Season-ending 28-3 rout of Teays Valley
caps 3-0 finish after nightmarish 0-7 start
 
By CRAIG DUNN
for loganfootball.com

LOGAN — A season that began as an absolute nightmare ended in sweet dreams for the Logan Chieftains.

Twenty-one days removed from a disastrous 0-7 start, the Purple & White brought one of the strangest, most-challenging seasons of high school football on record to an end by winning their final three games, capped off by Friday night’s 28-3 rout of visiting Teays Valley in Logan Chieftain Stadium.

“A weaker group of people would have given up a long time ago, but that’s just not who these young men are,” lauded Logan coach Mike Eddy, who concluded his second season at the helm of Chieftain Nation football. “They don’t give up and they don’t quit. They showed up and went to work every day and continued to get coached and continued to play hard.

“It was really (all about) finding something they believed in,” he added. Over the last three games “we started to play a little bit better on both sides of the ball and they started to believe in that that ‘yes, we can run the ball; yes, we can play some defense (and) we don’t have to give up 20-plus-points a week.’”

In a game that was scheduled earlier in the week as a season-ending replacement game for both teams — Logan celebrated Senior Night last week and didn’t expect to be hosting one last game — the Chiefs (3-7) posted 28 unanswered points after spotting the Vikings (3-6) an early 3-0 advantage.

Logan was available because the Chiefs’ game scheduled for last night at Sheridan had to be canceled when the Generals reached the Division III regional semifinals. The previously-undefeated Generals (8-1) dropped a 10-6 decision at Columbus Hartley last night.

It was just Logan’s second victory in eight all-time meetings with Teays Valley, which had beaten the Purple & White four-consecutive times.

And, in another strange quirk to this COVID-addled season, Logan played more games (four, going 1-3) against Mid-State League Buckeye Division competition than did Teays Valley (three, going 2-1). Bloom-Carroll, which beat Logan 14-0 but didn’t play Teays Valley, won the division title.

The Vikings defeated MSL rival Logan Elm 31-25 in their season opener; four weeks later, the Braves blasted the Chiefs 48-21.

It was that kind of a season.

Fittingly, in the final home game of their careers, seniors scored all four Logan touchdowns.

Caden McCarty (157 yards on the ground) scored on runs of 70 and seven yards, Ian Frasure (82 yards) reached paydirt from 16 yards out and Henry Pierce scored the first varsity TD of his career on a 2-yard run. Sophomore Zach Chapin was a perfect 4-for-4 on PAT kicks.

What the 2020 Chieftains went through truly has to be put into perspective.

Yes, like all athletic teams not just in Ohio but around the country — and, for that matter, around the world — the Chiefs had to deal with all the issues and fallout associated with COVID-19. The fact they played a full 10-game schedule, which literally changed on the fly starting a couple weeks before the season to the very end, is truly remarkable.

When history looks back at the 2020 football season, that in itself might be the Chiefs’ biggest accomplishment.

But they also dealt with so many other issues both on and off the field.

They played (and lost 17-12) at Amanda-Clearcreek two days after an A-C student was killed in an automobile accident. They played at Logan Elm (and, as mentioned, lost 48-21) two days after an incident in their home stadium in which a woman from Marietta refused to put on a face covering that went viral, made national headlines and resulted in idiots from all over the nation making threats to the school, which was a major distraction to the team. They dealt with more than their share of injuries and strife and that was all before they suffered a 62-0 Division II playoff loss at Big Walnut that set a program single-game record for margin of defeat.

That all happened during an 0-7 start in which they were outscored 249-82 and were shut out twice.

But, playing their final three games at home (they ended up playing six of their 10 games at home when they were originally slated to play just four), they were in control nearly every minute those final three weeks in rolling past Columbus East (50-6), Maysville (26-13) and Teays Valley, outscoring those three foes 104-22.

Eddy was asked what the strong finish meant for the Chieftain football program.

“It means a lot (especially) to those underclassmen,” Eddy said. “One of them, (junior) Traten Poling, was coming off the field after ringing the victory bell and said ‘bigger, stronger, faster…we carry this on next year.’

“And that’s the mentality you want to bring into your off-season,” he added. “As we’ve talked before, we (coach Eddy and his players) haven’t had an off-season here together, so hopefully — fingers crossed — we actually get to have one, but right now that’s even still kind of up in the air.”

There are so many question marks associated with COVID that it’s hard to tell how the off-season, let alone the 2021 season, will look and how it will be formatted.

“What are we going to be permitted to do? How many guys at a time? What space? There’s still a lot of questions,” Eddy said. “If we’re going to have anything that looks normalized, right now the odds aren’t very good.

“But to be able to end the season with three-straight wins after everything these kids have been through,” he continued, “and for those underclassmen to be able to witness the mental toughness that goes into surviving some terrible situations — between COVID and injuries and losses and close losses and sometimes being the better team but not playing well — there’s so many lessons there that I hope those guys gained something from. Don’t just experience it, but grow from it. If they can do that, this springboards you into the next season.”

Last night’s season-ending victory helps, that’s for sure.

While the overall numbers weren’t dominating, they showed the Chiefs did a great job defensively, bottling up a run-oriented team to the tune of 139 ground yards while controlling the ball on offense and using their own ground game to near-perfection.

With McCarty and Frasure leading the way, the Purple & White rushed for 235 yards, with 39 of their 41 offensive plays being ground calls. Logan only threw two passes, with the lone completion — a 45-yard catch-and-run by senior Brandon Heft off a short pass from Frasure in the left flat — leading directly to Logan’s second touchdown.

“They’re a big, strong, physical football team. They hang their hat on that,” Eddy said of the Vikings, who finished their season with a losing record for the first time since 2014. “If you go ask them to describe themselves, that’s what they’re going to tell you. They’ll say ‘we’re strong, we’re physical and we’re going to run the football at you and you’re not going to be able to do anything about it.’ So we knew coming in that’s the kind of game it was going to be.

“I felt early on there was just too many run lanes inside,” he continued. “They went empty (backfield) and then came back and were running inside because we had just left us with a two-linebacker box and (the Vikings were) having success.”
That led to the Vikings taking the opening kickoff and driving 70 yards on 11 plays before settling for a 29-yard field goal by Cale Clifton that put the visitors in front a couple seconds less than six minutes into the contest.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t why they ever got away from it,” Eddy admitted, “but they went back to their two-back offense and power run (on their next series) because that’s who they are. That allowed us to put our three-linebacker box in there. We had made a couple adjustments in our secondary, played a little more man coverage so we could add a fourth guy to be a run-play playing linebacker, and we were able to play bend-but-don’t-break solid defense.

“Guys were in the right spot making plays,” he added. The Vikings “were still gaining yards, but we forced them to run another play, then run another play, then we would make a big play and put them in long-yardage situations (where) we could really take advantage of who they don’t want to be.”

Early in the second stanza, Logan took over at its own 25-yard line following a TV punt. Then, after a 5-yard penalty on the Vikings, McCarty busted a handoff through the line, cut down the left side and outran the TV defense for a 70-yard house call and a 7-3 Logan lead after Chapin booted the ensuing PAT with 9:05 left in the half.

