By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News Sports Editor

LOGAN — Off to a 5-0 start that has caught the attention of football fans and pundits not only regionally but state-wide as well, don’t expect complacency or lack of focus anytime soon from the Logan Chieftains.

“I think we’ve brow-beat into them that when you start looking ahead, or quit working hard, that’s when you get beat,” Logan coach Dale Amyx said earlier this week as the Purple & White prepared for their final Southeastern Ohio Athletic League encounter with Zanesville this Friday (7:30 p.m. kickoff) in Logan Chieftain Stadium.

While this may not be the Zanesville team of old — after all, any team that graduates an athlete the caliber of SEOAL North Division MVP and do-everything back Bryan Gaiters can’t possibly be the same — Amyx expects the Blue Devils to be quite competitive.
“Zanesville could be 3-2 — they led Chillicothe (an eventual 24-21 loss) most of the game — and they’ve lost to some really good football teams,” said Amyx. “They’re capable of giving us a tough game if we let them. They’ve got some solid players.”

Zanesville’s losses are to three teams with a combined 11-3 record — Wheeling Park W.Va. (4-0), Licking Valley (4-1) and Chillicothe (3-2) — none of whom you would call slouches on the football field.

“They may mix things up a little more (than in the past), but without the tailback (Gaiters) they had last year that’s to be expected,” Amyx said. “The number of carries the tailback and fullback get even out, and they’re throwing the ball a little more, although maybe not as much (deep) down the field as screens and short (passes).”

One key thing Zanesville — and future regular-season foes Marietta, Warren, Jackson and Chillicothe, as well as any and all potential playoff opponents — have to bear in mind about the Chieftains: this Logan team isn’t exactly your father’s (or even big brother’s) Chieftain team that grinds away at you on the ground.

“Any old tendencies are out the door now,” Amyx said. Opponents “know they have to be ready for all these spread formations… and now their number-one (defensive) scheme has to be how to stop (Logan’s different) schemes.”

Logan is averaging over 225 yards passing per game — junior quarterback Patrick Angle is on pace to break some pretty impressive LHS season passing records if he keeps up his pace of passing for over 200 yards per contest — but opponents better not look past the Logan running game just yet. The Chiefs are also running for a solid 173 yards per game on the ground.

And Amyx is really pleased with that balance.

“If we need to run the ball we can do that too… (defenses) have to make a choice to stop one (the passing game) or the other (the running game),” Amyx noted. “And we have things built into the system to run audibles if we need to mix things up more.”

Logan can certainly run out of its spread formation — three different Chieftain runners (Angle and tailbacks Clay Morgan and Zach McDaniel) have ran for 100 yards or more in a single game this season — and as many as seven or eight different receivers can catch the ball.

“That’s by design,” Amyx noted. “We have a lot of great skill kids out there. If someone doubles Mason (Mays, Logan’s top receiver with 28 catches), we can throw to Zach Adams (14 receptions) or Jaush Huntsberger (10). And look at last week when Jordan (Rutter, with two touchdown receptions and eight total catches on the season) had a heckuva game.

“That’s the big thing I really like about this team… how unselfish they are as a team,” he added. “Cary (Maclaughlin) gave up a starting spot at fullback to play guard when we needed him. That’s the kind of kids, and the kind of unselfishness, we have on this team.”

Most football pundits felt that if the Chieftains could get past their season opener against Lancaster — a team Logan hadn’t beaten in 16 football games since 1945 — they could be 5-0 at the midway point.

And now they’re that and more: ranked fourth in the state (Division II) by The Associated Press and holding their own (third place, unofficially) in rugged OHSAA playoff Region 7.

Their early-season success brought the Ohio News Network to Logan Chieftain Stadium last Friday night to show cut-in highlights of the Chiefs’ resounding 35-10 victory over Ironton, giving football fans state-wide a good look at a team that seldom gets statewide exposure or respect.

“I’m very pleased with them as far as (expectations) go, and maybe they’ve even surpassed (expectations) a little,” Amyx said of his team. “We thought this team would be good and might be 5-0 now. The kids work hard in practice and are staying focused.”

While by no means do the Chiefs want to get caught looking ahead, Amyx revealed the players are beginning to sense this can be a special season.

“It’s starting to seep in,” Amyx admitted, “but we’ve kept them grounded as much as we can and to keep them from getting too big-headed. Yet I’ve never gotten that sense (of over-confidence) about this group; they know, sense and feel that this can be (a special season) but they also know we still have five more (regular-season) games to go.”

M*A*S*H notes: Defensive lineman Stephen Miller, who sustained a foot injury in the first quarter of last week’s Ironton game, has been cleared to play Friday night. Amyx said the coaching staff plans to hold him out of practices until today, but they think he’ll be ready to go Friday… the coaching staff will hold junior

tailback/defensive back Zach McDaniel out of the lineup for another week. McDaniel sustained a deep shoulder bruise in the first quarter of the Gallipolis game two weeks ago and missed the remainder of that game as well as the entire Ironton game… Angle occasionally limped as he dealt with some charlie horse issues against Ironton, but he’s good to go this week. Those leg problems didn’t bother him too much last week: he tied a school record with four TD passes and threw for 302 yards, second-best all-time only to himself (324 yards against Pickerington North in week two).

     Nighty-night: No doubt Jon Schweickart saw a big, purple jersey with the white number 11 on it in his sleep last Friday night. That’s because Logan defensive end Jon Neff, in his second game back after missing a game-and-a-half with a moderate concussion, sacked the Ironton quarterback three times for 41 yards’ worth of losses. All three sacks came in the last five minutes of the third quarter, giving Neff a team-leading six for the season.

Devils back for more: While this is indeed the final SEOAL football matchup between the Chiefs and Blue Devils — Zanesville leaves the league at the end of the current school year to revert back to independent status while attempting to find a league closer to home — Logan and Zanesville will meet again next season as non-league foes. Next year’s Logan schedule had a week-six opening created by Zanesville leaving the league, but the Blue Devils will remain in that spot one more season and will again visit Logan Chieftain Stadium. That means Logan will have a balanced schedule of five home (Pickerington North, Zanesville, Marietta, Jackson and Chillicothe) and away (Lancaster, Hamilton Township, Gallipolis, Ironton and Warren) contests.
 

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