By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News

LOGAN — With their road schedule completely out of the way, and with so much on the line the last two weeks of the regular season, a sense of excitement is gradually beginning to build within the Logan Chieftain football camp.

Each and every season, Logan’s first and foremost goal is to win the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League championship… and it’s a goal they’ve achieved more often than not in recent years.

To that end, the undefeated Chiefs (8-0 overall, 3-0 SEOAL) can clinch no worse than a tie for their sixth-consecutive crown Friday night (7:30 p.m. kickoff) when they host Jackson in Logan Chieftain Stadium.
That same sense of excitement goes both ways, however.

Under new coach Andy Hall, the Ironmen (7-1, 4-1) control their own destiny both for achieving at least a share of the league title and for landing a post-season playoff berth.

If they can knock off the Chieftains — something no SEOAL team has been able to do since, well, Jackson did it 32 league games ago, back in 2004 — the Ironmen would earn at least a share of the conference title.

Logan is already in a strong position to keep playing past week 10. While the Chiefs likely clinch a Division II Region 7 playoff home game with a win Friday night, the Ironmen can reach the post-season in Division III Region 12 by beating both Logan and 7-1 Zanesville next Friday.

But Jackson plays its last two games on the road while the Chiefs are in the friendly confines of Logan Chieftain Stadium, where the Purple & White are 9-0 since the facility opened in August of 2008. The Chiefs opened their season by playing four of five games on the road, and last week’s 31-15 triumph at Warren was their regular-season road finale.

“You can feel the excitement growing,” said Logan coach Dale Amyx, “but I think it’s kind of tempered because the kids know what’s at stake. They know they have to stay on an even keel and concentrate on the task at hand.

“We talk each week about each league game being a league championship game… and this week it truly is,” he continued. “We can clinch at least a tie (for the title), but so can Jackson. (The Ironmen’s) frame of mind is this is their league championship game, and it’s their last opportunity.”

Friday marks Jackson’s final conference game. Next week’s contest at Zanesville is a non-league affair.

“Jackson is well-coached,” Amyx said, “and with having three turnovers all season, that’s a testament to good coaching.”

The Ironmen have given up just two interceptions and one fumble this fall. However, for their part, the Chiefs only have nine giveaways all season and are plus-14 in turnover ratio.

“I’d obviously like to have less (turnovers) than that,” Amyx noted, “but as much as we throw the ball around, we’re going to throw an errant pass and put the ball on the ground once in awhile.”

Amyx says Jackson is a solid team on both sides of the football.

“The quarterback (who transferred) from Gallipolis (Kruize Wandling) is a good athlete and they have strong, physical running backs,” he praised. “They are sound fundamentally and mix things up. They’re really balanced. They’ll run the ball, but they’re not afraid to throw. They can be a power team when they want to be and can spread things out too.

“Their defense is solid,” Amyx added. “They don’t make a lot of mistakes and don’t give up many big plays. With the exception of the Ironton game (Jackson’s only loss), they’ve fulfilled their game plans and their personnel have done a good job doing what their coach wants them to do.”

One thing Amyx expects, however, is the unexpected. Last week, for example, Warren was the latest team to devise new defensive wrinkles the Chiefs had not seen either on film or with scouts present.

“That’s one thing where we’ve really done a good job,” Amyx said. “Coach (Kelly) Wolfe and coach (Steve) Harris made some halftime adjustments (at Warren), and the kids paid attention and executed them. Some of them were simple blocking adjustments, but they paid off in the second half.

“But down the road we’ll have to make those adjustments a little earlier in a game,” he added.

The whole scenario comes down to “good communication,” Amyx pointed out.

“The kids have definitely bought into our philosophy. They believe in us and we believe in them,” he said. “There is good communication between (the players) and the coaches. You can’t always see what the other team is doing from the sidelines or (the coaches in the press box) upstairs, so you have to pay attention and make adjustments when you can.

“As I said (after the Warren game), we almost expect to see totally different defenses from what we’ve seen (on film or while scouting),” he added. “I think we’ve seen just about every three-man front, four-man front or five-man front there is. We know teams are going to try different schemes to stop us.”

And what those defenses have to stop is a potent spread offense that averages more than 36 points and 370 yards per game, the majority of it in the air.

Foes have slowed the Chiefs down at times this season — most notably in the second half against Pickerington North, the first half at Ironton and the first half last week at Warren — but they haven’t completely been able to stop the Purple & White.

“This team is playing with a lot of confidence,” Amyx said. seen just about every three-man front, four-man front or five-man front there is. We know teams are going to try different schemes to stop us.”

And what those defenses have to stop is a potent spread offense that averages more than 36 points and 370 yards per game, the majority of it in the air.

Foes have slowed the Chiefs down at times this season — most notably in the second half against Pickerington North, the first half at Ironton and the first half last week at Warren — but they haven’t completely been able to stop the Purple & White.

“This team is playing with a lot of confidence,” Amyx said.