Then, after Poling returned a Viking punt 17 yards to the Logan 21, Frasure and Heft hooked up on that 45-yard catch-and-run, with Heft tightroping the sideline in front of the Chieftain bench to reach the Teays Valley 34.

Moments later, Logan picked up a first down on a third-down play to the TV 12 when the Vikings were called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. After Frasure picked up five yards, McCarty took a quick pitch to the right side, made a terrific quick-cut-on-a-dime back toward the line, and went the last seven yards to give the Chiefs a 14-3 lead that they took into the halftime break.

After a slow start, McCarty finished his season with 933 yards rushing on 168 carries and led the team in scoring with 80 points. Eleven of his 13 touchdowns were on the ground to go along with a receiving TD, a blocked-punt TD (he blocked five kicks, believed to be a school record), and a 2-point conversion.

“I thought we did a good job of adjusting during the game,” Eddy said. “That says a lot about not only our coaches but also the players understanding what we’re doing. We were making some changes on the fly right there before halftime and were executing them.

“Then we went in at halftime and literally all we did was draw up on the board what we had talked about to make sure,” he added. “They said ‘coach, we got it.’ That says a lot about our kids’ growth and their understanding.”

The Vikings only had three second-half possessions and they all came up empty.

They attempted a fake punt on fourth-and-seven from the Logan 42 early in the second half, snapping to the up-back, which Carson Hodson sniffed out and made the tackle for a four-yard loss.

The other two possessions ended with a punt and on downs, respectively, with Teays Valley never getting any closer to the Logan end zone than the LHS 36.

Frasure capped off a solid 10-play, 54-yard drive late in the third quarter with a terrific, weaving, in-and-out 16-yard scoring run, which basically all but clinched the win.

Midway through the final stanza, Pierce carried the ball for the only time in his varsity career as a reward for three seasons of terrific play along both the offensive and defensive lines and big No. 80 bulled his way into the end zone from two yards out.

“And hat’s off to coach (Jim) Huntsberger and the special teams units,” Eddy praised. “Our special teams have been good all year long, and again tonight stayed consistent. (Other than a misplaced kickoff) everything else was so solid. We had good plans and the kids executed extremely well.”

As prep football is so often billed as a sport that shows/reveals character and provides valuable life lessons for kids, it can be said the 2020 Chiefs dealt with enough adversity and learned enough life lessons that a cat’s proverbial nine lives wouldn’t be enough to process them all.

“I can’t say enough positive things about the way this football season ended for these young men,” Eddy said. “I can’t say enough about this senior class and what they endured and what they achieved at the end of it. I am so proud of them.”

Sweet dreams, Chieftains.

Logan 28, Teays Valley 3
Teays Valley       3    0    0      0—  3
Logan                  0  14    7      7—28

Scoring summary
TV: Cale Clifton 29 field goal, 6:02, 1Q
Logan: Caden McCarty 70 run (Zach Chapin kick), 9:05, 2Q
Logan: McCarty 7 run (Chapin kick), 2:58, 2Q
Logan: Ian Frasure 16 run (Chapin kick), 1:07, 3Q
Logan: Henry Pierce 2 run (Chapin kick), 7:02, 4Q

Team Statistics                 TV            LO
First Downs                        14              14
Offensive Plays                   49              41
Rushes-Yards              34-139       39-235
Passing Yards                     50              45
Total Yards                       189            280
Passes                           7-15-0          1-2-0
Punts-Avg.                    3-39.7        2-33.0
Fumbles-Lost                     2-0             0-0
Penalties-Yards                6-58           4-40
Possession                      23:08         24:52

Individual Statistics
Rushing — Logan: Caden McCarty 22-157 2TD, Ian Frasure 13-82 1TD, Henry Pierce 1-2 1TD, Traten Poling 2-(-5), team 1-(-1). TV leaders: Peyton Weiler 11-55, Camden McDanel 7-32, Hunter Young 5-28.
Passing — Logan: Ian Frasure 1-2-0—45. TV: Matthew Farmer 7-14-0—50, Peyton Weiler 0-1-0—0.
Receiving — Logan: Brandon Heft 1-45. TV leaders: Sam Speakman 2-37, Eli Burgett 2-18.

By Spencer Waugh
for LoganFootball.com
 
The Teays Valley Vikings will look for a fifth straight victory over Logan on Friday night following last season’s dramatic 10-7 win at Logan Chieftain Stadium.
 
Mark Weber, in his seventh season at TVHS, has compiled a 46-24 overall record as head coach while winning five Mid-State League championships and making three playoff appearances at the Pickaway County school.
 
So far this fall the Vikings are 3-5 overall in a season that has been disrupted by postponed games due to COVID-19. The blue and gold opened with wins over Logan Elm (31-25) and Fairfield Union (42-13) before falling to Bishop Watterson (0-39) and Hamilton Township (12-21). The Vikings fell to Kings (41-10) in a replacement game after Circleville had to cancel their league game.
 
TV won its playoff opener against Briggs (68-0) but fell the next week at Anderson (14-52). The Vikings fell to Lancaster (0-24) last week in a regular season game.

On offense the Vikings are still primarily a power run team out of the I-formation utilizing two and three running backs while often using multiple tight ends. They can also bring on extra wide receivers and operate out of the shot gun.
 
One thing that makes the offense unique this fall is the consistent use of unbalanced formations. Teays Valley will often use an eligible tight end lined up beside a guard while moving the tackle over to the strong side giving them an extra big body on that side of the line. The hope is to create mismatches and outnumber defenses at the point of attack or to counter teams who over commit defensive numbers.
 
Camden McDanel (6-0, 180, sophomore) is the feature tailback but is joined by a strong group of fullbacks including Hunter Young (5-8, 190, senior), Jeremiah Thompson (5-8, 180, senior), and Gavin Karshner (5-10, 200, sophomore).
 
Tyler Love (6-0, 165, junior) has been the team’s quarterback; however, he was unable to play against Lancaster last week and was replaced by sophomore Mathew Farmer (6-0, 195).
 
Camden Primmer (6-1, 180, senior) is a talented wide receiver and is joined out wide by Richard Odum (6-1, 165, sophomore) and Sam Speakman (6-3, 160, senior).
 
The tight ends are Eli Burgett (6-3, 250, senior) and Zion Bowling (6-1, 190, senior).
 
Up front the Vikings are strong and athletic. From left to right they’ll line up guard Evan McKenzie (5-8, 170, junior), center AJ Maniacci (6-2, 260, junior), guard Carter Miller (5-7, 210, junior), tackle William Akers (5-10, 200, junior) and tackle Luke Bullock (6-0, 205, junior).
Defensively, the Vikings are aggressive but disciplined. They are strong on the defensive line and their linebackers play downhill. They line up in a 4-4 look with athletic outside linebackers who can cover slot receivers or fill gaps in the run game.
 
Liam Wilson (6-4, 210, senior) and Bowling are the starters at defensive end with Eric Jones (6-0, 250, senior) and Akers playing on the inside. Burgett and Adam Trisler II (5-6, 200, junior) add depth.
 
