By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News Sports Editor
PICKERINGTON — Early Saturday morning, the Logan Chieftains reached down and turned what could have been a potentially devastating setback into one of Logan High School’s most determined and hard-fought football victories ever.

The final score — Logan 35, Pickerington North 14 — is somewhat misleading. What the Chiefs had to overcome in northern Fairfield County Friday night… er, Saturday morning… will stand the test of time as a tribute to the determination and intestinal fortitude of a team and its coaching staff.

“I was pleased with the way we played,” said Logan coach Dale Amyx. “I’m really proud of the kids. We played a little sloppy at times, but we overcame the delay and got ourselves focused again.”
Ah, the delay. More about that a little later.

A 2-yard scoring run in the first quarter by Clay Morgan staked Logan (2-0) to a 7-0 lead, and a great interception in the back corner of the end zone by defensive back Jaushua Huntsberger midway through the second stanza preserved that early lead.

Logan then went up 13-0 at halftime after executing a terrific two-minute drill almost to perfection… and on a gutsy roll of the dice by Amyx.

Starting at their own 47-yard line with 2:13 to play in the second stanza, junior quarterback Patrick Angle and his stepbrother, fellow junior Mason Mays, hooked up on a couple quick-out passes to get things rolling.

Moments later, Angle and Huntsberger connected on a 26-yard play down the right sideline, just missing getting into the end zone, and Logan was in business on the PN 1 with 46 seconds to play in the half.

A false-start penalty and three plays later, Logan faced fourth-and-goal from the PN 4 with time running out. Out of timeouts and without time to get the field goal unit onto the field, Logan went for six, but Angle was tackled on a keeper three yards short of the goal line.

PN defenders celebrated — that is, until they saw a yellow flag on the field. The tackler was called for a facemask penalty, giving Logan one last play from the 2-yard line with no time on the clock.

Deciding not to settle for a field goal in an effort take a huge momentum swing into the halftime break, Amyx went for six points… and the Chiefs got them when Morgan scored on an off-tackle run. Logan missed the PAT kick.

It was that halftime break that wound up making the night both bizarre and unreal.

As the bands performed at halftime, word reached the press box that a huge storm, complete with drenching rain, thunder and, worst of all, lightning, was bearing down on Pickerington. Indeed, as the PN band was finishing its show, the storm hit, accompanied by lightning.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association’s weather rule clearly states that, at the first sign of lightning, any outdoor event faces a mandatory 30-minute delay.

The storm was so intense that Pickerington North officials informed fleeing fans via the public address system to leave the stadium… not that most of them needed convincing to do so. Most went back to their vehicles, and many left. But some diehards stayed.

As the rain poured, the lightning continued to brighten the night sky… and with each bolt, the 30-minute delay started anew as per the OHSAA rules.

“Not having ever been in that kind of situation, it’s hard to know what to do,” Amyx said. “Kids are kids. They were hungry so we fed them. I’m not happy with having to wait that long, because it’s hard to keep their minds focused. We learned some things we can do, and don’t want to do, if that ever happens again.

“It was tough on the kids on both sides,” Amyx added.

So, while the Chieftains and Panthers cooled their heels in their respective locker rooms, it was decided the coaches and game officials would meet at 10 p.m. to make a decision on whether to resume the game. At that time, it was decided to wait until 10:30. Then one last get-together shortly before 11.

While few people thought the game would be resumed, Amyx and his coaching staff faced a dilemma… wait out the storm and delay and finish the game, albeit late at night, or make another bus trip to Pickerington the next day to conclude the game.

Being the road team, the longer the delay meant a shorter night of rest for the Chieftains if the game was ultimately suspended and finished Saturday morning. Along the way, however, a decision was reached that if the game was suspended it would have been finished at 7 p.m. Saturday.

With the rain letting up and the skies clearing, and after one last meeting shortly before 11 p.m., it was decided to resume play at 11:30 p.m. — which, after the last 30-minute delay plus a warm-up period, actually pushed the starting time to 11:38 p.m.

It would turn out to be the first known time in LHS history that a varsity football game would not end on the same day it started.

Logan was already without defensive end/tight end Jon Neff, who had sustained a moderate concussion when he was kicked in the head while making a tackle late in the first half. Then the Chiefs lost Morgan, who had stayed in the game despite injuring a knee in the first half, during the pre-second half warm-up period.

Plus, by the time Pickerington North (1-1) kicked off to begin the second half, the Chieftains had completely lost that hard-earned momentum created by the touchdown at the end of the first half which, by then, had been three hours and nearly a calendar day earlier.

