The Logan County Cougars enter tonight's Class AAA playoff game with a much better chance of advancing to the next level than they did last year.

The 2003 Cougars had to go to highly regarded Paducah Tilghman last year. And Logan was on a two-game losing streak then.

This time the trip is to Madisonville-North Hopkins (8-2), which is a very good team but not as scary as Tilghman was last year.

And Logan (7-3) is coming off an impressive romp at Adair County last week.

The Maroons' only losses are to Fort Campbell (41-12) and undefeated Hopkinsville (35-20) three weeks ago.

Their defense was tough in a 13-0 win over Tilghman, which led to M-NH getting the number two seed and Tilghman having to go to Franklin-Simpson.

The Madisonville team is familiar locally, since Coach Dixie Jones brought his Maroons to Rhea Stadium to play Russellville in the season opener Aug. 20.

Madisonville took advantage of six straight turnovers by the Panthers to win 30-7 that night. Logan must avoid turnovers to be competitive throughout this game.

The Maroons have a massive quarterback in 6-5, 237-pound Blake Boyd and a super receiver in Tyler Rummage. Jones has a lot of confidence in his kicker, Ben Skaggs.

Logan County presents a balanced attack that revolves around sophomore quarterback Alex Graves and senior receivers Robbie Osborne and Eric Baldwin.

The Cougars have a lot of other weapons plus an experienced line, which includes seniors Doug Chick and Jonathan Mullins and juniors Austin Pogue, Erick Greer and Ben Carpenter.

Many of the same guys play defense, which is led by seniors Jon Graves, Larry Beadnell, Austin Osborne and Thomas Price.

Season statistical leaders follow:

Scoring: Eric Baldwin 96, Robbie Osborne 80, Tavous Clayton 50, Matt Brown 36, Alex Graves 26, Austin Osborne 24

Rushing Yardage: Clayton 661, R. Osborne 553, A. Osborne 319, Larry Beadnell 257, A. Graves 157

Rushing Average: R. Osborne 9.9 yards per carry, A. Osborne 8.0, Clayton 7.9, Baldwin 3.4, Jeffrey Sydnor 3.1, A. Graves 2.4

Rushing Touchdowns: Clayton 8, R. Osborne and A. Graves 4 each, A. Osborne 3

Receptions: Baldwin 37, R. Osborne 24, Zack Woodall 6, Josh Price and A. Osborne 4 each

Receiving Yards: Baldwin 866, R. Osborne 353, A. Osborne 65, Woodall 34, Price 29

Touchdowns Receiving: Baldwin 16, R. Osborne 7, Price and Woodall 1 each

Passing: A. Graves- 62 completions in 126 attempts for 989 yards and 18 touchdowns with 10 interceptions and 11 sacks; R. Osborne- 15 completions in 27 attempts for 376 yards and 7 touchdowns with 1 interception and no sacks

Punting: R. Osborne 20 punts for 30.1 average

Unassisted Tackles: Jon Graves 90, Beadnell 58, Sydnor 41, A. Osborne 40, Justin McCarley and Baldwin 29 each, Erick Greer 28, Thomas Price 27, R. Osborne 23, Doug Chick 21

Assisted Tackles: J. Graves 36, Beadnell 32, Chick 30, Sydnor 26, McCarley and Greer 23 each, A. Osborne 20

Total Tackles: J. Graves 126, Beadnell 90, Sydnor 67, A. Osborne 60, McCarley 52, Chick and Greer 51 each, Price 42, Baldwin 37, Travis Sturgeon 35

Sacks: J. Graves 2, R. Osborne, Sydnor, Price, A. Osborne 1 each

Interceptions: Baldwin 6, A. Graves and R. Osborne 2 each, Lee, Woodall, Beadnell and Justin Locke 1 each

Tackles for Loss: J. Graves 16, A. Osborne 7, Sydnor and Beadnell 5 each, McCarley and Greer 4 each, Baldwin and R. Osborne 2 each