Peyton Weiler (5-10, 165, junior) and Speakman are the starters at outside linebacker with Landon Thompson (5-8, 135, freshman) adding depth. On the inside, Jeremiah Thompson, and Karshner all rotate on the inside.
 
Primmer, Love, and Odum are the cornerbacks with Mason Lowther (5-10, 165, sophomore) playing safety.
 
Cale Clifton (5-10, 160, sophomore) is an experienced kicker and can convert longer field goals and extra points. Speakman will handle punting duties while Primmer is a threat in the return game.

By Spencer Waugh
for LoganFootball.com

Maysville makes a return trip to Logan after last year’s dramatic 14-12 Chieftain victory at the Maysville Athletic Complex. The Panthers, from the Muskingum Valley League’s new “Big School” division, enter the game 3-5 overall.

The Panthers opened with a 20-0 non-league win over Crooksville but lost their next four against Tri-Valley (0-35), Sheridan (14-33), John Glenn (0-26), and River View (21-23) before their 43-42 overtime victory against Philo. Despite that win, a rematch with the Electrics the next week in the playoffs resulted in a 43-0 loss. Last week Maysville topped Morgan 42-21.

Panthers’ head coach Craig Clarke is old school. While the blue and gold’s offense utilizes the shotgun, it’s really an old wing-t offense. Maysville is averaging nearly 183 yards per game on the ground and just less than 87 yards per game through the air.
 
Quarterback Kaiden Hall (6-1, 225, senior) is a battering ram and the key cog in the offense. He is used more as a traditional fullback in a wing-t offense leading the team with 648 yards and 11 touchdowns on 120 attempts. He has completed 67 of 122 passes for 606 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
 
Hall runs behind power, option, and read-option plays and keeps his eyes down field to pull linebackers and secondary players toward the line of scrimmage before dumping the ball behind for yardage.
 
Hayden Jarrett (6-0, 185, sophomore) lines up with Hall and has gained 281 yards and scored twice on 62 carries while catching 11 passes for 59 yards. Cade Searls (5-9, 165, sophomore), Ethan Heckel (5-8, 140, senior), and Marshall Humphrey (6-0, 180, senior) rotate in the slot and wing back positions.
 
Searls leads the team with 18 catches for 187 yards. Tight end Logan Smith (6-6, 255, senior) is a massive target and adds 14 catches for a team high 191 yards and a pair of scores.
 
In addition to the running backs, top pass catching targets are Hunter Jordan (5-10, 155, senior), Kanyon Zinn (5-8, 130, senior), and Nate Harper (5-10, 150, junior).
 
Up front the Muskingum Countians have plenty of size with Ethyn McClelland (6-6, 300, senior) and Gauge Samson (6-2, 280, junior) anchoring the left side at tackle and guard respectively. Cameron Novaria (6-1, 210, senior) is the center with Austin Wayne (5-10, 225, senior) and Mahki Alexander (6-3, 215, senior) playing guard and tackle on the right side. Quncey Wyatt (5-11, 230, senior) will also play up front.
 
Defensively the Panthers are allowing just over 283 yards per game including 167 per game on the ground. They are allowing nearly 28 points per game.
Up front, Novaria and Wayne are the ends with Leo Ramos (5-8, 240, sophomore) and Garrett LaFollette (6-2 250, junior) playing on the interior line. McClelland adds depth inside while Smith and Trenton Pitts (5-8, 220, sophomore) add depth at end.
 
Jarrett and Adam Bussey (5-5, 170, senior) are excellent inside linebackers while Harper, Searls, and Alex Bobb (6-1, 170, freshman) will play as hybrid outside linebackers/strong safeties.
 
Jordan and Wesley Armstead (5-8, 145, freshman) are the corners and Hall is the safety. Humphrey will also play in the secondary.
 
Sammy Scott (5-9, 135, freshman) is the placekicker and Hall handles punting duties. Humphrey and Searls will return kicks and punts.

30-point opening quarter powers Logan to 50-6 rout of Columbus East
 
By CRAIG DUNN
for loganfootball.com
LOGAN — Thankfully, a difficult season in which they’ve had to deal with tragedy, national controversy, injuries and the ongoing COVID pandemic won’t include a winless football season for the Logan Chieftains.

The Purple & White finally broke loose and got a chance to ring the victory bell Friday night as 30 first-quarter points powered Logan to a 50-6 rout of visiting Columbus East in Logan Chieftain Stadium.

Unlike last week, the Chiefs found themselves on the good side of program history as they didn’t attempt an official forward pass for just the sixth time since records began being kept in 1912.

Caden McCarty rushed for 174 yards on 16 carries and scored four times as Logan (1-7) won its first game of the season, and in so doing snapped an eight-game losing streak dating back to the 2019 season finale.

Logan simply dominated a game that was just added to the schedule a few days earlier to fill an open slot on the schedule for both teams (Logan had originally been slated to visit Meigs before the Marauders canceled out) after they were eliminated from the Division II and Division IV playoffs, respectively, last weekend.

Friday night was certainly a brighter time for the Chiefs, who emerged from the darkness of last week’s 62-0 setback at Big Walnut, the worst loss in school history. Columbus East (1-4) didn’t fare much better, losing at Logan rival Warren 45-0 last Saturday.

Logan has never gone winless in a full football season (the Chiefs were 0-1-1 in the strike-shortened 1978 season) and last night the Chiefs made sure that won’t change.

Thus the Chiefs now have a “1” in the “W” column during a season dotted by tragedy (an Amanda-Clearcreek student was killed in a traffic accident two days before Logan visited the Aces) in week two; controversy (Logan was routed at Logan Elm two days after the infamous mask incident at a junior high game in Logan Chieftain Stadium made national headlines) in week five; a rash of injuries and, of course, all of the fallout and uncertainty of COVID.

Irony also reared its head (in a good way) in Chieftain Nation.

The last time a Logan football team didn’t attempt a single pass was in a 34-13 victory at Portsmouth back in 2012, on a night that Caden’s older brother, Cory, rushed for 270 yards and three touchdowns. Logan quarterback Caleb Lewellen managed the Purple & White to victory that night without throwing a single pass.

And, also ironically, that ’12 win also snapped an extensive season-opening losing streak which stood at five games before winning down on the Ohio River.

Logan coach Mike Eddy was both proud of, and relieved for, his team…not just for the victory, but for persevering and refusing to give up.

“It (means a lot), and not just winning the football game,” Eddy said, “but in getting a little bit of that excitement back around the program and the kids knowing we still have a couple more football games to play. They have opportunities to finish the season in a strong way and on a positive note.”

            After being totally dominated last week, it was the Chieftains who did the dominating Friday night. And the Purple & White also took full advantage of East benching three of its key starters for the opening quarter, including quarterback Malachi Williams.

            While all 311 of Logan’s total yards came on the ground, East was held to negative-3 rushing yards and finished with only 138 yards of total offense, getting 54 of its 141 aerial yards on a touchdown pass from Williams to Ishmeal Spann-Bowers in the waning seconds of the second quarter.