And the Chiefs also had to adjust to playing without both Neff and Morgan, a pair of seniors and two-way starters. The effects showed early.

The Chiefs had a big gain on a pass play nullified on a penalty and were forced to punt following their opening series of the second half, after which Angle — taking Neff’s place as punter — drilled a 50-yarder to get Logan out of immediate trouble.

PN quarterback Sean Flaherty hooked up with Bowling Green-bound receiver Alex Bayer for a 58-yard gain — Mays made a terrific touchdown-saving tackle, albeit temporary, at the Logan 16 — but running back Kevin Duckworth scored on the very next play to pull within 13-7 a little more than a minute into the third period.

“That really woke us up and got us focused,” Amyx said.

The Panthers were hurting as well. Their main running back, Gianni Lynch, missed the game due to injury and Matt Ferguson, who had 47 yards on 10 carries in his place in the first half, went down with an ankle injury midway through the second period and did not return. Duckworth was the Panthers’ No. 3 running back.

With Neff and Morgan out, the Chieftains turned to backups such as Ryan Sigler, Zach McDaniel, Seth Sigler and Jordan Rutter, and leaned heavily upon seniors such as linebacker Zach Adams — who himself came back from an injury early in the third period — to turn in a commanding defensive performance the rest of the way.

“A lot of kids stepped up,” Amyx praised. “Our kids played hard and never gave up. The doctors who have looked at Clay think it might be a strain, but we’re looking at being without Jon for a week (Friday at 2-0 Hamilton Township).”

After that quick score, Pickerington North never threatened again until scoring a consolation TD on its final offensive series of the night after the Chieftains had made wholesale defensive substitutions after having finally opened an insurmountable lead.

The Panthers went three-and-out on their next two series; Adams picked off a pass deep in North territory on the third, and PN managed just one first down on its next.

Meanwhile, the Chieftains simply followed through with something Amyx said they would do in the pre-season: they spread their offense. They flanked four receivers, sometimes trips to one side, and Angle played catch with Mays, Adams, Huntsberger, Seth Sigler and Rutter to maintain control of the football.

And control the ball they did. Second-half time of possession was Logan 17:48, Pickerington North 6:12 (see “by the numbers” on this page). The longest the Panthers had the ball on a single possession in the second half was 1:44 while Logan had five possessions longer than that, ranging from 1:47 (when they ran out the clock) to 3:33.

“You have to look at us in terms we have outstanding skill people,” noted Amyx. “Our line is not that big compared to Lancaster and Pickerington North (Logan’s first two opponents) but they got us through. I don’t think we want to be a team that lines up and ‘here we come, three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust’ right now.

“But we are creating some new depth with (Tim) King at tackle, (Jeff) Murphy at guard, and moving (Derek) Shirey to tackle and moving (Cary) Maclaughlin to guard,” he added. “It’s worked out real well.”

Pickerington North did have the ball once with a chance to take the lead after forcing Logan to punt on its next series. But the Chiefs stiffened and forced the Panthers to punt the ball back.

Two plays later, Angle hooked up with Mays with a pass over the middle and the junior made a terrific cut and set sail down the right sideline. Aided big-time by a nice block by Rutter, Mays was finally tackled just short of the corner goal-line pylon

Angle snuck the ball over on the next play, then lofted a sweet two-point conversion pass for Adams in the back left corner of the end zone for a 21-7 Logan lead with 4:25 remaining.

That TD came shortly after midnight… no doubt Logan’s first-ever post-12 a.m. touchdown.

Following a PN punt, Logan came up with a game-breaking, 10-play, 73-yard drive that spilled over into the fourth quarter. Passing on nearly every down, Angle hit Seth Sigler (twice), Huntsberger, Adams and Mays (also twice), completing six passes to four different receivers, against a tiring Pickerington North defense, again to the PN 1.

Angle’s second QB sneak touchdown, this one with 10:57 remaining, effectively put the game away… and the hundred or so Chieftain fans who stayed behind to witness the end to a bizarre night began to celebrate in earnest.

Adams’ 10-yard return of an interception on the next series set the Chieftains up for one last short scoring drive, with Angle hooking up with Ralph Robinson on a quick-in two-yard scoring pass with 7:04 to play.

Backup tailback Dylan Cavinee gained eight yards on the final play of the game at 12:45 a.m. to end the night… or morning, whichever you prefer. Game over. Drive safely.

Well, at least there was very little congestion getting out of the parking lot.

Read More in the Logan Daily News.