By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News

LOGAN — Under normal circumstances, Derek Montgomery doesn’t get too nervous prior to games in his dual role as placekicker for the Logan football team and goal keeper for the Chieftain soccer squad.

However, there wasn’t much you could term “normal” about Friday night’s home football opener against Pickerington North in Logan Chieftain Stadium.

Logan grabbed a quick 21-0 first-half lead, only to see the physically-hulking Panthers throw their weight and muscle around to the tune of 21 unanswered points to draw even in the fourth period before threatening to take the lead with under two minutes remaining.

But after the Chiefs came through with a huge fourth-down defensive stand deep in their own territory, it took the offense less than 90 seconds to drive into field goal range for Montgomery at the PN 20-yard line.

“The kid has ice water in his veins,” Logan coach Dale Amyx told Derek’s parents, Kelly and Joanne, with a relieved laugh not long after their son drilled a 37-yard field goal with 7.1 seconds remaining to lift the Chiefs to a thrilling 24-21 victory.

Like most Logan faithful, it goes without saying mom and dad were a nervous wreck in the stands.

Montgomery thus earns a spot in a long line of soccer players who have come through in the clutch as placekickers for the football Chiefs. His game-winning kick brings to mind another soccer goalie, Alex Hubbard, who four years ago at Zanesville drilled a 35-yard field goal as time expired for a 23-20 victory over the Blue Devils.

The Chiefs (2-0) got everything they expected and more from the Panthers (1-1), who came oh-so-close to becoming the first team to beat the Purple & White in Logan Chieftain Stadium. Logan is now 7-0 in its two-year-old home.

Montgomery started working out as a kicker this summer, and it’s not uncommon to see him drill 50-yard field goals in practice. Heck, he hit the Logan Chieftain Stadium scoreboard with a pre-game kick a couple weeks ago before the OHSAA Jamboree game against visiting Sheridan.

“It feels great,” grinned Montgomery, a junior. “I wasn’t really nervous. My teammates helped me. They gave me the confidence and the strength to come out and kick that one. It felt so good.”

Not really nervous, Derek?

“Well, I felt a little nervous,” he admitted. “It was more adrenaline. My teammates had confidence in me. If it wasn’t for Kevin or Jordan, I wouldn’t have had a chance of making it. I give props to them.”

Center snapper Kevin Smith made a perfect snap to holder Jordan Jurgensmier, who in turn did likewise to allow Montgomery to drill his 37-yard no-doubter.

“What a weapon Derek is,” Amyx said. “When it’s all said and done, I think he’s going to be one of the best we’ve ever had. He has a strong leg, and he’s made a couple pressure kicks already.

“When he told me he was going to kick for us, and I saw him kick over the summer, I was really excited for his potential, and it’s coming out,” he added.

It sure didn’t look like the Chiefs were going to need Montgomery’s services after scoring touchdowns the first three times they had the ball. It was 21-0 Chiefs less than three minutes into the second period, and the game had the makings of a rout.

Although Pickerington North had a good drive late in the second quarter that died on downs at the Logan 14 in the waning seconds, the Panthers did little to quell those thoughts as the half came to a close.

But there was injury trouble brewing in Chieftain Nation.

Receiver Mason Mays took a pitch from quarterback Patrick Angle and threw a perfect pass to Zach McDaniel on the opening offensive play of the game, good for 48 yards to the PN 32, and the Chiefs met little resistance in driving in for six points as Michael Snider tallied on a 1-yard plunge.

After forcing a PN punt, Angle hit Jordan Rutter, McDaniel and Mays with consecutive passes, all good for double-digit yardage, as the Chiefs went 61 yards on nine plays. McDaniel scored on a fourth-and-one touchdown run to make it 14-0 with 2:51 remaining in the opening stanza.

However, Mays hurt an ankle on that series and sat out the rest of the game. His injury caused a domino effect on both sides of the ball, forcing the Chiefs into scramble mode.

“I was putting in Zach McDaniel (on defense), who had never played linebacker before, and we were experimenting and trying to find something where we could get a (defensive) stop,” Amyx noted later. “You plan for (some changes), but I didn’t plan for Ralph (Robinson) not being in or for Mason not being in.”

Robinson, a two-way lineman who was hurt against Lancaster last week, dealt with more physical problems Friday night.

“But Dylan Cavinee came in (at linebacker) and did a nice job and Caleb Valkinburg did a great job coming in at middle linebacker,” Amyx said. “Normally Mike (Snider) is in the middle. (Brandon) Graham had to play defensive end to take Ralph’s spot.

“It was Valkinburg’s first varsity start and I thought he did a good job,” he added. “I’m really proud of those young guys getting in the game and stepping up, especially against a big, physical team like that.”

With Mays out, the Chiefs turned to other members of their terrific receiving corps to pick up the slack. McDaniel, especially, stepped up huge.

When all was said and done, McDaniel had a school-record 14 receptions, good for 169 yards, and he hauled in a 13-yard scoring aerial from Angle for Logan’s last touchdown of the night with 9:10 remaining in the second stanza.

“I didn’t know I did that,” McDaniel said afterward. “I just had to step up and do my job.”

Amyx didn’t realize McDaniel had set a school record, either.

“I’ve said this all along: Mason’s a great receiver, but we have other receivers on this team and those guys stepped it up and did a great job,” he said. “Hopefully Mason will be back — I think it’s just a sprain — but when we lose a kid like that who plays both ways, now I have to replace a linebacker, I have to replace a receiver, and I have to replace a return man.”