            By then, Logan had already built a commanding 44-0 lead, scoring easily on all seven of its offensive possessions through early in the third quarter.

            The Chiefs only ran 33 plays from scrimmage and scored on seven of them. They also never had to punt the ball away the entire evening.

            “There were a couple of things tonight,” Eddy noted. “Number one, we moved Quinn Walsh from linebacker down to D-tackle because we still have a lot of injuries up front. He’s our most-experienced linebacker. We weren’t sure how that experiment was going to go, but we knew that physically he could hold his own on the D-line. We had some younger linebackers who were starting show some promise so we wanted to see what happens. I thought that adjustment went well this week.

            “And the other thing was, before the game tonight, there was a different energy,” he added. “We talked about adversity, what it does to you, how you respond to it and what you focus on. Too many times when you’re in that dark place it’s easy to focus on what’s bad and what’s wrong and you forget about what your strengths are and what you’re grateful for.”

            And Eddy revealed that this season has been just as tough on him as it has been his players.

            “I shared a little bit of my message with those guys tonight because that’s kind of where I’ve been these last few weeks,” admitted Logan’s second-year head coach. “I got some great advice from some good friends and basically (talked about) just change your outlook and what you are focused on.

“I thought these guys did a great job right from the beginning of the game being focused on the good things about this team, being focused on their strengths and having some energy when you play.”

Logan scored just 37 seconds into the game in bang-bang-bang fashion, with Jonny McClelland nearly breaking the opening kickoff for six points but settling for a 26-yard return to the East 49-yard line. Two carries by McCarty, the latter a weaving 29-yarder through the left side of the East line and back across the middle, put Logan in front for good.
Quarterback Ian Frasure than ran for a 2-point conversion. The rout was on.

With some of their better players temporarily sidelined, the Tigers struggled to even punt the ball away. Carson Hodson deflected a couple punts and Cody Carrell blocked another as the Tigers simply couldn’t escape their side of midfield.
“We knew (East) was a very talented football team if we allowed them to gain momentum,” Eddy said. “We knew they were going to feed off that, so we knew we needed to start quick and we were able to do that.

“I praised (first-year head coach Michael Bell) after the game for really sticking to his morals,” he added. “He sat three really good football players in the first quarter and literally had to change their offense because of it, but he’s trying to do the right things and teach young men valuable lessons. I praise him for his courage in doing that. Does it change the outcome of the game? Probably not, but it put his team in a bad spot to start and I think that’s important because we are still teaching lessons here.”

McCarty scored again on a 1-yard run with 7:09 left in the opening stanza and Frasure connected with Easton Castle on the ensuing 2-point conversion pass to make it 16-0.

Since conversions don’t count on official plays or yardage because they are not timed and are not considered as downs, that pass doesn’t show up in the official numbers.

Traten Poling (on a 16-yard jet sweep) and McCarty (a 5-yard run) scored before the end of the opening stanza, giving Logan a 30-0 lead after Zach Chapin booted a pair of extra points, then Frasure (five yards) and McCarty (15) added second-quarter touchdowns and Chapin added two more PATs.

Poling would reach paydirt on another 16-yard jet sweep midway through the third period as the entire second half was played with a running clock under the 30-point-differential rule.

“One of the seniors, Caden McCarty, came up to me right before halftime and said ‘coach, let’s just focus on doing everything right. It’s not about the score,’” Eddy said, “and I thought we did so much better of that tonight. We minimized penalties and turnovers. We were able to control the clock and run the ball, which was a huge factor early on. We were having a lot of success on the ground so we didn’t have to put the ball in the air. Obviously, that’s a factor.”

But what Eddy liked most was his kids turning the negatives of recent weeks into positives.

“I can’t praise our kids enough for their mental toughness and for sticking together through everything we’ve been through this year,” Eddy praised. “To come out and play excited is something maybe you don’t expect (an 0-7 team) to do. But this group of guys did and I’m really proud of them for that.”

The Chieftains are slated to conclude their home season next week against 3-5 Maysville, which defeated McConnelsville Morgan 42-21 Friday night.

“We’re going to try to use this as a springboard,” Eddy pointed out. “We have a really good Maysville team next week. They’re going to be big and physical and try to run the ball and control the clock, and they have a dual-threat quarterback out of the wing-T system who they’ll try to utilize on the edge.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he added, but with the burden of getting that first victory having been lifted from their shoulders. “the good news is we might have a lighter step.”

———
Opening up the record book: Here are some additional numbers from Logan football historian Spencer Waugh:
—The last time Logan scored at least 50 points in a game was in a 61-49 victory over Athens in the 2015 season opener;
—30 might be a program record for first-quarter points scored. The overall record for points in a single quarter is 42 in the second period of a blowout victory over Marietta in 2007;
—The last time Logan held an opponent to negative rushing yards was against Newark (-16) in 2013. East’s minus-3 rushing yards is the seventh time in school history a Chieftain team held its opponent to negative ground yardage, the record being minus-41 against Waverly in 1973;
—Minus-3 rushing yards is the fewest yards ever allowed by the Chiefs in a home game.
———

Logan 50, Columbus East 6
Col. East             0    6    0      0—  6
Logan                30  14    6      0—50
Scoring summary
Logan: Caden McCarty 29 run (Ian Frasure run), 11:23, 1Q
Logan: McCarty 1 run (Easton Castle pass from Frasure), 7:09, 1Q
Logan: Traten Poling 16 run (Zach Chapin kick), 5:07, 1Q
Logan: McCarty 5 run (Chapin kick), 2:11, 1Q
Logan: Frasure 5 run (Chapin kick), 8:09, 2Q
Logan: McCarty 15 run (Chapin kick), 2:38, 2Q
East: Ishmeal Spann-Bowers 54 pass from Malachi Williams (run failed), 0:16.5, 2Q
Logan: Poling 16 run (kick failed), 6:03, 3Q
Team Statistics                 EA            LO
First Downs                          8              15
Offensive Plays                   38              33
Rushes-Yards               21-(-3)       33-311
Passing Yards                   141                0
Total Yards                       138            311
Passes                         11-17-0                0
Punts-Avg.                      4-8.0                0
Fumbles-Lost                     3-2             2-1
Penalties-Yards                  1-5           5-50
Possession                      27:30         20:30

Individual Statistics
Rushing — Logan: Caden McCarty 16-174 4TD, Traten Poling 5-90 2TD, Varik Fick 4-23, Ian Frasure 5-21 1TD, Hunter Hill 2-4, team 1-(-1). East leaders: Ishmeal Spann-Bowers 5-16.
Passing — Logan: none attempted. East: Malachi Williams 9-14-0—124 1TD, Priest Jackson 2-3-0—17.
Receiving — Logan: none. East leaders: Ishmeal Spann-Bowers 4-71 1TD, Isaac Ortiz 3-24.

By Spencer Waugh
for LoganFootball.com
 
The Columbus East Tigers will make their first trip to Hocking County in 95 years on Friday night and will become one of only a handful of teams to have played the Chieftains at the Hocking County Fairgrounds (1923), Bill Sauer Field (1925), and Logan Chieftain Stadium.
 
