By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News Sports Editor
JACKSON — While it wasn’t necessarily the turning point of the season, it was no doubt the turning point of Friday night’s game. And, for the Logan Chieftains, it was indeed a Kodak moment.

Leading the host Jackson Ironmen by just a touchdown early in the second quarter, the Chiefs faced third-and-41 from their own 35-yard line. Long odds, at best, for any football team at any level.

But not for the Chieftains. Not on this night. Nor, for that matter, not this season, either.

Tailback Clay Morgan took a short pass in the right flat from quarterback Patrick Angle and quickly found plenty of open space under the bright lights of Jackson’s Alumni Stadium. He zigged and zagged through the Jackson defense, taking the ball all the way to the Jackson 10-yard line, converting third-and-41 with 14 yards to spare.

Then, on the very next play, wide receiver Mason Mays took a short pass from Angle in the left flat, spun away from two potential tacklers, and scored the touchdown that broke the collective backs and hearts of the Ironmen.

The Chieftains were never threatened from that point and rolled to a 48-7 Southeastern Ohio Athletic League victory.

The Logan win officially set up an SEOAL championship showdown between the Chieftains (9-0 overall, 5-0 SEOAL) and Chillicothe Cavaliers (7-2, 6-0) next Friday at Chillicothe High School. The Cavs kept their end of the championship-game bargain by demolishing Warren, 57-7.

“I dreaded this game all week,” admitted Logan coach Dale Amyx. “I knew that if we came out and played the way we think we’re capable of playing that we could beat them… but I’m still in that old frame of mind — (playing) Jackson at Jackson — and it’s hard to get out of that.”

And for good reason. While they’ve struggled of late, the Ironmen (5-4, 2-4) have always been a tough foe for the Purple & White. However, due to the SEOAL’s rotating schedule, the two teams hadn’t met since 2005 — a narrow 14-7 Chieftain victory — not to mention Jackson was the last SEOAL team to beat Logan, which registered its 28th-consecutive league win in the process,

Ironically, the Chiefs were leading Friday’s game 14-7 when they converted that third-and-41 situation.

“When you have athletes like that to throw it to… even on the sideline, you’re thinking ‘I don’t want to punt here’ because (the Ironmen had) just scored, but even when it was third-and-whatever I just felt confident we were going to do something and get a first down, or at least get close,” Amyx said. “Wow!”

“Wow!” aptly described most of what the Chieftains did in all phases of the game Friday night.

Not counting a drive cut short at the Jackson 41 as time expired in the first half, the Chieftains scored on their first six drives; Jackson, other than putting together a nifty 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive late in the opening quarter, went three-and-out on five of its first six offensive series; the Chiefs scored a special-teams touchdown when Jordan Rutter brought back a third-quarter punt 68 yards to paydirt; Mays made an electrifying 65-yard punt return to set up Logan’s second touchdown, and Logan never punted the ball all night. Not once.

Not to mention that Angle completed 15-of-19 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns and had scoring runs of 42 and 36 yards, and that Mays caught seven passes for 84 yards… and that Angle set an LHS single-season record for passing yardage (1,938) and that Mays set a single-season school record for pass receptions (45), breaking marks previously owned by Joey Conrad (2000) and B.J. Hughes (2004), respectively.

“Patrick was really on the money tonight with his passing, (the offensive line) gave him great protection, and the receivers did a great job,” Amyx praised. “Offensively we pretty much did what we wanted to do, and our special teams really helped us out a lot tonight with some great returns. Jordan Rutter and Mason Mays had great returns.

“It was fun to watch, and the kids executed well,” he added. “I told the kids coming down here that we needed to be clicking on all phases — offense, defense and special teams — and I think we did that tonight.”

They did. But the Ironmen, to their credit, gave the Chiefs all they could handle in the early going despite being without two starters who were suspended for the game earlier in the day.

Logan took the opening kickoff and drove 74 yards to a quick score. Angle hit Zach McDaniel on a 40-yard pass-and-run down the left sideline to set up the touchdown, a 1-yard run by Morgan, with 8:53 left in the opening stanza.

