Jo Jo Nieves returned a kick more than 70 yards for a touchdown to bring Junction City to within one point at 14-13 against Emporia. But the Spartans blocked the extra point kick, took control of the football following the kickoff and never gave it up again. Final score Emporia 14 Junction City 13.

Emporia improved to 5-3 while the Blue Jays fell to 6-2 with the loss.

The Blue Jays were flagged for a number of holding penalties in the game and also fumbled the football away at the Emporia one-yard line in the first quarter. This game didn’t go Junction City’s way. Blue Jay coach Randall Zimmerman agreed. “No it did not. We should have won it. We had all kinds of things going on. We weren’t executing in the first quarter and I think that gave them enough hope. They’re big, strong physical kids and they started leaning on us.”

The coach added, “Our defense was out for way more snaps than we should have been. They’re just good at what they do. They’re very very disciplined, they played very hard, they’re all very strong kids.”

Junction City will host Wichita Southeast in the first round of the Class 6A postseason playoffs next Friday night at Al Simpler Stadium.