This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Logan • Chase Nelson has a very important email to send come Monday morning.
Once a week, Nelson types up an email to send to older brother DJ, who is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Puerto Rico.
This email will be different. This email will tell DJ that baby brother Chase broke his state record for yards in a game. DJ set the record in a 2011 Class 4A semifinal win over Bountiful, adding up 606 yards of total offense.
On Friday night in Logan, with older brother Riley pacing the sidelines as his offensive coordinator and with father Keith anxiously watching, Chase Nelson shattered DJ's record in the Grizzlies' wild 49-38 win over Roy.
Chase threw for 441 yards and five touchdowns on 29 of 41 attempts. He ran for 250 yards and two touchdowns on 39 carries.
"It was a fun one," he said, still trying to catch his breath. "Can't really explain it. It was sweet."
It was also rugged and it was frenetic.
After Nelson scored Logan's first three touchdowns to give the Grizzlies a commanding lead, the Royals rallied in the third quarter to get within nine and then again in the fourth quarter to pull within eight of Nelson and the Grizzlies with 10:33 left.
While the final Logan drive of the night didn't end in points, it was an encapsulation of how Nelson handled the evening. The previous 30 carries in which he bowled over linebackers and weaved his way through defensive linemen didn't linger.
"We swing hard and we swing often," said Logan coach Mike Favero. "Kids play high school football one time, so there's no time to be worried about anything but winning the game."
Nelson led Logan on a slow-and-steady drive to bleed the clock dry with his patented runs. He didn't need to find wideouts Taylor Compton, Chad Artist, Cade Watterson and Tyson Jensen like he did for the first 42 minutes of the game.
Chase Nelson iced it in historic fashion.
"I'm glad I got to be there," said Logan offensive lineman Shawn Gudmundson. "Wouldn't want to be anywhere else."
Nelson's mandatory Monday morning email to DJ will appropriately include a smirk.
"Feel bad taking that one away," he said. "No … just kidding."
Twitter: @chriskamrani