Photo | Paul Adkins
Logan Banner | Paul Adkins
The Wildcats’ Khaleel Reynolds talks with assistant coach Jon Godby.
With winless and struggling Lincoln County on the schedule this Friday night the prospects look good for the Logan High School football team to go 3-0.
Even though the Wildcats lead the all-time series 3-1 with the fellow Class AAA Panthers, the last time Logan traveled to Hamlin two years ago it took a 30-yard field goal by Gary Miller to lift Logan to a 9-6 road win on a rainy night.
Logan is pleased where it is at. The Wildcats improved to 2-0 on the season with last week’s 33-7 win at home over Shady Spring in the annual Logan Hall of Fame Game.
Coupled with Logan’s 33-0 season-opening victory over Man, the Wildcats have outscored their opponents 66-7 in two games so far this season.
Lincoln County (0-2) was pounded 53-20 at home by Class AA Scott last week. Week 1 was a disaster for the Panthers as Huntington rolled to a 63-8 win over Lincoln County in a Mountain State Athletic Conference game.
The Wildcats and Panthers are set to meet on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Hamlin Lions Club Field.
“It’s definitely going to be a tough place for us to go play,” Logan coach Gary Mullins said. “The last time we went over there we were 2-0 also going into that game. We had to fight for our lives in order to get out of there. They have played two very good football teams. A lot of teams would be 0-2 if they played Huntington and Scott. We have to be ready to play and make sure that we play our A game.”
Lincoln County, coached by former Chapmanville assistant coach Corey Beck, have never recorded a winning season in its existence.
The Panthers were 4-6 last year and in 2010. The Panthers went 3-7 in 2009, 4-6 in 2008, 0-10 in 2007 and 1-9 in their inaugural season back in 2006.
Logan was led last week by senior quarterback Chris Marcum, who was 13-for-25 passing for 282 yards and a touchdown. Marcum also rushed for two touchdowns and recorded five tackles and an interception on defense.
“We feel like he’s going to continue to get better,” Mullins said of Marcum. “He’s only had four starts at the quarterback position. Our offensive line hasn’t had a lot of starts either. I thought they looked just as impressive as he did. Our wide receivers are also coming along, too. All of those guys are working together and are trying to get to know each other. As the season goes along I think they will get better and better.”
The Wildcats jumped out to a 12-0 lead early with a Brynden Street 2-yard TD and a 7-yard score by Marcum.
Shady, led by quarterback Adam Weeks, cut it to 12-7 but then Logan outscored the Tigers 21-0 the rest of the way to pick up the win.
Weeks, who threw just seven interceptions all of last season, was picked off three times by the Wildcats. Clayton Marcum and Street had the other two picks. Thomas Hunter was the top tackler last week against Shady with eight stops. Tyler Vernatter, Kade Doss, T.J. Tomblin, Clayton Marcum and Street had seven tackles each.
Khaleel Reynolds led the Wildcats’ ground game last week with nine rushes for 78 yards and a 7-yard score. Josh Rein had four catches for 95 yards. Reynolds had four grabs for 81 yards. C.J. Williams had two catches for 73 yards.
Lincoln County scored its only touchdown two weeks ago when running back Brian Parsons raced 21 yards for a touchdown. Quarterback Grant Bates hit Blake Taylor on the two-point conversion.
Parsons finished the night with 160 all-purpose yards. He ran with the ball 13 times for 66 yards and had five catches for 35 yards. The effort went to waste, however, as the fast-strike Highlanders led 49-0 at halftime and then breezed to victory.
Bates was 15-for-27 passing for 127 yards and two interceptions against Huntington. Blake Cyfers added three catches for 38 yards. Dakota Whitten led the Panther defense with seven tackles.
“He looks to be a great quarterback, especially since he’s only a sophomore,” Mullins said, when asked about Bates. “He seems to have a good concept of what they are doing. Like I’ve said, they just have played two really good football teams. They had some bad luck in those games but we expect that we’re going to have to play all 48 minutes in order for us to be 3-0.”
Mullins said Logan is injury-free heading into the game with the Panthers.
“We’re still fine,” he said. “That’s definitely a good thing.”
* Logan’s JV team is 1-0 on the season after beating Man 27-0 a couple of weeks ago.
Skyler Miller opened the game with an 80-yard kickoff return. The score mirrored the Logan varsity team’s Brant Williams which returned its opening kickoff 80 yards for a TD against Man on Aug. 24. Jacob Browning ran in the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.
Then it was Matthew Cox, who returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown.
Chase Burnette then had a 3-yard TD run for the Wildcats. Miller added the conversion run.
Chris Browning closed out the scoring with a 63-yard touchdown run.
“Our defense played really well, too, with the shutout,” Coach Mullins said.
Logan-Lincoln County series
2011: Logan 42, Lincoln County 20
2010: Logan 9, Lincoln County 6
2009: Logan 20, Lincoln County 6
2008: Lincoln County 28, Logan 7
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