Logan secures win against Magdalena

LOGAN – The Longhorns scored the go-ahead touchdown with less than five minutes left, then their defense stopped Magdalena in Logan territory to preserve a 24-18 victory Friday in the state quarterfinals of eight-man football.

Logan (8-3), the fourth seed in the state tournament, will play at No. 1-seeded Tatum in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday. Tatum (7-1) defeated Logan 34-8 in a previous district clash on Oct. 15.

Logan surged to an 18-0 lead in the first half Friday against the visiting and fifth-seeded Steers (5-4), thanks partly to two Magdalena turnovers.

One of the Steers' turnovers occurred on their first possession, when running back Danny Pino lost the ball near the goal line and the Longhorns recovered in the end zone for a touchback.

"The turnover at the goal line was a stab in the heart. That just stunted us in the first quarter," Magdalena coach Ryan Romero said.

Logan's Kaeden Stoner also intercepted a red-zone pass from Steers quarterback Josh Baca to snuff out another drive.

Romero said it wasn't just turnovers that hurt his team.

"We couldn't force any fumbles. The ball was on the field all over the place, and but it just didn't roll our way," he said.

Meanwhile, the Longhorns assembled two 80-yard scoring drives during the half. Fullback Park Strong scored the first points with a 2-yard touchdown run, and halfback Christian Kotara scored on a 16-yard run early in the second period.

But Logan lost running back Hayden Judd to a likely broken collarbone late in the second period. Judd not only led his team with 85 yards on 11 carries before the injury, but he probably saved at least one touchdown on defense by using his champion-sprinter speed to chase down Magdalena receivers on long plays before they could score.

Logan coach Dwayne Roberts acknowledged Judd's injury helped set up Magdalena's big comeback in the second half.

"That changes our whole offense," he said. "Everybody's playing positions they're not used to, and we had to rearrange everything. It set us back a little bit."

Before the Steers' surge, Logan scored again on Stoner catching a 19-yard touchdown pass from Brock Burns for an 18-0 lead with just 26 seconds left in the first half. That was Logan's third long drive of the night, this time at 91 yards.

In the second half, Krae Stephens' 13-yard touchdown reception, Baca's 44-yard TD run and Kael Stephens' 65-yard touchdown reception in less than five minutes tied it at 18-18. Stephens in particular burned Logan's defense with seven catches for 176 yards.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Roberts exhorted his team's need for a touchdown.

"We told them we had to score and put (Magdalena) back on their heels instead of us feeling the pressure of having to score," he said.

Mixing up running plays between Strong and Kotara, the Longhorns drove steadily down the field. Strong scored his second TD on a 1-yard plunge with 4:56 left to give his team a 24-18 advantage. For the game, Strong and Kotara combined for 125 yards rushing.

"Our other kids really stepped up," Roberts said.

Magdalena drove to Logan's 34 with about two minutes left but advanced no further. Two running plays netted only four yards, and two Baca passes fell incomplete to give back Logan the ball on a turnover of downs with 1:30 remaining.

Kotara gained 11 yards on a second-and-long play to give Logan a fresh set of downs with 1:14 left and salt away his team's victory. Strong then did two kneeldowns to kill the rest of the clock.

Both teams totaled more than 300 yards of offense. Oddly enough, neither team converted any points after touchdowns.

Logan previously defeated Magdalena 42-28 during a regular-season game on Sept. 10, so Romero expected a close contest again.

"We wanted some revenge, but it didn't work out in our favor," he said. "We had missed the first two games of our season due to COVID issues, and Logan was our second game back. Ever since then, we'd been progressing week by week by week. We reached a point where we thought we could really compete with Logan, and we did, but it just didn't work out in our favor."