Photo | Paul Adkins

CRHS senior running back Dustin Smith (11) runs for tough yards against Logan on Friday night.

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Heading into the 2012 high school football season Gary Mullins had a first goal for his Logan Wildcats.

Beat Man and then beat Chapmanville.

Win the county championship.

Check.

The Logan High School football team claimed its second straight county title with Friday night’s 20-0 win over the rival Chapmanville Regional Tigers at a packed Logan Stadium.

With Logan’s 33-0 season-opening win over Man, the Wildcats went a perfect 2-0 against county foes this season, outscoring their opponents 53-0.

More importantly, Class AAA No. 13 Logan stayed in the Triple-A playoff race as the Wildcats hit the midway point of the season with a 4-1 record. Double-A Chapmanville dropped to 2-3 with the loss.

Logan also improved to 7-5 over the Tigers in the all-time series dating back to 2001 and beat Chapmanville for the second season in a row after suffering four straight losses from 2007-10.

Coach Mullins, now 5-4 against Chapmanville in his Wildcat tenure, said his team played well all around.

“It was a great performance all around,” Mullins said. “The offensive line really dominated the line of scrimmage for the entire game. Our defense had an amazing performance. We shut out both county schools and I don’t know when that was done the last time. We’re really proud of them. We’re going to go back to work on Monday and try to be 5-1.”

Logan’s defense forced Chapmanville into four turnovers and the Tigers only really came close to the goal line once.

Other than last week’s 46-12 loss at Kentucky power Johnson Central, Logan has only allowed seven points in 16 quarters of football against in-state teams.

Friday night’s shutout was the third this season for Logan, which also owns a 48-0 blanking over Lincoln County this season.

“They play hard and they play physical,” Mullins said of his defense. “We’re getting everything that they’ve got and we can’t ask for much else.”

Logan led Chapmanville just 12-0 at the half but had its opportunities to make it an even wider margin.

The Wildcats’ first score came at the 6:29 mark of the first quarter as quarterback Chris Marcum ran up the middle on a 2-yard keeper to make it 6-0. Brian Craft’s extra point kick sailed wide right. The touchdown was set up by Worm Street’s interception of Chapmanville quarterback Max Spradlin at the Logan 40-yard line.

Logan then went into the half up 12-0 after Marcum fired a 30-yard touchdown bomb to Josh Rein with only 10 seconds left.

The key touchdown was set up by Logan’s Tyler Workman, who picked off Spradlin at the Logan 25 and then returned the ball 45 yards to the Chapmanville 30. Marcum then passed to Rein on the very next play.

The Wildcats, though, had their chances.

Logan turned the ball over on downs at midfield on its first two drives.

Then later, Brant Williams, after making a catch, was stripped of the ball by Chapmanville’s DaShawn Alexander at the Tiger 25.

“It seems like every time that we play them we dominate the first half and we’re up seven points or so,” Mullins said. “But that was huge getting that touchdown late. That allowed our O-line a chance to tighten up in the second half and we really started to pound them some in the second half and run that clock. It was a great performance.”

Mullins said the late first-half TD was just what his team needed.

“Khaleel Reynolds seems to draw all kind of attention and we noticed that they were rolling everyone to him,” Mullins said. “But we ran a play expecting that would go to Khaleel when we got out of the huddle. We ran a play called, ‘Slab Town.’ Kevin Gertz made it up. We ran it to Khaleel but Chris did a good job of checking off on the second read and Josh Rein was able to beat a great corner in Devin Wiley. That turned the game around.”

Down 6-0 after one quarter, the Tigers began to drive the ball early in the second quarter.

Chapmanville had a first-and-10 just outside the Logan 10-yard line but the drive eventually stalled after two runs of no gain by Dustin Smith and two straight incomplete passes.

In the second half, the Tigers tried to cut into Logan’s lead and drove the ball again.

Chapmanville had a first-and-10 at the Logan 30 but the possession turned into a disaster.

After a 1-yard gain by Smith and a 1-yard loss by Smith, Chapmanville’s Trevor Payne was then hauled down for an 8-yard loss on a reverse play back at the 39, setting up a fourth-and-19.

Spradlin was then sacked by Brant Williams for a 6-yard loss, turning the ball over on downs.

Logan took over at its own 45, and six plays later, fullback Tyler Vernatter took a quick inside handoff for a 10-yard touchdown run with 7:26 left in the game. Street dove over the goal line on the two-point conversion play and the Wildcats led 20-0.

