By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News

LOGAN — With tough opponents such as Lancaster, Pickerington North and Ironton finally out of the way, now it can be said:

“I told the kids we’ve been on a collision course all season,” Logan coach Dale Amyx said as his Chieftains prepared for a visit from the Zanesville Blue Devils this Friday (7:30 p.m. kickoff) in Logan Chieftain Stadium.

It’s no longer a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League contest — Zanesville departed the SEOAL after the 2008-09 school year following a brief three-year stint in the conference — but it could certainly be considered just as important when you take into account the post-season playoff picture.
The Chiefs, ranked an all-time best No. 3 in this week’s state Division II Associated Press poll, and the 13th-rated Blue Devils put identical, undefeated 5-0 records squarely on the line Friday night. It will be just the second home game of the season for the Purple & White, who played four of their first five games on the road.

Will Friday night be a case of home sweet home? The Chiefs hope so… but Zanesville gave them their toughest regular-season game of the 2008 season, a game also played in Logan Chieftain Stadium won by the Chiefs, 16-14.

“I absolutely expected them to be 5-0 at this time considering who they had coming back from last season,” said Amyx. “Coach (Chad) Grandstaff has done a great job there. He’s a proven winner. They’re well-coached with some excellent athletes.”

You could say this is a “Region 7 League” game. The Chiefs are ranked No. 3 in DII Region 7 this week while the Blue Devils are seventh, meaning both would be in the playoffs if the season had ended after last week’s game.

And although Amyx usually doesn’t talk about the playoffs at this juncture of the season, he knows this game is epic when it comes to how the Region 7 rankings will eventually shake out.

And let’s face it… the Chiefs have lofty long-range goals beyond the regular season this fall.

“This is a big game in the playoff picture,” he said. “It will have a lot to say about who gets into the playoffs, where (teams are seeded) and who we play if we get into the playoffs.

“Whoever wins this game won’t be (assured of being) in the playoffs, but will be in a pretty good spot,” he added. “These are the kind of teams you have to beat to get into the playoffs. And who’s to say that if (both teams qualify for the post-season) we won’t play each other again?”

That could indeed happen. In the opening round of the playoffs, the No. 8 team in the region plays at the No. 1 team, 7 at 2, 6 at 3 and 5 at 4 to begin the single-elimination tourney.

As the playoff points lie right now — although, quite obviously, they’ll change as the season progresses — it would be Olentangy Orange at Logan and Zanesville at Columbus St. Charles… and the Blue Devils host St. Charles (4-1) next week.

Needless to say, what the Blue Devils do this week and next will go a long way toward determining if they’re a playoff team.

Amyx says they are, without question.

“They actually remind me of ourselves a few years ago when we were exclusively an I-formation team,” he said. “They run a tight end with two receivers and will then jump into a spread or trips or run an unbalanced (formation). They’ll mix their formations up a lot — the most of any team we’ll play this year — but will run the ball more than they pass.

“They’ll jump into spread and go into a no-huddle like us,” he added. “They’ll throw in different sets (during an offensive) series and will try to limit what you can do on defense.”

The Blue Devils have run the ball 163 times for 732 yards while attempting 66 passes (completing 47) for 683.

“You can’t stop just one thing with them. They have a good quarterback (Cole Hudson) and a couple good receivers (Cory Harris and Michael Lynn), but they hang their hat on their running game (led by Kyle Gladden’s 392 yards),” Amyx revealed. “They have a big fullback and some big linemen.”

They’re not as big overall as Pickerington North (who is, for that matter?) or Lancaster, and maybe about the size as Ironton.

“That’s why it’s so important to be able to run or pass,” Amyx noted. “Any team on a given night can take one thing away from you.”

The Chiefs are gradually running the ball a little more effectively. After starting the season with a combined 64 ground yards against gargantuan-sized Lancaster and Pickerington North, they’ve gained 527 the last three weeks. While they only had 97 last week at Ironton, they came up with some key ground yardage when they needed to.

They’ve started using a “power” package on offense — a traditional full-house backfield, usually led by 5-foot-11, 280-pound defensive lineman T.J. McCray as a blocker — not only on the goal line but in short-yardage situations elsewhere on the field as well.

“Our kids are getting more confident (in the running game),” Amyx noted. “It’s almost the exact opposite of a few years ago, when the kids would get excited about going into a spread offense. Now that we’re a spread-offense team, when we go into power formation they get all excited about that.

“It helps put other teams in a tough situation,” he added. Opposing defenses “may not have the right people on the field at a certain time to stop it. They may need to remove a linebacker or need an extra lineman, and at least you might force them to burn a timeout,” which happened once in just such a situation last week at Ironton.

Suffice it to say this might be one of the most important non-conference, non-playoff games the Chieftains have played in quite awhile. And Amyx and his charges are well aware of it.

“These two teams have been on a collision course for five weeks,” Amyx said. “This is why you play the game. This is a big one. It will be big for both communities and their fans, and I expect a playoff atmosphere for this game.”

A playoff preview, maybe?