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Mingo Central Miners cage Logan Wildcats, 52-6

Mingo Central Miners cage Logan Wildcats, 52-6

LOGAN - The Mingo Central Miners capitalized on six Logan turnovers to make easy work of their Cardinal Conference foe on Friday night at the newly named Willis-Nisbet Stadium as they cruised to the 52-6 win over the Wildcats.

The Miners (2-1) were heavily favored coming into this contest but they got off to a bit of a slow start as the Logan defense forced a turnover on downs on the first Central offensive possession after a couple of nice plays by defensive back Kolton Goldie and senior linebacker Troy Cowart.

The Wildcats (0-3) couldn't capitalize on the defensive stand however as they fumbled the ball back to the Miners on just their third play from scrimmage and MCHS would take over at their own 42-yard line after Norman Kennedy pounced on the loose ball.

 

The high powered Mingo Central offense would waste no time finding the end zone this time around as they would work their way down the field and junior quarterback Daylin "Day Day" Goad would find speedy receiver Drew Hatfield for the 6-yard score. Senior running back Tanner Cisco would push across the two-point try and Central took the 8-0 lead with 5:10 to go in the first.

After the Miners forced a three-and-out by the Logan offense, they were mounting another potential scoring drive deep into Logan territory but the Wildcat defense made another play and forced a fumble that was recovered by Cameron Hensley at their own 10 yard line to thwart a scoring opportunity for MCHS.

The Mingo Central defense would answer with a play of their own however as Logan coach Jimmy Sheppard elected to go to the air with quarterback Jordan Hayes but he was picked off by sophomore safety Zayne Hatfield as the Miners got the ball back deep into Logan territory.

Just a few plays later Cisco would break a couple of tackles and stretch across the goal line from four yards out, and the Miners extended their lead to 16-0 as Goad pushed across the two-point try with 7:27 left in the first half.

With momentum not fully on their side, coach Josh Sammon's club would add two more rushing touchdowns before the end of the first half to take full control heading into the break. Junior back Zach Patrick got his first rushing score of the season from eight yards out and then Goad powered into the end zone on a 2-yard run as the Miner lead was pushed to 31-0 going into the halftime locker rooms.

MCHS continued to pour it on to start the second half as the quick striking offense reached the end zone two times within the first three minutes of action. Goad connected with sophomore wideout Devin Hatfield for a 62-yard score and then Patrick got his second rushing TD of the day, this time from 32 yards out, as the MCHS lead was pushed to 45-0 with 9:07 still left in the third.

The Wildcats finally got on the board on their ensuing possession as Hayes dialed up a pass and found freshman Aiden Slack for a 48-yard scoring strike. Slack's PAT was blocked and the Miner lead was trimmed to 45-6 with 7:05 to play.

Central quickly got those points back on their next possession as Goad once again connected with Drew Hatfield and the speedster took it in from 53 yards out for his second score of the game. Goad's PAT was good and the Miners took the 52-6 lead with 6:51 in the third.

Having already been dealt a couple of blows by injury earlier in the game, Coach Sammons elected to sub heavily for the remainder of the game. With the running clock in affect for the fourth quarter, neither team would put together any offense as the clock would tick down and the Miners would secure the 46-point win.

The Miners out gained Logan on the day with 564 total yards of offense compared to just 194 for the Wildcats. Central had one of their most balanced offensive attack of the season as they ran for 297 yards and passed for 267 while 137 of Logan's 194 yards came on the ground.

Goad finished 19 of 26 passing for 267 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. He also added seven rushes for 87 yards and a score. Drew Hatfield was once again his top target as he grabbed 14 passes for 127 yards and two scores while younger brother Devin hauled in two passes for 77 yards and a score. Kennedy also grabbed a 35-yard pass reception and Tanner Cisco also caught one pass for 29 yards.

On the ground, the Miners were led by Cisco who had 15 carries for 97 yards and a score while Patrick also added four carries for 72 yards and two scores, and freshman Kaeden Bolding ran seven times for 31 yards before leaving the game early on with an injury. Freshman Zion Martin added four carries for 10 yards late in the game.

Logan's lone bright spot on offense was the play of the Slack as he accounted for 102 yards of total offense and scored the teams lone touchdown. Slack caught the one touchdown pass for 48 yards and a score while he also ran the ball eight times for 54 yards. Cowart ran the ball 13 times for 44 yards while Hayes ran four times for 30 yards to round out the offense for Logan.

The Mingo Central defense forced Logan into six turnovers on the day, four fumbles, and two interceptions, while they only turned it over one time for a plus five turnover differential.

The Miners were dealt a blow early in the game when they lost senior linebacker Westan Christian to what is believed to be a season ending knee injury. Bolding was also injured and did not return to the game, but his injury is not believed to be as serious.

The win for the Miners improves them to 2-1 on the young season and 4-2 all-time against Logan after losing the first two games in the series in 2011 and 2012. MCHS is back in action this Friday night at home in a 7 p.m. start against Cardinal Conference foe and undefeated Sissonville (3-0).

With the loss, Logan falls to 0-3 on the season as they have now been outscored 142-20 in those three losses. Things will not get any easier this week for the Wildcats as they travel to play the undefeated Poca Dots (3-0). Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Poca's O.O. White Stadium.

Jarrid McCormick is a reporter for the Williamson Daily News. He can be reached by email at jmccormick@HDMediaLLC.com.