LOGAN — Take away each team’s two touchdown plays, and the football field at Logan Chieftain Stadium was pretty unbalanced last Friday when the Chiefs hosted the Zanesville Blue Devils.

While the Blue Devils otherwise never got any closer than the Logan 49-yard line, on four occasions the Chieftains reached the Zanesville 5… and only came up with three points to show for their efforts.

If the Zanesville 5-yard line had been the goal line, it would have been a 40-something-to-16 Logan rout instead of a 16-14 Chieftain squeaker.

So this week, when the undefeated Chieftains (6-0) take their No. 4 Division II state ranking to Marietta (2-4) for a week-seven Southeastern Ohio Athletic League game, cashing in on such scoring opportunities deep in the red zone (the opponents’ 20-yard line) is priority one for the Purple & White.

“We should have scored two or three more times,” said Logan coach Dale Amyx. “We learned some things. We know we have to capitalize when we’re that close.

“Other than that, we played pretty well,” he added. “Our blocking was good, we had 25 first downs, we moved the ball for (402) yards, and our defense played pretty solid. We just didn’t put points up.”

Marietta is putting up some points this fall — even a little more extensively than last season, when the Tigers were outscored 400-245, including a 76-20 rout at the hands of the Chieftains at Bill Sauer Field. They’ve scored 157 points (26.2 per game) this season, but they’ve allowed 217 (36.2).

Last season, the Tigers passed the ball well over three-fourths of the time and averaged 24.5 points per game… but the Marietta defense leaked like a sieve. The Tigers went 3-7 and gave up over 60 points on three occasions.

Marietta thus made a coaching change between seasons. Andy Schob is the new head coach.

“They run a little more than they pass, but they’re pretty balanced,” Amyx said. “They run out of the gun (shotgun) with two backs and will direct-snap to the tailback with the fullback leading or will snap to the quarterback and he’ll roll toward his receiver.”

Last week, Marietta quarterback Cody Westbrook and receiver Sean Munfield set all-time Marietta High School records for passing and receiving yards, respectively. The athletic Westbrook, also an outstanding high jumper in track and field, poses a particular problem for the Purple & White, who have sacked the opposing quarterback 17 times this fall.

“Their shotgun is deep so it’s pretty hard to get to him,” Amyx said.

“They’re capable of scoring a lot of points. (Westbrook) is probably one of the better-throwing quarterbacks we’ve seen this year. He hits his receivers well,” he added. “Our goal is to get them in situations where they definitely have to throw the ball… if we can get them into third-and-long, we can make them play into our coverage.”

A Logan spread offense that averages a couple feet shy of 400 yards per game will be difficult for the Tigers, who aren’t very big, to deal with.

And if the Chieftains come to play with some intensity and passion Friday night — something the LHS coaching staff felt was missing against Zanesville — it could be a long night for the Tigers.

“We have to play with emotion and play up to our ability,” Amyx said.

Good news: The Chieftains got some good medical news on Tuesday when junior tailback/defensive back/kick returner Zach McDaniel, who sustained a deep shoulder bruise in the opening quarter of the Gallipolis game, was cleared medically to play. Nose guard Stephen Miller is “still a little gimpy,” according to Amyx, but should be able to play as well.

Home sweet home: Due to a really strange quirk in their schedule, the Tigers will observe Senior Night activities prior to Friday’s game. After opening the season with road losses at Hilliard Darby and Cambridge, the Tigers embarked on an almost-unheard-of five-game home stand (New Philadelphia, Warren, Parkersburg South, Jackson and Logan) and will finish at Zanesville, Portsmouth and Gallipolis. The Tigers haven’t played a game away from Don Drumm Stadium (home wins over Parkersburg South and Warren and losses to New Philadelphia and Jackson) since Aug. 29… meanwhile, the Chiefs are 4-0 at their new Logan Chieftain Stadium digs, where they’ve out-scored their opponents 126-41.
 

Read More in the Logan Daily News.