LOGAN — Huntington High has simply been the road warriors of 2012.

Playing in their fifth road game out of their first seven contests, the Highlanders dug deep to thwart a late Logan rally with a pair of scores in a 37-18 win at Middleburg Island on Friday night.

“It was 23-18 in the fourth and our guys got a couple of late scores to finish it off,” Huntington High head coach Billy Seals said. “Last year, they came back from two scores down late to beat us so we were glad to get one late and end any chance of that this year. They are a very good football team — physical, hard-nosed and they play tough. Anytime you go on the road and win, you are happy about it.”

Huntington High (6-1) finished off the road portion of its schedule unblemished at 5-0.

The Highlanders now finish the season with three home games against Greenbrier East, Riverside and Capital.

“To my knowledge, it (finishing perfect on the road) hasn’t been done in the history of the school,” Seals said. “I’ll have to check, but regardless, that’s a credit to our kids and coaches.”

The final score wasn’t necessarily indicative of how tight the game got early in the fourth quarter.

The Highlanders led 21-6, but Logan’s Brynden Street cut the deficit to 21-12 with a 4-yard touchdown run.

After Huntington High got a safety when Dwan Wheeler sacked Logan quarterback Chris Marcum in the end zone, Marcum came back with a 23-yard scoring pass to Josh rein to cut the lead to 23-18.

That’s when Huntington High shut the door by getting physical with the Wildcats.
Paden Christian powered in on a 1-yard touchdown run with 5:10 left before Charles

Crawford capped the contest with a 4-yard run in the final minute to set the margin.

“I thought our offensive line played well tonight,” Seals said. “We dominated the line of scrimmage and we had to play smashmouth football. The backs hit the hole hard and it was a good effort by our offense.”

The offense helped offset a difficult night for the defensive backfield, which gave up a few big plays.

Marcum and Rein hooked up twice for long scoring passes in the game. The first came with 6:30 left in the first half as Rein got in behind the Highlander secondary and raced into the end zone following a 55-yard connection from Marcum.

In all, the Huntington High defense limited Logan to just 88 yards rushing on 18 carries, but the Wildcats threw for 225 yards on 13-of-34 passing.

“We gave up two big pass plays that is unacceptable,” Seals said. “We can’t do that. We allowed them to get back in the football game. Logan’s quarterback is good and he has guys all over the field to throw to.”

Huntington High rushed for 307 yards on 59 carries, led by Christian’s 116 yards on 24 carries. Quarterback Mark Shaver added 53 yards on seven carries in the Highlanders’ methodical attack.

HUNTINGTON HIGH    7 7 9 14 — 37
LOGAN    0 6 6 6 — 18
HH — Paden Christian 3 run (Stevens kick)
L — Josh Rein 55 pass from Chris Marcum (run failed)
HH — Mark Shaver 2 run (Stevens kick)
HH — Mark Shaver 1 run (Stevens kick)
L — Brynden Street 4 run (run failed)
HH — safety (Dwan Wheeler tackle in end zone)
L — Rein 23 pass from Marcum (pass failed)
HH — Christian 1 run (Stevens kick)
HH — Charles Crawford 4 run (Stevens kick)