That put Logan up three touchdowns.

Ballgame.

On Vernatter’s score, Logan used a three-back set, utilizing lineman Teddy Nelson, Logan’s William “The Refrigerator” Perry if you will, as the lead blocker.

“We put Teddy between the guard and the tackle. He’s 6-3 and about 360 pounds,” Mullins said. “He’s a mover, too. We were running the lead and (Assistant) Coach (Josh) Fry said we might be able to hit them quick. He was by them before they even knew what happened. That was a great call from the booth by Coach Fry.”

Vernatter’s touchdown was set up by a 42-yard run down the sideline by Street to the Chapmanville 13.

The Tigers made one last stab at Logan but came up empty-handed again.

Chapmanville had a first-and-10 at the 36 late in the fourth but Spradlin was sacked again by Williams for a 4-yard loss on second down and on a fourth-and-two a fumbled snap in the shotgun went for a loss of 23 yards and also a loss of downs.

The Wildcats took over at the 50 and milked the rest of the clock.

Logan finished with 296 yards of total offense. The Wildcats rushed 35 times for 225 yards and QB Marcum was 4-for-7 passing for 77 yards and a TD.

Rein had three catches for 71 yards. Reynolds had the other grab for six yards. He also rushed eight times for 59 yards.

Street led LHS on the ground with nine carries for 77 yards. Marcum had nine rushes for 39 yards. Williams had five attempts for 32 yards. Vernatter rushed for 18 yards on four totes.

Clayton Marcum led the Logan defense with 10 tackles. Nelson had seven, while Vernatter, Street and Thomas Hunter had six each. Williams and Kade Doss had five stops each. T.J. Tomblin and Nick Turner tallied four each, while C.J. Williams and Chris Marcum contributed three tackles apiece. Workman and Ty Yeager each had two tackles.

Street and Workman both intercepted passes and each broke up a pass. Clayton Marcum also had a pass breakup.

Doss, Street, C.J. Williams and Workman each caused a fumble.

Rein and Nelson both recovered a fumble.

Brant Williams also had two sacks and Tomblin one.

Craft punted twice for Logan for a 40-yard average.

Logan is scheduled to head to Winfield next Friday night in a key Class AAA matchup. The Generals, ranked No. 16 this week, fell to 2-4 on the season with Friday night’s 18-13 loss at home to 3A No. 7 Point Pleasant.

“Next week is huge,” Mullins said. “It was last year, too. We never play well at Winfield and we have to get that out of our system. It always seems to rain, too for the Winfield game. We can’t go into our bye week in two weeks after a loss. We don’t want to take a step backwards. If we are 5-1 going into the bye week you put yourself into a situation where the rest of the season means something and you have a chance to reach all of our goals. It’s a huge game. It’s huge because it could put us in the top eight if we win heading into our bye week. Then that would give us a week to be healthy before we have to play four more times. What more could you ask for?”

As for Chapmanville, Coach George Barker’s Tigers will try to bounce back next Friday night at James Monroe. The Mavericks fell to 2-3 on the season with Friday night’s 28-12 loss at River View.

Notebook

* Logan Stadium and Chapmanville’s Tiger Stadium were both vandalized this week by spray paint and the incident is currently under investigation by Logan County Schools and the Logan County Sheriffs Department, according to school officials.

“I’ve contacted the state police, the sheriff’s department,” superintendent Wilma Zigmond told WSAZ TV-3. “Someone’s going to have to pay.”

A driver’s education car was also reportedly tagged by the vandals and was sprayed by paint on the windshield and hood.

Most of the graffiti was painted over and/or repaired by Friday.

The suspects are reportedly on tape via school surveillance video systems.

Zigmond said two suspects are on the Chapmanville video and six are on the Logan tape.

Friday night’s game, attended by an estimated 3,000 fans, was played without a single reported incident.

After the game, both teams shook hands and walked off the field, showing good sportsmanship the entire night.

Coach Mullins said he hopes the series with the Tigers continues in 2013.

“I just hope that we can continue to play,” Mullins said. “It’s not just up to me and it’s not up to just Chapmanville — there’s a lot of things that go into it. We controlled our team. Coach Barker controlled his team. Everyone was on their best behavior. The fans on both sides showed that we can keep playing these games and make the money that we need to make.