A two-yard touchdown run by Baylor Wilkey capped off a Junction City ( 6-3 ) drive in the closing minutes to lift the Blue Jays to a 28-21 first-round Class 6A playoff win over Wichita West ( 5-4 ).

But the real key play in the game came earlier in the second half. Wichita West led 14-7 and with the ball on fourth down at the Junction City three-yard line. The Pioneers tried a field goal but it was blocked by Devante King for the Blue Jays. He then scooped up the loose football and ran more than 90 yards for a game tying touchdown.

After the game Blue Jay coach Randall Zimmerman said the blocked field goal was tremendous on King’s part. “They had him blocked and he just went right through it. ” ZImmerman said it was important at that point in the game because no matter what the football belonged to the Blue Jays. “He took time, got it scooped and ran it in.”

The Blue Jays at Lawrence Free State in round two of the playoffs next Friday night.

Two members of the Lady Jay and two members of the Blue Jay boys cross country team have qualified for the Class 6A State Meet.

Coach Ryan Norton confirmed they include Alissa Sanchez and Kailey Koomen for the girls, and Christian Carter and Isaiah Galicia for the boys. Norton stated after the Regional Meet at Milford State Park that it was a tough regional. “There’s a lot of great teams here, some of these teams will probably go on and place very high at state. To advance out of this as an individual is a good accomplishment this year for us.”

Charter finished ninth in the boys regional in 17:17.31 and Isaiah Galicia tenth in 17:28.50. For the girls Alissa Sanchez finished fourth in 10:23.17 while Kailey Koomen finished 16th in 21:38.29.

In the regional team competition Manhattan won both the boys and girls titles while Junction City finished fifth in boys and fourth in the girls team competition. Manhattan had the low score of 31 points in the boys race while Junction City had 104 points. In the girls race Manhattan had the winning low point total with a score of 33 while Junction City finished with 98 points. The top three teams advance on to state at Rimrock Farms near Lawrence next Saturday.

The Junction City Blue Jays will travel to Wichita for a Class 6A first-round postseason playoff game Friday night.

Junction City, ( 4-3 ) will meet Wichita West ( 5-3 ) in that ballgame.

KSHSAA seeds teams in Class 6A one through 16 on both the eastern and western portions of the state. Junction City is a nine-seed and Wichita West an eight-seed in the western bracket.

Also in Class 6A, the Manhattan Indians ( 7-1 ) will host Wichita East ( 3-5 ) in a first-round ballgame Friday night.

The Junction City Blue Jays led 17-3 early in the fourth quarter before a bad snap on a punt attempt resulted in a recovery of the football by the Seaman Vikings ( 4-4 ) at the Blue Jay three-yard line. Two plays later the Vikings scored a touchdown to cut the lead to 17-10.

Then Junction City ( 4-3 ) took over, scoring on a 13-yard touchdown run by Russell Walker and a 32-yard touchdown run by Chris Randolph to secure a 29-10 victory over the Vikings.

Randolph scored three touchdowns for the Blue Jays, with the other two coming on runs of 20 and 77 yards.

Blue Jay coach Randall Zimmerman noted it was a great defensive night for Junction City since they only gave up three points with that unit. “My hats off to that side of the football because they really played a nice offensive Seaman team really to three points.”

The Blue Jays and Seaman both advance to postseason play next week.

The Junction City Blue Jay varsity cross country team finished third and the Lady Jay varsity fourth in their respective brackets of competition at the Centennial League meet hosted by Washburn Rural High School.

In the boys competition coach Ryan Norton reported that Junction City finished third with a score of 89 points, one point ahead of fourth place Seaman who had 90. Manhattan won the team title with the low score of 24 followed by Washburn Rural at 55 points.

In the individual competition for Junction City, Christian Carter finished 8th in 17:18.5, Juan Tovar 11th with a time of 17:33.1 and Isaiah Galicia 15th in 17:46.7. All three runners medaled.

In the girls varsity race Junction City finished fourth with a score of 95 points. Manhattan won the team title with the low score of 33 points followed by Washburn Rural with 57 and Shawnee Heights with 81 points.