The 1925 game was the official dedication for the old Hilltop stadium, known better in later years as Bill Sauer Field. In that game Logan pulled off a 9-0 upset to record the first win at the longtime home of the Chieftains.

East is 2-1 all-time against the purple and white while the Columbus City League is 11-7 all-time against LHS.
 
East’s most-famous football alumnus is no doubt Charles “Chic” Harley, who went on to star at Ohio State. When Ohio Stadium was built starting in 1920, it was on the back of Harley’s success leading to the Horseshoe’s nickname of “The House that Harley Built.” Today the Tigers play their games at Harley Field.
 
Mike Bell is in his first season as the Tiger grid boss. Last season the orange and black were 6-4, their first winning season since 1999.

The east siders are 1-3 so far this season, with the City League getting a late start due to COVID-19. East dropped its first two games to Independence (12-58) and Beechcroft (24-34) but topped Linden McKinley (14-6). They dropped their Division IV playoff game at Warren last week, 45-0.
 
The Tiger offense is another shotgun spread featuring a dynamic quarterback and the quickest set of receivers the Chieftains will see all season.
 
Ishmeal Spann-Bowers (5-9, 175, sophomore) and Jeremiah Thomas (6-0, 185, senior) are tremendously quick and operate in the slot and as wide receivers.
 
In the backfield quarterback Malachi Williams (6-4, 190, junior) will get the ball to his skill players in space but is also capable of punishing defenses with his legs. Michael Hereford (5-11, 173, senior) is a quick, powerful running back.
 
Other receivers include Preist Jackson (5-10, 165, sophomore) and Solomon Vaughn (6-0, 170, sophomore) while Wayne Lindsey III (5-10, 180, sophomore) can play in the slot or as a running back.
 
Kamron Roberts (5-9, 220, junior) is a fullback and Xayvion Brooks (6-5, 255, senior) is a tight end when the Tigers want extra beef.
 
Up front, the Franklin Countians are absolutely massive. The left side of the line is anchored by tackle Jayden Oliver (6-4, 395, senior) and guard Khalil Jones (6-5, 320, senior) while the smaller right side sees Jonathan Scott (6-2, 268, junior) at tackle and Andre Green (6-5, 280, junior) at guard with Unishyis Grimes (5-11, 200, sophomore) playing center. Briston Harris (5-11, 190, junior) is the first lineman off the bench.
 
Defensively the Tigers line up with four down linemen and a pair of linebackers with five defensive backs. The two hybrid strong safeties are comfortable playing in the box against opposing run formations.
 
Brooks and Green are the starters on the ends with Junior Breaston (6-2, 270, sophomore) and Thomas Hardin (5-10, 168, sophomore) playing the tackle spots. Jones and Oliver add depth on the interior line while Isaac Ortiz (6-1, 219, senior) will also play on the end.
 
Roberts and James Whatley (5-10, 200, sophomore) are the linebackers.
 
Spann-Bowers and Lindsey III are the cornerbacks while Vaughn is the free safety. Playing the hybrid safety positions are Thomas and Jackson with Hereford adding depth.
 
Spann-Bowers is a threat on kick and punt returns while Thomas will handle punting chores. The Tigers are likely to try for two-point conversions after scoring touchdowns, but Javier Salas (5-9, 160, senior) is the placekicker.

SUNBURY — There’s really no other way to say it: the Logan Chieftains were on the wrong side of football history Friday night.

Playing in the state playoffs for the first time since 2009 — in this COVID-altered season, all Ohio teams were given the option of playing in the tournament — the Chiefs suffered the worst loss in program history.

Host Big Walnut tallied 48 first-half points and scored on eight-consecutive offensive possessions — as well as getting a defensive touchdown — and routed the Purple & White 62-0 in rural Delaware County.

The record-setting loss eclipsed a 58-0 setback at the hands of Dublin Jerome four years ago and matched the most points ever allowed by a Logan team, dating back to a 62-7 setback at the hands of Columbus West in 1930.

Plain and simple, the winless (0-7) Chieftains were simply dominated.

Big Walnut (4-3), which will face Dublin Scioto in a second-round Division II Region 7 game next Friday — it will be a rematch of a game played last week that Scioto won 15-14 — held Logan to minus-25 yards in the first half (minus-39 on the ground).

Had it not been for sophomore Varik Fick breaking a 45-yard run in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs would have been held to negative yardage. As it was, Logan finished with just 25 yards of offense (14 passing, 11 rushing) and only two first downs.
Big Walnut, which finished with 24 first downs and 486 yards’ worth of offense, had 16 first downs before Logan finally eked one out late in the first half on backup quarterback Brayden Sturgell’s 12-yard run.

There’s no way to sugar-coat that it was simply an awful night for the Chieftains… and Logan coach Mike Eddy didn’t try to do so.

“It’s one of those speechless moments. There’s no explanation,” Eddy stated. “Yes, (Big Walnut is) a good football team, but that was anything but a solid performance from us. That’s not what I expected to see tonight.”

Teams had until the Thursday before their week-five games to opt out of the post-season and that was a consideration for the Chiefs, who are a young and inexperienced team, not to mention they’ve been very banged-up physically for several weeks.

 “We talked about do we want to opt out or do we want to be in the playoffs,” Eddy said. “We talked to the players about it and they said ‘coach, this is an opportunity for us, we want to go play.’ So we know they wanted to play. The desire to play this game was there. The execution of that on the field didn’t necessarily come to pass.

“I thought we had some opportunities early (and) if we could have made something happen in those situations maybe it’s a little bit different,” he continued, “but I’m afraid it’s a situation where we’re sitting around waiting for the bad thing to happen…and then once it happens, there’s it is, there’s the bad thing.

“That’s a difficult concept to overcome and you don’t overcome that until you starting having success. And this evening we didn’t have any success to even try and build some confidence why we were on the field.”

Big Walnut certainly played with that confidence. The Eagles scored four touchdowns on the ground, four more through the air and added a defensive score by recovering a Logan fumble in the end zone.

Had it not been for an overthrown pass intended for a wide-open wide receiver well behind the Logan defense on their first possession of the night, the Eagles would have scored on all nine of their possessions until missing a 45-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.

Both teams only played their starters the first half, using reserves and freshmen in a running-clock second half.

            “I know it was an embarrassing situation for everybody involved,” Eddy said. “I was heartbroken for the players when they didn’t have an opportunity to finish this game, but we had potentially already lost two more starters (to injury) and we came in short-handed anyway.

“In the first half we had a couple of guys really getting banged-up and we knew (the Eagles) were going to play their younger kids,” he continued, “so it just didn’t make sense to me to risk these guys further injury knowing there are still more football games left to play.”

            Starting quarterback Jagger Barnett went 13-of-18 passing for 153 yards and three touchdowns — two to Grant Coulson and one to Cam Gladden — and ran for a fourth. Running back Caden Williams ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns and Christian Takatch recovered a Logan fumble on a strip-sack late in the second quarter.