In all, six different Chiefs caught passes — Rutter had five and Snider four — and Angle completed a whopping 79 percent of his passes, connecting on 27-of-34 for 253 yards and one TD. At one point he completed 15 consecutive throws.

But after Logan raced to that quick lead, the Panthers began shutting down the Chieftain offense. Logan fumbled the ball away and then was forced to punt three straight times before pulling it all together on that final drive to set up Montgomery’s game-winning kick.

North took the second-half kickoff and, led by a couple key pass completions by quarterback Sean Flaherty, drove 52 yards on just five plays, with Matt Ferguson scoring on a 2-yard run less than two minutes into the third quarter.

Moments later, the Panthers ended an eight-play, 92-yard drive with a 46-yard scoring pass from Flaherty to Devin Lomax to close the gap to 21-13 late in the period. A Logan defender tried for an interception and missed, and Lomax found himself all alone down the right sideline.

A bad snap from center kept Pickerington North from attempting the PAT kick, but the Panthers still managed to tie the game early in the fourth quarter against a tiring Chieftain defense.

Gianni Lynch, who accounted for 106 of North’s 241 rushing yards, not only scored on a 6-yard run but also added a 2-point conversion run to draw the Panthers even with 9:48 still to play.

“Their size (an average of 267 pounds along the offensive line, including players weighing 340 and 325) did hurt us, and they kind of exposed in a way,” Amyx noted. “I’ve been saying that all along: that’s our weakness, our up-front D-line. Push come to shove, they got it done on us.”

After forcing still another Logan punt, the Panthers took over with 7:42 remaining and continued pushing the Chiefs around. A 25-yard keeper by Flaherty helped North cross midfield, then the Panthers began riding Lynch deeper and deeper into Logan territory.

Finally, with under two minutes left, North faced fourth-and-5 from the Logan 28. Lynch carried a fifth-straight time and looked like he was very close to the first-down marker, but after a couple tense moments for a measurement — when the officials inexplicably moved the ball from inside the hash-marks toward the far sideline closer to the chains — the Panthers were short by about the length of the football.

Talk about Custer’s last stand…

“We made a big stand there at the end to stop them,” Amyx said. “I’m surprised they didn’t try to kick a field goal, but I guess they don’t have a kicker who could get it that far.”

The Chiefs did, though. And they sucked it up to put together one heck of a game-winning drive — taking over with 1:40 remaining and no timeouts — with the O-line keeping the Pickerington North defense away from Angle and giving him time to throw.

“The offense couldn’t get on track all half, then when we needed them to do it, we had people make plays,” Amyx lauded. “They gave Pat good protection and he threw some nice passes. We didn’t have any timeouts (to work with).

“We practice that two-minute drill every Thursday… so there it was tonight,” he added. “I would liked to have had a couple more timeouts, but that’s why we practice field goals.”

The key play in the final drive was a 25-yard catch-and-run over the middle to Rutter, who avoided a couple tacklers before being brought down at the PN 39, with five yards then tacked on for a facemask penalty against North.

Logan got one more first down — McDaniel caught his 14th pass of the night, a five-yarder, and got out of bounds at the PN 20 — then the Chiefs took one crack at a game-winning touchdown. Angle aired it out deep in the back corner of the end zone for McDaniel, who just missed coming up with the ball on a head-long dive.

“I just (wanted to) catch the ball and get out of bounds if I could and stop the clock if we needed to,” McDaniel said. “We practice it all week, all the time. Then the special teams came through.”

Practice sure makes perfect.

Montgomery came in to drill his 37-yarder, a kick that was a bit lower than usual but still plenty good with 7.1 seconds left. Angle then picked off a deep desperation pass from Flaherty on the final play of the game to preserve a harrowing Chieftain victory.

“I think they’re a helluva football team and are going to win a lot of football games this year,” Amyx said of the Panthers, “and I think they learned a lot about themselves too. Like I said, when it came down to where we had to make a play, we made a play. We stopped them on fourth and (the length of) a football, or something like that? That was a big, key stand and we needed it.”

The Chiefs’ special teams were truly special on this special night when the LHS Athletic Hall of Fame officially inducted four new members, including gridiron greats Johnny Conrad and Derek Harden as well as Chuck Conrad and Jason Gerken.

“We spend a lot of time on special teams — of a two-hour practice, we spend 20 minutes of it on special teams, and I don’t know if a lot (of teams) do that,” Amyx said. “It’s a lot of your practice time, but we feel it’s that important. We’re constantly on them about good snaps and good holds.

“And this is why. In a tough game like this, it’s going to come down to a special teams play most of the time,” he added. “Coach (Pat) Walsh has done a great job as my special-teams coordinator. He’s the one who puts those teams together. We’re all involved in it, but he’s the one who’s doing it, and I let him take care of it. I’ve got great coaches, and he’s one of them.”

The Chiefs now prepare to travel to 0-2 Hamilton Township next Friday. But they can re-live and enjoy this win for a couple days.

Much like a baseball player who dreams of hitting a game-winning, walk-off home run, Montgomery admitted he’s thought of accomplishing the football equivalent.

“I would think of it sometimes, wish it sometimes, then hope I would get a chance to make a game-winner, and I finally did it,” he grinned. “And yeah, it feels great.”