It was a good practice, and a good first week for the Junction City Blue Jay football

team.

That was the assessment by Head Coach Randall Zimmerman following the team’s public scrimmage Saturday at Al Simpler Stadium. On the entire week Zimmerman said the players did some good things, and they know what needs to get accomplished. “A lot of that is just getting ourselves in physical condition to be able to go for a good two and a half hours. ” Zimmerman added some of the players are not quite where they need to be yet with the physical conditioning.

After the scrimmage he said he feels the team is real solid on defense. “It makes really tough to move the football against those guys. Offensively I saw some really good things. We were moving the ball at times. Late when we went to our hurry up stuff we scored two out of the three drives that we were in that mode.”

“Tanner’s ( Lueker ) making decisions a little bit quicker. On the defensive side Tyriq Nas is really zoned in on what he’s good to do. Raye Wilson looked great today. ” The coach also praised the play of Christian Ozores, Trae McDaniel, and also the defensive front.

At center Grant Whaley is the frontrunner for the position, but the coach indicated a couple of players new to the program are vying for playing time there, but are in the process of learning the position.

At running back Downey Wood is the leader in the competition at fullback.  One fullback – running back Jeremiah Warren sustained an ankle injury leaving the locker room to go out to practice. He was held out of the scrimmage Saturday as a precautionary measure, but is expected back at practice on Monday.

The Blue / White Scrimmage will be next Friday night ( August 29 ) at the Al Simpler Stadium. The first game is September 5 at Highland Park. The home opener is September 12 against Emporia.