By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News

LOGAN — As that old baseball sage Yogi Berra might have said, Friday night's Jackson-Logan Southeastern Ohio Athletic League football game seemed like déjà vu all over again.

Similarities between the Ironmen's 49-32 victory over the Chieftains Friday night in Logan Chieftain Stadium and their 49-28 win over the Purple & White a year ago in Jackson's Alumni Stadium may not have been coincidental, but they sure seemed that way.

Jackson again took a big early lead. Logan again rallied to get within striking distance in the third quarter. And Jackson again pulled away in the fourth quarter.

The Ironmen again had a dominating running game, and Jackson again took advantage of Logan miscues. And the Ironmen again scored 49 points, equalling their all-time best against the Purple & White.

And, more importantly, the Ironmen took a huge step toward defending their 2010 championship. We'll find out in a few weeks if that also falls into the “again” category.

In what wound up being a game of big offensive plays by both teams, the difference — as it so often does — came down to turnovers. The Chiefs (0-4 overall, 0-1 SEOAL) committed five of them, and the Ironmen (4-0, 1-0) cashed in four of them for 28 points.

“(A final score of) 49-32 with five turnovers. You're not going to win that way,” said Logan coach Kelly Wolfe, whose Chiefs are 0-4 for a second-straight season. “Doesn't matter who you're playing, you're going to have a hard time beating anybody with five turnovers.

“Same as (last year),” he added. “I keep saying it, and I know I sound like a broken record, but we fight to get back in the game in the second half. We have to have that fire in us at the beginning of the game. Once you start losing (games), that's something you have to fight, and it's hard to overcome.”

At least the Chiefs scored some points — a lot of them. In fact, 32 points are the most points scored by any Logan football team in a losing effort in school history, this being the 100th official season of Chieftain football. Logan lost a game to Warren 32-31 in 1996.

Jackson entered the game having shut out its first three foes for the first time since 1971. But the Chiefs took advantage of a Drew Ervin fumble on Jackson's first play from scrimmage and quarterback Kelly Long's 57-yard bomb to Isaac Lindsey set up a 1-yard scoring run by Long for the first points scored against the Ironmen in 2011.

But the Ironmen responded. And they responded with a vengeance.

Jackson scored 35 unanswered points, moving up and down the field almost at will and throwing touchdowns on the board on five-straight offensive possessions. They gained 302 yards in the first half alone.

While the Ironmen really hadn't been tested in their first three games, Jackson coach Andy Hall said the Chiefs' early touchdown proved to be a lesson in handling adversity.

“The first offensive play we put the ball on the ground and (Logan) comes out with a big pass,” Hall said. “Their quarterback has a great arm and has good receivers to throw to and made a great play. We blink and we're down 7-0.

“Our offense at that point came down the field and made some nice plays,” he added. Jackson “ran the ball off-tackle with (Ervin and Austin Osborne), Ty McNelly had a couple nice catches and next thing we know it's 7-7. We answered the bell.”

The bell rang several times for both teams. But it rang more often for Jackson, especially in the first half.

Osborne, Jackson's quarterback, threw three touchdown passes and scored on a 39-yard run and Ervin tallied three scores on runs of 3, 50 and 19 yards. Ervin rushed for 157 yards (20 carries) and Osborne for 132 (15 attempts) as Jackson rolled up 437 yards of offense, including 353 on the ground.

But Logan, after almost recovering from that 35-7 hole — Cory McCarty broke a 62-yard scoring run in the final minute of the first half before the Chiefs scored twice in the first five minutes of the third quarter to draw within 35-26 — put together their best offensive night of the season.

They actually out-gained the Ironmen 441-437, with Long throwing for 285 yards and long-distance touchdown passes of 92 and 45 yards to the ever-improving Sean Wotring. McCarty picked up 126 yards on the ground.

“I have so many mixed emotions right now,” Hall said. “We're ecstatic with the win, and to score 49 points against a good football team we're very proud of that. But to give up (32) points... we're a better defense than that. We pride ourselves on speed and being able to tackle in space, and we really took a step back (defensively) tonight.”

Unfortunately, the Logan defense struggled as well. You can add a lot of missed tackles to those five costly turnovers.

“Credit (the Ironmen). They have some studs back there,” Wolfe said. “They ran their offense well. (Osborne) is a patient runner; he got in behind his guys, he waited for the seams to open up and he hit it. And so did (Ervin). Both of those kids are good players. We had some guys (set to make tackles) a couple times and just ran right by them with our heads down or they ran through us.