            All that happened in the first half, which included a 35-point second period. Backup players added two more touchdowns in the third stanza.

            Since Meigs cancelled out on a week-eight game, the Chieftains don’t have a game scheduled for next weekend as of right now.

            “A couple of teams have reached out to us and wanted to play but we wanted to be patient and see what happens after tonight,” Eddy revealed. “It comes down to seeing what happens and seeing what teams are available for us to play. It might be short notice, but (the Chiefs are looking for) the opportunity play somebody and go compete.”

No matter who challenges the Purple & White next weekend, they face internal challenges of their own in trying to recover from this disastrous game.

“This is going to be one of the greatest tests they have ever faced. How do you respond after this?” Eddy said. “That’s a huge test in life, and that’s one of the reasons I still love doing this because this is an example of what life really is. When you least expect it, you get hit the hardest but you’re still expected to stand up and do the right thing and continue to move on, gain strength from it and grow as a person.

“That’s what we’ve got to do,” he added. “We’ll get back to work in the morning. The attitude they bring, the emotion they bring, the mental toughness they bring is going to have a lot to say about how the rest of this season looks like.”
Eddy noted there are few positives when it comes to being winless this late in the season.

“Standing here 0-and-7, you don’t want to say ‘well, it’s not about winning and losing,’ because it is,” Eddy said. “There’s an aspect to this game where it requires us to be winners, but at the same time our greatest goal is to become better men… and if for some way it was God’s plan for this season to happen the way it did to strengthen these young men, then I have to accept that.

“But there’s no way to walk away from here feeling like anything positive happened,” he added. “We have to show up in the morning. We have a job to do. We have expectations that we need to try to meet and we’ll see how tough we are.”

Big Walnut 62, Logan 0
Logan                  0    0    0      0—  0
Big Walnut        13  35  14      0—62
Scoring summary
BW: Caden Williams 36 run (kick blocked), 8:33, 1Q
BW: Williams 9 run (Zach Willoughby-Neal kick), 2:06, 1Q
BW: Grant Coulson 19 pass from Jagger Barnett (Willoughby-Neal kick), 10:14, 2Q
BW: Barnett 5 run (Willoughby-Neal kick), 5:49, 2Q
BW: Cam Gladden 29 pass from Barnett (Willoughby-Neal kick), 3:38, 2Q
BW: Christian Takatch fumble recovery in end zone (Willoughby-Neal kick), 2:50, 2Q
BW: Coulson 30 pass from Barnett (Willoughby-Neal kick), 1:43, 2Q
BW: Dom Salazar 23 pass from Jake Nier (Willoughby-Neal kick), 10:02, 3Q
BW: Jordy Barrera 1 run (Willoughby-Neal kick), 2:28, 3Q

Team Statistics                 LO           BW
First Downs                          2              24
Offensive Plays                   38              59
Rushes-Yards                32-11       36-301
Passing Yards                     14            185
Total Yards                         25            486
Passes                             3-6-0      13-23-0
Punts-Avg.                    7-35.0             0-0
Fumbles-Lost                     4-2             1-0
Penalties-Yards                2-10           5-35
Possession                      22:29         25:31

Individual Statistics
Rushing — Logan: Varik Fick 5-52, Caden McCarty 9-12, Brayden Sturgell 3-10, Alex Thompson 1-3, J.D. Turner 1-3, Traten Poling 1-2, Hunter Hill 5-(-8), Ian Frasure 6-(-53), team 1-(-10). Big Walnut leaders: Caden Williams 13-111 2TD, Shane White 8-81, Jordy Barrera 8-58 1TD, Jagger Bennett 3-36 1TD.
Passing — Logan: Ian Frasure 2-5-0—15, Brayden Sturgell 1-1-0—(-1). Big Walnut: Jagger Barnett 11-18-0—153, Jake Nier 2-5-0—32 1TD.
Receiving — Logan: Traten Poling 2-15, Henry Pierce 1-(-1). Big Walnut: Grant Coulson 5-78 2TD, Cam Gladden 5-63 1TD, Teddy Dancer 2-21, Dom Salazar 1-23 1TD.

By Spencer Waugh
for LoganFootball.com
 
The Big Walnut Eagles will make their ninth postseason appearance on Friday night, but first since 2011. The Delaware Countians own an impressive 15-7 postseason mark, including a Division III state championship in 2007 and a regional championship in 2008.
 
First year mentor Rob Page is no stranger to the postseason, having found success while a head coach at Reading High School in Cincinnati and as an assistant at Turpin High School, also in Cincinnati.

The Eagles operate out of a shot gun spread offense, but emphasize a power running game and use ball control to suffocate opponents. They are running 65 plays per game and picking up 20 first downs compared to just 43 plays and 14 first downs for their opponents.
 
Senior quarterback Jagger Barnett (6-4, 215) is the key cog. An excellent passer, he has completed 72 of 116 passes for 748 yards with nine touchdowns and only four interceptions. He can use his legs as well where he’s gained 191 yards and run for two touchdowns on 59 attempts.
 
The offense averages 25 points and 353 yards per game with 228 coming on the ground and 125 per game coming via the aerial route.
 
Caden Williams (6-0, 190, senior) runs with both speed and power. He’s rushed for 770 yards and seven touchdowns on 146 carries. Gordon Rond (5-8, 175, senior) is a capable back-up. Rond has gained 306 yards and scored once on 47 attempts.
 
The receiving corps. is young, but is led by Grant Coulson’s (6-1, 180, sophomore) 277 yards and four touchdowns on 26 catches. Classmate Cam Gladden (5-9, 155) adds 21 receptions for 138 yards and a score while senior Sam Fortney (6-2, 180, senior) has made 11 grabs for 179 yards and three scores. Jake Bales (6-1, 180, senior) adds four catches for 36 yards and a touchdown.
 
Jake Ross (6-3, 200, senior) is a tight end who can flex as a wing or slot receiver. AJ Leasure (6-2, 215, senior) and Matt Fry (5-8, 185, senior) will also see time at tight end and are very effective run blockers.
 
Up front Cole Wecker (6-5, 245, senior) anchors the line at right tackle with Aiden Hernandez (6-2, 225, junior) and Grant Ferris (6-2, 240, junior) playing guard. Wyatt Lenz (5-11, 215, junior) is the center and Adam Wilhelm (5-9, 175, junior) is the left tackle.
 
Defensively, the scarlet and gold line-up with four down linemen and three linebackers while allowing 16 points per game. They are allowing just 111 yards per game on the ground and 136 per game through the air.
 
Leasure is the team’s top tackler from his linebacker post where he is joined by Rond and Fry. Lucas Tindall (6-2, 190, junior) will rotate with Fry at outside linebacker while Lawrence O’Malley (5-10, 195, junior) will rotate with the two inside linebackers.
 
Up front Ethan Clawson (6-4, 190, sophomore) and Gage Sutton (6-3, 210, senior) are the ends with Mahlon Spangler (5-10, 225, senior) and Christian Takatch (6-2, 210, junior) playing on the interior line.
 
