Blue Jays – Indians to Battle for Silver Football

The annual battle for bragging rights, a district championship, and postseason playoff berths are all on the line Friday night when the Junction City Blue Jays and Manhattan Indians meet in their annual showdown.

This trophy goes to the winner of the annual Junction City - Manhattan football game. — This trophy goes to the winner of the annual Junction City – Manhattan football game.

The football game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Bishop Stadium in Manhattan.

Blue Jay coach Randall Zimmerman expects a powerful Manhattan squad to line up against Junction City. The Indians can score with the offense, but the defense and special teams put their share of points up on the board as well. ” Really where they’ve scored a lot of points this year is on their special teams, with their special teams and with their defense.” Zimmerman added, “We watched one ballgame, in the first half they scored six touchdowns and five of them were non-offensive touchdowns. That’s pretty impressive, but that’s the kind of team that they are. They’re very aggressive return game, and very aggressive defensively.

Manhattan coach Joe Schartz said entering the season the Indians wanted to return to a plus margin on turnovers. “Our defense has been doing a great job of doing that this year. I think we’re at plus twelve right now. That’s been a big reason why we’ve had some success this season, is because our defense is playing really well, and setting us up for great scoring opportunities.

As for Junction City, Schartz, said the Blue Jays have a huge offensive line and a powerful run game. “In that aspect it’s the same Junction City football team that we see year in and year out. ” Schartz pointed to the explosiveness of running back Dequan Davis, Tanner Lueker’s passing capability, and tight end Semaj Johnson. “It’s going to be a difficult offense to slow down.”

The Indians are 7-1 overall and 2-0 in district play entering the game, while Junction City is 5-3, 1-1. Manhattan is currently in first place in the district standings, while Junction City is tied for second with Topeka High. The top two teams from the district that includes those three schools plus Washburn Rural will advance to the Class 6A postseason playoffs.

The Sportsman Trophy….also called the Silver Football will be retained by the winner of the game for the coming year. Junction City won the 2012 meeting between the two programs 34-33.