By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News

LOGAN — For the Marietta Tigers, it was more than enough just having to play the undefeated Logan Chieftains Friday night.

The football gods certainly haven’t been smiling upon the Tigers much recently. In the throes of a five-game losing streak as they made their first-ever visit to Logan Chieftain Stadium, they were playing their sixth-straight game away from home on a rainy, dreary night, and they were facing a state-ranked Logan team that had won 30 consecutive Southeastern Ohio Athletic League games.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the Tigers came to town missing no less than 17 players due to injury or illness, including nine starters. Only 30 players suited up, several of them freshmen.
Heck, even the Marietta band didn’t make the trip.

The end result was predictable: Patrick Angle again tied a school record with four touchdown passes in a single game, eclipsing the all-time school record for career TD throws in the process, and Mason Mays became Logan’s all-time leading leader in reception yardage as the Chiefs rolled to a 48-3 victory.

Logan dominated the first half, leading 35-3 at halftime, and both head coaches agreed to play a running clock in the second half, which took less than a half-hour to play.

For the undefeated Chiefs, now 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the SEOAL, it was a matter of following the musical example of Bachman-Turner Overdrive. You know… Taking Care of Business.

And that’s just what they did. Logan scored on its first three possessions and the Tigers (1-6, 0-3) never threatened.

“I thought so,” said Logan coach Dale Amyx when asked if taking care of business was the team’s primary theme Friday night. “We weren’t super fired-up, but we didn’t try to get them super fired-up. We just wanted to come out and execute, get things done, get a good lead and get the younger kids in there, and that’s what we were able to do.

“We have some kids we needed to get out early because of bumps and bruises and sickness and things like that,” he added. “Hopefully, that gets us ready for next week.”

With the exception of giving up one long pass play and a roughing-the-kicker penalty when the Tigers missed a 37-yard field goal, the Logan defense was dominant once again.

All Marietta managed was a 27-yard field goal by Morgan Wynn in the latter stages of the second period after he had been roughed a few plays earlier.

“I thought our defense tackled well and we took away their best stuff all night,” Amyx said. “Take away that roughing the kicker, and that one long pass…”

And you’ve got a second-straight shutout. But that wasn’t necessary Friday night.

“Overall we played well on both sides of the ball,” Amyx praised. “We didn’t have them fired up for this game, but we told them it was a game they couldn’t take lightly, either, and they didn’t. We got it over with and now we can move on.

“I think we had good preparation all week and we were ready for what we knew they were going to do, both offensively and defensively,” he added. “We executed our game plan and I think we stopped theirs.”

As expected, the Logan offense simply dominated. Even with the second-half running clock, the Purple & White still had 430 yards of total offense and 20 first downs in addition to 48 points.

Here’s how dominant the Chiefs were in the early going: in the first 13 minutes of the game (one minute into the second quarter), they ran 20 plays from scrimmage, picked up 12 first downs, scored four touchdowns, and gained 220 yards.

They really didn’t give Marietta any kind of a chance to get into the game. That, Amyx noted, was by design.

“This is a team that was going to be as good as we let them be,” Amyx said of the Tigers. “I worry more about games like this sometimes than I do the big games, because you worry about the kids playing down a level or not taking it serious. I thought they took it serious and we got it done.”

Angle’s four TD passes gave him 15 for the season and 42 for his career, breaking the record of 41 set by Keith Myers in 1982-85.

“Hey, they’re made to be broken,” said Myers, now Logan’s boys basketball coach, at halftime. “And it couldn’t be by a better kid (Angle).”

Mays caught a pair of touchdown aerials, good for 35 yards, giving him 1,326 career yards to pass Eric Cox (1,319) for all-time honors.

Despite what turned out to be a 21-yard penalty for intentional grounding, the Chiefs recovered from a second-and-31 situation to score on their first possession. Angle hooked up with Zach McDaniel for a 13-yard gain before finding Mays wide open deep in the left corner of the end zone with a 21-yard scoring pass.

A 38-yard gain on an inside handoff by Mays keyed Logan’s second possession and touchdown drive, capped off by an 11-yard strike from Angle to fellow senior Jordan Rutter in the back of the end zone.

Logan then made it 21-0 moments later when Angle ran an option down the right side of the line, faked a pitch, cut around the edge and ran past and through the Marietta defense for a 24-yard scoring run with 1:31 still to play in the first period.

Knowing they wouldn’t get many scoring chances, the Tigers actually went for a first down on fourth-and-1 from their own 29-yard line. The Chiefs held as Marietta quarterback Matt McKitrick fumbled the snap from center.

You just don’t give the Chiefs a short field to work with. They’ll almost always take advantage, and that’s exactly what happened three plays later when Angle connected with Mays over the middle for a 7-yard scoring pass.

McKitrick’s deep bomb to Dustin Baker, on which he out-leaped a Logan defender who was apparently going to make an interception, was the highlight of the game for the Tigers on the next series. That 35-yard play helped Marietta get into scoring position, but Logan’s Korey Swaim picked off a McKitrick pass in the end zone to halt the threat.

McKitrick returned the favor on the next series, however, intercepting an Angle pass and returning it to the Logan 25-yard line. The drive quickly stalled and Wynn missed a 37-yard field goal, but the Logan defense was called for roughing the kicker and the Tigers got a first down at the Logan 11 — the deepest penetration by an opposing offense since the Ironton game two weeks ago. The Logan defense hasn’t allowed a touchdown in its last 10 quarters.

The drive stalled again and Wynn, who had to be helped off the field after the penalty, came back in to get Marietta on the board with his 27-yard boot.

A 34-yard return of an interception by McDaniel put the Chiefs in scoring position late in the first half. Angle set the school record for career TD tosses when he hit Swaim in the back of the end zone on a 5-yarder.

Logan scored 35 first-half points — Derek Montgomery booted all five extra points — and had the ball only 7:43 in the first half compared to 16:17 for Marietta.

Except for the break between the third and fourth quarters and on a Marietta timeout, the clock ran continuously the second half and the two teams ran just 22 offensive plays combined.

Logan broke two of them for touchdowns, with Michael Snider scoring on a 6-yard run in the third period and Dylan Cavinee breaking a 54-yard scoring run early in the fourth period.

Portsmouth spoiled next week’s anticipated battle of 7-0 teams by downing Warren 28-7 Friday night, but you can still expect a packed house in Vincent next Friday when the Chiefs travel to Warren to face the 6-1 Warriors.

And Jackson went down to its first defeat as well Friday night, also by a 28-7 count at the hands of Ironton, meaning the Chiefs — winners of 31 straight league games — are the SEOAL’s lone undefeated team, both in league play and overall.