In the secondary Luke Pritchard (5-11, 180, junior) and Brady Hershberger (6-3, 200, senior) are the safeties with Justin Embaugh (5-8, 170, senior) and Garrett Stover (6-0, 175, freshman) playing cornerback. John Embaugh (5-7, 170, senior) and Zach Willoughby-Neal (5-9, 175, senior) add depth.
 
Willoughby-Neal or Gladden will handle the kicking duties while Wilhelm will do the punting. Gladden, Stover, and Dom Salazar (5-9, 150, junior) will all return kicks.

Logan nearly wipes out 19-point deficit before falling at Watkins Memorial
 
By CRAIG DUNN
for loganfootball.com
 
PATASKALA — On the surface, you could say all that prevented the Logan Chieftains from their first football victory of the season Friday night was three huge plays by host Watkins Memorial.

It’s certainly easy to say that in retrospect. But in all fairness to the Warriors, you also have to give huge credit to their lockdown second-half defense as well as some costly Chieftain miscues.

The Warriors built a 19-point first-half lead on a fumble return, a 65-yard pass play and an 81-yard kickoff return, then had to hold off a determined rally by the Purple & White to earn a 32-21 victory at Watkins Memorial’s Ascena Field.

Down 19-0 in the early going and 25-7 late in the second stanza, the Chiefs pulled within 25-14 at halftime after Ian Frasure hooked up with Brandon Heft on a 20-yard scoring pass, then closed the gap to 25-21 a little more than two minutes into the third quarter when Caden McCarty blocked a Watkins punt and recovered it in the end zone.

But that defensive score was the only points the Chiefs were destined to get in the second half.

Watkins Memorial played lights-out on defense, forcing the Chieftains — while still trailing by just four points — into four-consecutive three-and-out possessions on offense. Then, after the Warriors got a clinching touchdown with under two minutes remaining, they sealed the victory by picking off a Logan pass in the final moments.

At times the Chieftains (0-6) were their own worst enemy. They committed four turnovers (two interceptions and a like number of fumbles), committed 100 yards’ worth of penalties, and fell way behind before finally getting their act together.
But as exciting as the Chiefs made it, and despite the all-out enthusiasm and effort they put into the entire evening, it wound up being too little, too late as the Warriors (3-3) were able to hang on.

“We talked all last week about atmosphere, intensity and effort. We changed up the way we practiced all week and tried to add a little more excitement to the practices every day to try and create a little bit of energy,” said Logan coach Mike Eddy. “Tonight, we saw a completely different team before the game. We knew we had to kind of create our own atmosphere and be excited to go play, and I thought we were able to generate that tonight.

“And that’s the difference why at the beginning we didn’t get down mentally,” he added. “We just continued to play.”
The Chiefs came out flat last week at Logan Elm and paid for it, finding themselves down 35-0 in the first half of a game they eventually lost 48-21.

But last night, even with the Warriors hitting big play after big play, this time the Chieftains kept their poise and intensity.
“We’re going to go back and look at this and man, we’re going to see a ton of mistakes,” Eddy said. “The penalty yards were just outrageous…and you couple that with some other things out there (when) we were second (down) and third (down) and binocular distance (yardage to go). There’s no offensive play for that.

“The good news is I thought we played so much better defensively,” he added. Watkins Memorial “was a team that was loaded with athletes. I thought our guys did a great job, being an undersized team on defense, of being able to make them earn those yards on the ground. I thought we covered pretty well out in space and got a little pressure on the quarterback.”

With McCarty rushing for 124 yards and scoring twice, adding a 25-yard rushing TD to his blocked punt score, Logan outgained Watkins Memorial 238-220 in total offense on the night. But the Chiefs managed just 10 yards of total offense in the second half, where they had to punt the ball away four times without ever crossing over to the Watkins side of the 50-yard line.

The Chiefs fumbled the ball away on their own 20-yard line on their first play from scrimmage and the Warriors took full advantage, scoring in just four plays on a 9-yard run by Gage Lowery, who would rush for 102 yards on the night.

It stayed 7-0 until the two teams combined for 32 points in a wild second quarter that saw the Chiefs register most of their yards and eight of their 10 first downs on offense.

When quarterback Ian Frasure was sacked and the ball got away early in the second period, WM’s Mason Swearingen picked it up and went 35 yards with a scoop-and-score. Then, after an interception, WM quarterback Liston Shroyer went deep to Zach Christensen, who got behind the Logan defense for a 65-yard scoring bomb that made it 19-0 with 9:36 left in the half.

It appeared the rout was on. But the Chiefs bowed their collective backs and went 71 yards on just six plays to paydirt, with McCarty going the final 25 yards to close Logan within 19-7 after Zach Chapin booted the extra point with 7:09 left in the half.
However, on the ensuing kickoff, Watkins junior Jaleel Sales gathered the ball in at the WM 19-yard line and went up the middle nearly untouched for an 81-yard kick return. The Warriors failed to get any conversion points for a third-straight time but led 25-7 with 6:56 left in the half.

The Chiefs again maintained their composure and burned through five-and-a-half minutes of game clock in going 60 yards on 10 plays to get that TD back.

With McCarty finding running room in getting the ball down to the WM 20, Frasure found Heft at the goal line, where he made the catch for six points with 1:25 remaining in the half. Chapin kicked the Chieftains within 25-14 at the intermission.

When Watkins Memorial was held to a three-and-out on the opening series of the third quarter and was forced to punt, McCarty found a lane to the punter and blocked the kick.

The ball caromed into the end zone, where McCarty outran everyone else — he already had a running start on the block — and fell on it near the back end line for another touchdown that pulled Logan within 25-21 after Chapin converted the PAT with 9:38 to play in the third quarter.

But the Chieftains wouldn’t get close to scoring again…not on offense, anyway.

Midway through the final quarter Shroyer was hit on a scramble and the ball popped loose. Henry Pierce came oh-so-close to scooping it up, with nothing in front of him but open space to the end zone, but couldn’t find the handle and the ball went out of bounds.

Watkins Memorial would then ice the win, aided by a bit of drama.

A 49-yard punt by Frasure went down to the WM 31, where Sales made a play on the ball as the Chiefs readied to down it. He slipped between a couple surprised Logan coverage men and brought the ball back 32 yards to the Logan 37.
The Warriors then gave the ball to Lowery six-straight times and the WM senior scored on a 1-yard run with 1:41 remaining to ice the victory.

“We gave them the ball inside the 20 early, we gave up the kick return and they had a scoop-and-score. Sometimes that’s just football,” Eddy said. “Those are physical mistakes…you have to live with the physical mistakes because they’re going to happen.

“It’s the mental mistakes you can’t deal with,” he added. “I thought overall we did a much-better job with that part of it. We were a much better football team tonight than we’ve been in a long time. I was so proud of those guys to see that. It just shows their mental toughness and their work ethic.”

And Eddy also gave credit where credit was due to the Watkins Memorial defense.

