WILDCATS SHUT LOGAN DOWN, 51-0

Publication: CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL
Published: 10/12/2002
Page: 1B
Headline: WILDCATS SHUT LOGAN DOWN, 51-0
Byline: J.T. SIMMS

DAILY MAIL SPORTSWRITER

Nitro's matchup with Logan Friday night proved to be just what a homecoming game should be - an easy win for the home team.

The rain even let up long enough for the halftime ceremonies.

By that time the celebration had already begun with Nitro holding a 30-0 lead on the way to a 51-0 victory over a Logan squad that entered the contest 3-2 and 16th in the Class AA playoff ratings. About 800 fans braved the light rain that fell much of the evening.

The win keeps alive 3-4 Nitro's slim playoff hopes for at least another week.

"Our offense has been struggling all year," Nitro Coach Scott Tinsley said. "This is a good time for it to start clicking."

By air and by muddy land the homestanding Wildcats put it all together.

"I thought Derek (Midkiff) played his best game of the year," Tinsley said. "And of course (Chris) McGhee had a big game."

Quarterback Midkiff had his best totals this season with 278 yards on an 18-of-31 performance that included one touchdown and no interceptions.

It was the top passing performance yardage-wise by a Mountain State Athletic Conference player this season besting Midkiff's own 274-yard outing against Herbert Hoover.

Fellow senior McGhee was just as dangerous on the ground despite sloppy, slippery, conditions resulting from two days of rain.

The 5-foot-10 back averaged nearly 20 yards a carry in gaining 216 yards on 11 carries, easily his best numbers this year.

"The line did an awesome job," McGhee said. "Once I got into the secondary it was over."

The mud actually seemed to give the speedster an unneeded advantage over the Logan defenders as he scored three of the first four times he carried the ball on runs of 61, 8, and 27 yards.

"It doesn't bother me all that much," McGhee said of the conditions.

"It's been raining a lot lately and we've been practicing on a field like that."

Tinsley wasn't really unhappy either with the field that surprisingly failed to contribute to a single turnover.

"This is the best field we've played on in the last three weeks," he said. "If you can learn to play in the mud we should be able to."

Nitro's defenders also took those lessons to heart, consistently pouncing on Logan runners before they could get their footing to make a cut.

"I believe that's the first shutout we've had since I've been here," Tinsley, in his seventh season, said. "Not only did they get the shutout they got a safety."

McGhee even contributed to that play as his punt to Logan's 1-yard line set up a mass tackling of running back Brian Knox as he tried to take a pitch and go around his right side.

On the evening Nitro out-gained Logan 536-to-142 in total yardage with 63 of the visitor's yards coming on the last drive of the game that ended with an incomplete pass in the endzone.

Nitro then scored on its next four possessions to switch the focus to the homecoming queen race.

But Nitro's celebration won't last long past the homecoming dance with a game at Riverside looming next Friday.

"Riverside's the big one,' Tinsley said. "That's our playoff game.

"The key's going to be getting our defense to play like tonight."

The Warriors won last season's meeting 56-28 as Midkiff passed for 327 yards and three touchdowns.