The Sportsman Trophy, also known as the Silver Football, will once again be on the line when the Junction City Blue Jays and Manhattan Indians meet.  The two teams kick off Friday night at 7 p.m. at Al Simpler Stadium in Junction City.

The history of the trophy dates back to 1949, with Junction City winning the last two meetings by the scores of 34-33 and 16-10.

Blue Jay coach Randall Zimmerman said his team has responded well in practice this week. “I mean we’ve had our down moments as well in practice, but for the most part its’ been up and the kids have done a nice job.”

Zimmerman knows his team will have to play a near perfect game to win against the 5-0 Indians. He feels his team has that in them. “We do. We showed signs of that at Topeka Seaman but it just needs to be consistent, and finish and put a whole game together.”

Junction City will go into Friday night’s game 4-1, while Manhattan is undefeated. The game can be heard on  The Talk of JC, KJCK AM, and online at kjck.com.