By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News Sports Editor

LOGAN — Regardless of what happens in the Logan Chieftains’ second-round playoff game against Louisville, Friday night will mark the final game of senior linebacker-wide receiver Zach Adams’ high school football career.

“Zach is in a cast. He broke his right thumb,” Logan coach Dale Amyx said. “He’s been cleared by the doctors to play defense this week, but he’ll have surgery on Tuesday.”

Adams, the team’s second-leading receiver with 23 receptions and six touchdowns, did not play on offense in last week’s 23-7 first-round victory over Dublin Jerome. Yet he still had seven total tackles (three solo, four assists), four first hits and a pass breakup on defense.
Adams will wear a cast from his hand down to his elbow to protect the injury, then will have to stand and watch from the sidelines if the Chiefs advance to play either Columbus St. Francis DeSales or Columbus Marion-Franklin next week.

Injuries earlier in the season helped the Chieftains develop plenty of depth on both sides of the ball.

Logan’s terrific depth at receiver — seniors Jaushua Huntsberger and Jon Neff and juniors Mason Mays and Zach McDaniel are the starting wide receivers — helps cushion the blow somewhat on offense, but Adams will be tough to replace on defense.

Neff is “mostly a wide receiver anyway, we don’t use a tight end much anymore,” Amyx noted, and juniors Jordan Rutter and senior Seth Sigler offer excellent wide receiver depth. Junior Ralph Robinson is at the ready to play tight end if the situation calls for it.

Adams is the Chiefs’ second-leading tackler behind junior linebacker Michael Snider and has a team-high 28 solo tackles and 20 first hits.

“We’ll worry about (Adams’ spot on defense) defense next week,” Amyx noted.

Adams will still kick off this week, as he has done all season, but he has already been replaced by fellow senior Kevin Smith as the long snapper on special teams. Derek Shirey is likely to kick off if the Chiefs advance.

Points of emphasis: Only six teams in Logan football history have scored 350 or more points. The 2008 Chiefs, with 377 points, are third on the all-time list, trailing only the 2000 (519) and 2007 (482) teams.

And if you think the Chiefs’ whopping total of 859 points in back-to-back seasons is unprecedented, well, you’re nearly correct. Only the 1999-2000 teams (885 points) fared better in back-to-back seasons; the 2000 and 2001 teams also combined for 859 markers.

It’s a small world, after all: Louisville principal Steve Milano was Amyx’s college football teammate at Ohio University, where both played alongside each other on the offensive line. Former Louisville head coach Rick Crislip was also an Amyx teammate at OU.

Passing un-fancies: Dublin Jerome quarterback Kevin Jackson threw 39 passes against the Chieftains last week, more than any team all season. Marietta attempted 35 in week seven, while no other team tried more than 21 all year. His 11 completions resulted in a 25.6 percent completion rate, second-lowest only to Hamilton Township’s 1-of-11 for 9.1 percent.

Logan defenders broke up 19 of those 28 incomplete passes — a season high — with Huntsberger breaking up five, Neff four and Patrick Angle three. Snider and Robinson each had two.

Statistically speaking: Logan’s 15 first downs last week were a season low while Dublin Jerome’s 15 first downs were a season high for Logan foes… Jerome was just the second team to reach at least 100 yards both rushing (142) and passing (111) in a single game against the Chiefs and the Celtics’ 253 total yards was second only to Ironton’s 257 in week five… the Logan defense has forced 66 punts — including a season-high nine by Jerome — to 34 for the Chiefs. Angle nailed back-to-back punts deep inside Jerome territory in the fourth quarter last week, including a 37-yarder that went out-of-bounds at the Jerome 2-yard line and a 34-yarder that again went OB at the JHS 10 on the next series… defensive backs Angle (five), Huntsberger (five) and Mays (two) combined for 12 solo tackles last week.

All-league notable: Six Zanesville players have been added to the All-Southeastern Ohio Athletic League team: wide receiver-center J.T. Bunting, running back-linebacker Gary Ransom, fullback-defensive lineman Anthony Scott and fullback-nose guard Wes Tandy were named to the first team and quarterback-linebacker Cole Hudson and lineman Kaleb Mohler were selected honorable mention. Bunting, Scott and Tandy are seniors, Hudson and Mohler juniors, and Ransom is a sophomore.

Zanesville head coach Chad Grandstaff was unable to attend the recent all-SEOAL meeting due to a family emergency and the SEOAL wanted to make sure the Blue Devils, who tied Ironton for third place and lost their two league games by a combined total of five points (24-21 to Chillicothe and 16-14 to Logan), were represented on the team.

And remember this… If you get into a discussion about the game with a Louisville fan, remember it’s not pronounced like Louisville, Kentucky — it’s pronounced by saying “Louis” the same way as “St. Louis,” Missouri: LOUIS-ville.
 
 

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