The Junction City Blue Jay football put their talents on display during the first public scrimmage of the season Saturday.

Coach Randall Zimmerman pointed to the energy level and work ethic as strong points for the football team. “Just competitiveness. We’ve got a really good group of kids. It’s been fun. They care about each. We’ve just got to continue with that, continue moving forward. ”

Zimmerman said the scrimmage was basically a practice with situations in it such as third and long period, fourth and short period, ten coming out and ten going in. There was one period where they worked on moving the football. A trio of running backs were mentioned by the coach in response to the question of who ran the ball well. “Freshman Russell Wilkey ran it really, really well, Joe Vallery ran it well, Aaron Hamilton looks really good and coming on strong, had some wideouts really caught the ball well, Rooster ( John Adams ) is coming into his own, really coming around.”

Some of the players the coach mentioned that are showing leadership on the team included Rooster Adams, Russell Wilkey, Jacob Smith, Xavier Cason, Devante King, Tez Brime and Joe Vallery. “We have a lot of guys that are really stepping up and doing good things.”

On the offensive line Zimmerman noted that Jacob Smith is “really coming on, very, very consistent and doing good things.” Smith mainly plays at right tackle, and can also play at left guard.

The team was a bit nervous at the beginning of the scrimmage. “We were very, very nervous, forgot how to practice early, but they got it figured out as we went along. That’s part of the reason we’ve got two days here that we try to get some people and get them comfortable with Friday nights, and that’s been good.”

The annual team picnic was held in the JCHS cafeteria following the scrimmage.

The first game of the season for the varsity is Friday September 1st against Emporia at Al Simpler Stadium.