The Junction City Blue Jays left Manhattan Friday night with a 16-10 win over the Indians, and possession of the coveted Silver Trophy  which goes to the winner of the annual football game between the two schools.

Junction City broke a 10-10 tie on a seven-yard touchdown run by senior fullback Ron Wilson with 4:42 remaining in the fourth quarter. But Junction City missed the PAT try after the touchdown. The Indians then drove to the Junction City 10-yard line in the final two minutes, but a holding penalty on Manhattan brought the ball back to the Blue Jay 26-yard line. The Indians still had possession for two more plays but couldn’t pick up the first down or a score, allowing Junction City to run out the clock for the win.

Despite the win and the fact they finished tied with Topeka High and Manhattan at 2-1 in district play the Blue Jays do not get to advance to the Class 6A postseason playoffs, while the other two teams will move on. Junction City was left out of the postseason after losing the tiebreaker in the state’s 21-point tiebreaker system. Using marginal points involving the scores of the games in district play Topeka High was declared the district champion, and Manhattan was the runnerup. The top two teams advance to the playoffs.

After the game Blue Jay coach Randall Zimmerman was proud of his football team. On the range of emotions with the win, but also having to tell his team they do not get advance to the playoffs while the team they just defeated is getting to go Zimmerman said, “That’s tough. You should feel great about things, and down the road the kids will. We had so many seniors that just teared up.”

Junction City experienced a similar situation a year ago when they went 2-1 in district play and beat Manhattan,  but lost out to Manhattan and Topeka High on the state tiebreaker system and did not move on to postseason play.

Manhattan controlled the game early and jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and led at halftime 10-7 before the Blue Jays got things turned around in the second half. On the Blue Jay turnaround, Manhattan coach Joe Schartz said, “Well they did what they had to do and used their powerful offensive line against our small defense.  I’m very proud of our kids. They battled, they battled hard. It’s just a typical Junction City – Manhattan football game.”

Manhattan is 7-2 on the season while Junction City finished the season 6-3.

In the other district game Topeka High rolled past Washburn Rural 49-7.