Longhorns have little trouble with Questa in 50-0 win

LOGAN - Even without their best player for nearly the entire game, the Longhorns cruised to a 50-0 non-district victory over visiting Questa on Friday afternoon during nine-man football action.

The game ended early in the third quarter by the mercy rule as Logan (2-0) racked up more than 300 yards of offense on the winless Wildcats.

Logan quarterback Kaeden Stoner threw for 167 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another TD. Receiver Brock Burns caught three passes for 110 yards and a touchdown. Running back Christian Kotara ran for 90 yards on just five carries and scored three touchdowns.

Senior linebacker and running back Park Strong, an all-state selection last year who coach Dwayne Roberts said is "by far" his team's best player, was sidelined early in the first quarter by a freak accident.

During a collision on a rushing attempt, Strong's chinstrap slipped upwards and cut him deeply under his bottom lip. The coaching staff sent him to a doctor for stitches.

Roberts saw the setback as an opportunity for the rest of his team.

"He'll have a big lip that's sore, but he'll be back next week," he said. "But it was a good way to get a lot of these young guys at lot of game time. It was a great game for us, and just about everybody got to play."

The Longhorns led 36-0 after one quarter and had a good chance late in the second period in the red zone to score their 50th point to end the game at halftime. However, a Questa defender made a good read on Stoner's pass, intercepted it and returned it to Logan's 35-yard line.

Logan salted away the game on the first offensive play in the third quarter when Kotara took Stoner's sideline pitch and ran it 65 yards for the score.

Stoner and Burns both are listed as quarterbacks on Logan's roster, though Stoner played almost the entire game at that position while Burns played wide receiver.

Roberts said Friday's game doesn't necessarily mean Stoner is the starting QB the rest of the season.

"We're feeling out what we can do," Roberts said. "We're working toward what's going to be best for the team once we start district, because that's going to be tough. We were looking to what our best option was. Brock, he's a great receiver. He went up and got a lot of balls today."

Questa totaled minus-52 yards of offense. Wildcats coach Jeremiah Burke said it didn't help the driver of the team bus took a wrong turn, arriving at Logan just minutes before kickoff.

"We were slow," Burke said of his squad. "It's a long trip, and we should have arrived about an hour earlier. We got off the bus, had 10 minutes of warmups and went right into the game."

Questa played a Logan district foe, Clayton, the previous week during a 52-2 loss. Burke was asked how Logan stacks up to the Yellowjackets.

"Clayton is a damned good football team," he said. "They're big up front, they fly around and tackle the ball. They're a little bit bigger than Logan, but (the Longhorns) threw the ball pretty well and should match up pretty evenly."

Logan is scheduled to host Menaul (1-1) at 7 p.m. Friday. Menaul lost to Lordsburg 54-0 last week.