Injuries turn Mustangs fullback into QB

"He's kind of a jack-of-all-trades," said Shackelford, who demands versatility from all his players. "You don't even think about coming on the field, unless you feel good about playing three positions."

As for Johnston's throwing ability: "He can shot-put it pretty well," Shackelford joked.

But the coach has no doubt Johnston , can lead the Mustangs.

"Logan is really well respected on our team, a smart player, a tough player," said Shackelford. "He's been a ball carrier before. He knows the game."

He even thinks the linemen will work harder than usual for Johnston, because they've battled in the trenches with him.

The injuries leading to Johnston's appointment occurred over the past two weeks, with the top two quarterbacks on the depth chart going down almost simultaneously.

Senior Ryan Harris was the starting quarterback, but he went down with a hip flexor in the second half of the Week 3 game against West. Nick Rabung, the backup quarterback, suffered a torn MCL earlier in the same game while playing linebacker.

The Mustangs were forced to finish the game with third-stringer Jacob Wenzel, a junior who played some quarterback when he was on the C team.

Shackelford said Wenzel didn't bat an eye when he was told he would be the new quarterback. He ran right out and took charge, leading the Mustangs down the field for a touchdown in a game that eventually resulted in the Mustangs'only loss this season.

Wenzel and the Mustangs bounced back to beat Dimond last week, but Wenzel played the final two quarters with a fractured right hand. Shackelford said Wenzel showed a lot of toughness finishing the game, considering he couldn't even feel the ball when he took snaps from the center.

The injury trouble hasn't destroyed Chugiak's optimism. Shackelford still feels good about his team's chances against Service (3-1 overall, 2-1 CIC), a team that features the CIC's second leading rusher, Michael McCrae.

Of course, Chugiak has the conference's leading rusher in Greg Ghramm.

"If we can hand the ball off, we'll be OK," Shackelford said.

So far, the Mustangs have been more than OK when they hand off the ball. They're 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the CIC despite hardly ever throwing. Of the 222 offensive plays Chugiak has run this season, 204 have been carries. Eighteen have been passes, which account for 174 of the team's 1,169 offensive yards.

Ghramm has carried the ball a whopping 120 times in four games; McCrae has carried the ball 77 times, but only trails Ghramm's yardage total by 123 yards. Ghramm leads the conference with 768 yards and McCrae has 645 yards.

Johnston won't be asked to throw the ball more than five or six times, Shackelford said.

"That's airing it out for us," he said.

Find Jeremy Peters online at adn.com/contact/jpeters or call 257-4335.