAL champion Chiefs (4-0), who have amassed an all-time best 24 league football titles, and Fighting Tigers (3-1), who own 14, regarded as the best two teams in the league this season, but both are state-ranked: Logan is No. 4 in Division II of this week’s state Associated Press football poll while Ironton is No. 6 in Division IV.

Ironton, which re-joined the SEOAL for a third time prior to the 2006 season, will again depart the conference following the current 2009-2010 school year. Since it’s highly unlikely the two schools will meet again in football, suffice it to say both teams want to make a lasting impression for the ages Friday night.

It was thought both teams would enter this titanic struggle with 4-0 records. However, Ashland Paul Blazer threw a monkey wrench into those plans when the Kentucky school, Ironton’s longtime across-the-Ohio River-rival, upset the Fighting Tigers 26-12 last Friday night.

That upset was likely a combination of two key items: it was a rivalry game — and you oftentimes simply throw out the record books (Ashland is 5-0 this season, coming off 6-4 in 2008 and 2-8 in 2007) in such cases — and the fact Ashland runs a spread offense.

Sound familiar?

“Ashland ran a spread and Ironton had trouble covering it,” said Logan coach Dale Amyx. “You have two contrasting teams: a big, power-running team (Ironton) and a spread team (Logan). Ironton is big up front and will try to run the ball down your throat.”

In other words, it’s a typical big, burly, strong Ironton team.

The Chiefs had no problem with the Fighting Tigers in a pair of home games the last couple seasons, winning 35-10 last season in Logan Chieftain Stadium and closing out all-time regular season competition at Bill Sauer Field in 2007 by drubbing the Orange and Black 53-14.

And the 2006 game, played in Tank Memorial Stadium, was a 7-0 Logan win on a rainy, dreary night to end the regular season. It had rained nearly all week; the stadium turf was saturated and it was almost a lake between the 20-yard lines.

Until the Chiefs’ recent three-game winning streak, however, Ironton had dominated the all-time series, winning 15 of the previous 19 games. But since the two teams hadn’t played since 1990 (with Ironton winning 13 of the previous 14 games), recent groups of football Chieftains had (and still have) plenty of respect for the Ironton program… but were/are not in awe of the Fighting Tigers.

That was all ancient history to the current Chiefs, none of whom were even born in or before 1990.

“For us, this is the first league game and against one of the strongest teams in the league,” Amyx pointed out. “People our age look at (Ironton) differently than the kids do… they aren’t intimidated by Ironton, which may have been the case when I first came here (in 1980).

“It’s a big game, and that’s how the kids look at it,” he added. “They see Ironton as a tough game and as a big test… but also as a team that’s lost to other league teams.”

As mentioned, Ironton has another one of its traditional big, physical teams under legendary coach Bob Lutz, who is closing in on the state record for coaching victories.

“They run a double tight-end T and the fullback gets the majority of the carries,” Amyx said. “They’ll try to run it down our throats, and we have to be able to stop it. We see them doing more things on defense; they’re usually in zone, but we’ve been seeing a nickel look too.

“They’re really happy with their fullback (Keith Wetzel), who will get most of the carries,” he added.

Ironton is big along both scrimmage lines, “and that’s my biggest concern… their offensive line against our defensive line,” Amyx admitted. “We’ll try to do some things to nullify that advantage, running stunts and get some angles. They have the size advantage on both sides of the line, so we have to be smart and play to our strengths. We have to protect (quarterback Patrick Angle) and hopefully spread them out.”

The Chiefs are certainly familiar with playing against big lines this season. Lancaster and, particularly, Pickerington North, averaged over 250 pounds per man (Pickerington averaged 267 on the OL), so they’ll call upon some of the lessons learned while playing the Gales and Panthers.

To the Chiefs’ credit, they didn’t look past winless opponents the last couple weeks in anticipation of the long trip down state Route 93.

Logan easily dispatched Hamilton Township (now 0-4) 49-7 two weeks ago, scoring on their first six possessions of the game, then blew away Gallipolis (also 0-4) 57-6 last week after overcoming a slow start. After going oh-for their first four possessions, the Chiefs scored touchdowns on eight-straight possessions starting in the second stanza.

“You’ll have games or starts like that,” said Amyx. “The offense just wasn’t in sync. On both of his interceptions (Angle) had receivers wide open but had made his mind up where he was throwing the ball. But it was all correctable, and I know we’ll be able to do better.”

To say the least, Friday’s game has been hyped for several months… especially in Lawrence County down along the Ohio River, where Fighting Tiger fans have been anticipating the arrival of the Chieftains with bated breath.

“If we are to remain in control of our destiny in the league, this is a game we need to win. That’s something we’ve been beating into their heads this week,” Amyx said. “We’re not paying attention to polls. I think I’ve got my point across to them about that. What’s important is the league and then the (OHSAA playoff) computer ratings… and even then not until the end of the season.

“This is a league championship game — to us, every league game we play is a league championship game — and we want to stay in control of our own destiny,” he added. “We don’t want to depend upon anyone else.”