“They did a great job of making some defensive adjustments at halftime and taking away some things that we were having a lot of success with,” Eddy pointed out. “Then we were back to trying to re-solve the puzzle. We went back to those things a couple times to test it out and sure enough, it wasn’t there. Now it’s going back and having to re-invent yourself in the second half, and I didn’t feel that we were in plus-yardage situations enough offensively to really be able to do that. With the penalties setting us back now you’re just closing your eyes and picking a play.

“Their kids did a great job of being able to cover us man-to-man so when we tried to throw the football the quarterback really didn’t have anyplace to go with it a lot of times,” he continued. “Hat’s off to them. That’s a good football team.

“One of the things I tried to express to the kids after the game was ‘you just went toe-to-toe with a team good enough to host a playoff game (Columbus Northland in a Division II game) next week.’ We had opportunities to win this game. That shows the kids the caliber of football team they can be and hopefully it’s that motivation to just keep working.”

Speaking of playoffs, the Chiefs now prepare for a Division II playoff tilt — Logan’s first playoff appearance in 11 years — next Friday night at Big Walnut (3-3), which lost 15-14 to Dublin Scioto last night.

Since this is the first time that all Ohio teams have been afforded access to the playoffs in any given season, the Chieftains could make history by becoming the state’s first-ever winless team to turn around and win a playoff game.

It could happen if the Chiefs show the same intensity and desire next week up in Sunbury that they did last night in Pataskala.

“We’re still a team with some starters out but overall, tonight we were the team I think we were meant to be,” Eddy said. “Now if we can take that football team and take away those mistakes, I think now you can see who this team is really supposed to be.

“The hardest sell this week is (going to be that) we’re 0-6 but we can’t quit,” he added, “and these kids have been great about it. That’s got to be our focus as coaches this week…we have to keep these guys energized and focused and hungry to go win.”

Watkins Memorial 32, Logan 21
Logan                    0    14  7    0—21
Watkins                 7    18  0    7—32
Scoring summary
WM: Gage Lowery 9 run (Max Deckop kick), 10:16, 1Q
WM: Mason Swearingen 35 fumble return (kick blocked), 10:57, 2Q
WM: Zach Christensen 65 pass from Liston Shroyer (run failed), 9:36, 2Q
Logan: Caden McCarty 25 run (Zach Chapin kick), 7:09, 2Q
WM: Jaleel Sales 81 kickoff return (pass failed), 6:56, 2Q
Logan: Brandon Heft 20 pass from Ian Frasure (Chapin kick), 1:25, 2Q
Logan: McCarty blocked punt recovery in end zone (Chapin kick), 9:38, 3Q
WM: Lowery 1 run (Deckop kick), 1:41, 4Q

Team Statistics                 LO          WM
First Downs                        10              10
Offensive Plays                   43              47
Rushes-Yards              31-195         36-99
Passing Yards                     43            121
Total Yards                       238            220
Passes                           6-12-2        6-11-0
Punts-Avg.                    5-41.0        5-24.8
Fumbles-Lost                     3-2             1-0
Penalties-Yards              8-100           3-25
Possession                      24:07         23:53

Individual Statistics
Rushing — Logan: Caden McCarty 18-124 1TD, Ian Frasure 10-61, Traten Poling 2-17, team 1-(-7). WM leaders: Gage Lowery 23-102 2TD, Jaleel Sales 1-21.
Passing — Logan: Ian Frasure 6-12-2—43 1TD. WM: Liston Shroyer 6-11-0—121 1TD.
Receiving — Logan: Traten Poling 2-5, Brandon Heft 1-20 1TD, Jonny McClelland 1-10, Caden McCarty 1-4, Henry Pierce 1-4. WM leaders: Zach Christensen 2-74 1TD, Caleb Wheeler 2-37.

By Spencer Waugh
for LoganFootball.com
 
The Watkins Memorial Warriors will host the Logan Chieftains for the second time ever and the first time in 25 years. In 1995 the two teams played a thriller, with the Warriors topping the Chieftains 30-28. It is the only game played between the two schools.
 
Watkins Memorial, of the Licking County League, is looking to even its record heading into next week’s playoff opener. The Warriors beat rival Licking Heights (40-13) in the second game of the season, and topped Utica (49-13) last week. They opened with a loss to Licking Valley (3-35) and also lost games to Zanesville (13-46) and Granville (9-28).
 
Warrior head coach Jake Kuhner is in his third season at WM after previously serving as head coach at Whitehall-Yearling where he won a Mid-State League title in his last season. A Pickerington High School grad, he was a sophomore when Logan topped the Tigers in a second-round playoff game in 2000.

The Warrior offense is a shotgun-based spread that utilizes short passing and read and power run in the ground game.
 
Quarterback Liston Shroyer (6-0, 150, junior) is athletic and can be a dual threat. He manages the offense well.
 
Gage Lowery (5-8, 179, senior) is one of the few seniors on a junior oriented team and has good lateral burst and he is not afraid to lower his shoulder into defenders from his running back spot.
 
Jaleel Sales (5-8, 161, junior) is a versatile threat who has lined up as a wildcat quarterback, running back, and receiver.
 
Others in the receiving corps. include Caleb Wheeler (5-11, 156, junior), Brady Lee (5-9, 145, sophomore), Zach Christensen (6-0, 174, senior), Nate Younker (6-0, 163, junior), and Aiden Cleery (6-3, 160, junior).
 
The Warriors will also utilize tight ends in the offense. Josh McCort (5-7, 160, sophomore) plays as a split end and on the line. Luke Mumford (6-2, 198, sophomore) plays in shorter yardage and power situations while Brent Casterline (6-5, 205, junior) plays more of an H-back role on a wing.
 
Up front the Licking Countians might have the beefiest line the Chieftains have faced all season. Clive Stephens (6-1, 336, senior) and Frank Dunn (6-4, 273, senior) are the tackles, Anthony Knoblauch (6-4, 263, junior) and Elijah Doyle (6-3, 286, senior) are the guards, and Jacob Joyce (6-5, 274, junior) is the center. Wyatt Caldwell (5-8, 297) may also see time up front for the black and gold.
 
Defensively the Warriors have lined up in both odd and even fronts and emphasize quickness and speed over bulk and power. But don’t mistake that for a lack of physicality.
 
Up front, James Gauthier (5-10, 168, senior) and Mason Swearingen (5-10, 190, senior) are the ends with Zac McDermott (6-0, 163, sophomore) and Derek Koblauch (6-1, 170, freshman) on the inside. Alex Wallace (5-7, 245, junior) can add some size to the forward wall.
 
Mumford and Noah Bigham (5-10, 196, sophomore) are a pair of aggressive and physical linebackers and Lowery does double duty playing on at outside linebacker. Ethan Pollack (6-4, 162, sophomore) will see time at linebacker as well.
 
In the secondary, Younker and Sam Dunn (6-0, 175, junior) are the safeties while Wheeler, Chrstensen, and Sales will all play at cornerback. Joey Romshe (6-1, 182, junior) also will see time in the secondary.
 
Max Deckop (5-10, 140, junior) does the placekicking with freshman Patrick Carney (6-0, 159) does the punting. Sales and Wheeler are both dangerous return threats.