“A bunch of missed tackles,” he added. “Defensively we played better in the second half and we had the heat on them. But they're a good team; they were patient, they didn't panic and they stuck with their game plan and kept pounding us.”

Not only were there a lot of big plays — the two teams combined to tally six touchdowns on plays between 30 and 92 yards, including five in a row at one point — but there were some long drives, too, three of them being over 90 yards in duration and two more of at least 70 yards.

Jackson came up with an 11-play, 92-yard drive to draw even, tying the score on Ervin's first touchdown run late in the opening quarter, then a 41-yard interception return by McNelly helped set up a 9-yard scoring pass from Osborne to McNelly in the final minute of the opening stanza.

After recovering a Logan fumble, Osborne kept the ball on a keeper, made a great ball-handling fake to fool the Logan defense, and raced 39 yards to paydirt 90 seconds into the second quarter.

Then, following a nice Nick Kost punt that pinned the Ironmen on their own 9, Jackson simply drove 91 yards on nine plays, getting the final 50 when Ervin took a quick hitter up the middle nearly untouched to the end zone.

And the Ironmen weren't done. Another Logan fumble gave Jackson the ball on the Logan 30, and Osborne immediately hooked up with McNelly on a beautiful slant-in touchdown pass to make it 35-7 after Luke Eisnaugle converted the fifth of his seven extra-point kicks.

But just when it looked like the Chiefs were going to run out the clock and lick their wounds at halftime, McCarty took the ball off left tackle and found a hole, racing 62 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown that pulled Logan within 35-13 at the intermission.

As both teams exited the field for their respective locker rooms at the intermission, the Ironmen knew the second half would be no picnic, either.

“You could hear (the Chiefs) talking and you could feel their energy. They were excited (saying) 'we're back in this,' ” Hall said. “It was a three-touchdown game, but there were still two quarters left to play... and with (the Chiefs') offense being so powerful, they can score three touchdowns in a heartbeat.”

And they almost did just that.

At the outset of the second half, Logan forced a Jackson punt — a line-drive by McNelly after he field a low snap from center, a prelude of things to come — which McNelly knocked out of bounds on the Logan 2-yard line.

Two plays later, Long fired a seed to Wotring, slanting off the right sideline toward the middle, and Wotring made a nice catch, bumped a Jackson defender, and found himself in open space. He went the 92-yard distance to complete what was a three-play, 98-yard drive.

Then, on Jackson's ensuing possession, a punt snap from center went over McNelly's head and he fell down trying to recover. Logan's Kenny Simpson picked it up at the Jackson 19 and ran it in, pulling the Chiefs within 35-26 with 7:37 still to play in the third quarter.

“We came out three plays and punt and they come down and score, and we end up punting again and snapped it over Ty's head and they scoop and score,” Hall said. “Now it's a (nine-point) game, and they're right back in the ballgame.”

Well, for a few minutes, anyway.

The Ironmen answered, driving 56 yards on seven plays for a huge touchdown, with Ervin scoring from 19 yards out to regain momentum. Then, after an exchange of three-straight turnovers (two by the Chiefs), Osborne hit a wide-open freshman Reagan Williams with an 11-yard scoring pass — on a fourth-and-8 play — to all but seal Jackson's victory.

“I thought the key to the game was on that next possession we took it down and scored,” Hall said. “But again, give Logan credit. They kept fighting and fighting and came down and scored again.

“It was just a run-and-shoot match — and we don't like getting in games like that because we pride ourselves on tough defense,” he added.

It appeared no lead was safe in this shootout, and the Chiefs followed with a nine-play, 71-yard scoring drive, the last 45 coming on a Long-to-Wotring touchdown pass. But it wasn't enough, and the Chiefs never threatened again.

“We did some positive things tonight,” Wolfe stated. “Sean Wotring continues to improve. He had two touchdowns and we had three touchdown passes tonight. We can't be too hard on ourselves — we did some good things on offense — but you can't win with five turnovers.”

If the Chiefs thought the Ironmen were tough — and they are — now they have to travel to Buchtel for a non-league matchup with powerful Nelsonville-York next Friday night. The unbeaten (4-0) Buckeyes thrashed perennial state power Columbus Ready 47-13 Friday night.