For those wondering about Northern Guilford senior running back T.J. Logan, yes, he is that good. If you haven't heard by now, Logan kicked his legend into the stratosphere by running for 510 yards (that's right, 510) and eight touchdowns in the Nighthawks' 64-26 obliteration of Charlotte Catholic in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-AA championship game Saturday night in Winston-Salem.
Not only are both of those numbers records for an NCHSAA championship game, they are also both state records. The previous single-game rushing record was 490 yards by Lejeune's Akile Jones against Holly Ridge Dixon in 2011. Logan tied the state record for TDs in a game, also held by Hope Mills' Donnie Davis (1960), Julius Pickett of Swansboro (1999) and Harnett Central's Mike Hill (2003). The previous record for TDs in a championship game was seven, set by Albemarle's T.A. McLendon against Wallace-Rose Hill in the 2001 1-AA final.
Logan scored on runs of 46, 27, 80, 85, 19, 14, 82, and 73 yards and the last, which came on a fake punt, has caused considerable grumbling on various Internet message boards. I wasn't at the game and I didn't speak with Logan or Nighthawks head coach Johnny Roscoe, who purportedly caused some ire by claiming the fake punt was done to avoid injury.
Here's the deal, there's no such thing as running up the score. You play every second of the game to score or keep the other team from scoring, with the exception of taking a knee to run out the clock in the final seconds. But if you want to keep playing then, go right ahead. There are any number of arguments to make about the lack of class (and I hate that word) and sportsmanship, not to mention Roscoe's lack of prudence in keeping Logan injury-free for UNC head coach Larry Fedora. And those arguments are valid but as far as I'm concerned, Catholic could have prevented any this and Logan's TDs if they had just tackled him.
That's how the game works.
Of course, it won't matter in the court of public opinion but this is mine.
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