Then, after Logan held the Ironmen on their first series, Jackson’s Ryan Mullins boomed a 50-yard punt that Mays muffed at the 19-yard line. He scrambled back to the 10, where he picked it up, then scooted past the Jackson coverage down the right sideline and nearly went the distance. Only a shoestring tackle by Mullins at the Jackson 16 saved a touchdown.

Well, temporarily, anyway. Four plays later, Stephen Miller scored on a 1-yard plunge and the Chiefs led 14-0 a little more than halfway through the opening period.

Jackson then came up with one of the best sustained drives by any team against the Chiefs this season.

Keeping the ball exclusively on the ground, quarterback Josh Brown and running backs Nathaniel Haller and Cody Huff steadily pushed the Chieftains back until 44 seconds were left in the opening period, when Brown faked a dive and instead ran the ball off the option, made a quick cutback and went 25 yards for a touchdown.

It was the first six-pointer allowed in the first half by the Chiefs this season, and it pulled the Ironmen within 14-7.

Amyx was asked if the touchdown served as a wake-up call to his team’s defense.

“I think so,” he said. Jackson’s running game “was something we worked on all week and we weren’t reading the right keys. I think we had a little bit of a letdown (after) we scored so quick and were up (14-0) on them so fast.

“I think a wake-up call would be a good way to put it,” he added. “Once that happened, I think we pretty much put the hammer down on them defensively the rest of the night.”

The Ironmen didn’t cross midfield again until the second half, and by then the Chiefs had a six-touchdown lead.

More about that third-and-41 situation: officially, the scoring drive was 80 yards on 10 plays… but due to 25 yards in penalties, the Chiefs actually had to cover 105 yards and also had to overcome an 11-yard loss as the result of a high snap from center.

And it was actually second-and-41 when Angle went deep for senior wide receiver Zach Adams, who had his defender beat… but had to slow down when an official got in his way and couldn’t make the catch. Logan may very well have tallied a 65-yard touchdown on the play.

Amyx could laugh about it later.

“I told that official ‘get out of the way’ and he just laughed at me,” Amyx said with a laugh. “I think (Adams) would have at least caught the ball.”

After another Jackson three-and-out, Angle scored on a 42-yard keeper, taking the ball up the middle, cutting down the right sideline and going the distance untouched to make it 28-7. Then, moments later, Angle hooked up with a wide-open Mays on a 30-yard scoring aerial for a 35-7 halftime bulge.

Rutter’s nifty 68-yard punt return and another option-keeper TD run by Angle, this one for 36 yards with 4:32 left in the third quarter, closed out the scoring.

In addition to passing for 240 yards, Angle also led the Chiefs with 93 yards on seven carries and moved within striking distance of the school record for single-season pass completions and completion percentage. Jaushua Huntsberger caught three passes for 31 yards and McDaniel had two early catches for 56.

Logan once again had great balance yardage-wise — 240 passing and 161 rushing — for 401 total.

“(Offensive coordinator) Kelly (Wolfe) did a great job mixing it up,” Amyx said. “It’s going to be hard to defense us.”

Jackson actually out-gained the Chiefs on the ground, amassing 163 rushing yards, led by Brown with 60, Klay Arthur with 43 and Haller with 41.

However, Huff — Jackson’s leading rusher on the season — was hurt on his second carry of the night during the Jackson touchdown drive and did not return. He had missed the previous game and all but the opening play of the game two weeks previous at Ironton due to an injury.

So now there’s no more looking ahead to a championship-game showdown with Chillicothe. Championship week is officially here, and to the winner of next Friday’s game go the SEOAL spoils.

“Now we can finally concentrate on Chillicothe,” Amyx said. “They’re having a great season and they have a great team. This is what you want — both teams playing for a league championship, and both (teams) having playoff and home-field (playoff) implications. There’s a lot riding on it.”

The Chiefs probably clinched both a playoff berth and a home playoff game Friday night, but you get the picture.

“This is what you work for all year,” Amyx added. “This is what you dream about during two-a-days and what you talk to the kids about early in the season… about your goals and playing that last game for a league championship and a chance to be in the playoffs. We’ve earned (playing for the title). Now we have to go (to Chillicothe) and do it.”

Read More in the Logan Daily News.