For Junction City Michelle Sanchez finished in the individual competition with a time of 20:12.3 and Kailey Koomen 14th in 21:26.1. Both of those Lady Jays medaled.

In the junior varsity competition Junction City finished sixth in the boys team competition with a score of 174.. Washburn Rural finished first with a score of 21. For the Blue Jay boys Omer Aksu finished fourth in,23:52.9 and Austin Smith sixth in 24:04.5 and both medaled. Washburn Rural won the team title.

In the junior varsity girls competition Junction City finished fourth with a score of 107. Washburn Rural won the team title. For the Lady Jays Hailey Eschllman finished fourth in 22:38.8 and medaled.

The Lady Jay tennis duo of Codi Post and Jordan Dombrowski wrapped up their season Friday at the 6A State Tennis Tournament in Wichita.

The doubles team dropped their first two matches of the day to eliminate them from the tournament.  In the first round, they lost to a team from Blue Valley Northwest and then dropped their second match to a team from Olathe East.

Post and Dombrowski finished with a 12-16 record on the season and finished fourth place in the Centennial League and Regional tournaments.

The Junction City Lady Jay track team that captured the Class 6A State Championship received a warm round of applause Friday evening when they were introduced at the Al Simpler Stadium between the first and second quarters of the Blue Jay football game.

Seniors in band, cheer, dance, cross country and girls tennis were also recognized, along with the 97th Military Police Battalion.

Friday evening was Military Appreciation Night at the Stadium.

The Junction City Blue Jays reeled off six consecutive touchdowns in the first half and went on to defeat the Olathe West Owls 56-22.

Junction City scored on their opening drive in five plays with the touchdown coming on a 38-yard touchdown run by Russell Wilkey. The Owls answered with their own drive to tie the game at 7-7. But then Junction City scored on a 78 yard touchdown run by Russell Wilkey, an 8-yard scoring pass to Ethan Alcorn, a 10-yard TD run by Brandon Wilkey, and then scored three times off turnovers. Arthur Pine recovered a fumble and took it into the end from 8-yards out, Kensen Henderson returned a fumble 34-yards for a score and Lou Norris returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown.

The Blue Jays host Seaman next Friday.

PREP FOOTBALL

Andale 17, Buhler 6

Andover Central 34, Rose Hill 13

Attica/Argonia 52, Kiowa County 6

Axtell 28, Wakefield 22

BV West 31, Gardner-Edgerton 26

Baldwin 53, KC Bishop Ward 6

Basehor-Linwood 33, KC Piper 0

Bishop Miege 63, Eudora 7

Burlingame 70, Valley Falls 0

Burlington 50, Iola 14

Caldwell 62, Hartford 0

Caney Valley 54, Eureka 0

Central Plains 64, Ellinwood 0

Chase 64, Bucklin 16

Cheney 39, Chaparral 14

Cimarron 32, Lakin 8

Clay Center 48, Chapman 8

Clifton-Clyde 46, Centre 26

Columbus 41, Baxter Springs 0

Concordia 20, Goodland 19

Conway Springs 26, Garden Plain 6

DeSoto 52, Spring Hill 7

Derby 59, Salina South 14

Douglass 64, Belle Plaine 20

Ell-Saline 27, Republic County 8

Fort Scott 42, Louisburg 20

Frontenac 44, Parsons 0

Galena 41, Cherryvale 8

Garden City 40, Dodge City 9

Girard 12, Anderson County 8

Goddard 57, Valley Center 7

Goddard-Eisenhower 35, Andover 21

Goessel def. St. John, forfeit

Halstead 52, Haven 6

Hanover 60, Frankfort 0

Hesston 41, Hillsboro 6

Holcomb 36, Kingman 0

Holton 27, Jefferson West 0

Humboldt 38, Erie 0

Ingalls 52, Rolla 0

Jackson Heights 44, Valley Heights 40

Jefferson North 54, Doniphan West 8

Junction City 56 Olathe West 22

KC Schlagle 47, KC Northeast, Mo. 0

KC Washington 16, KC Harmon 8

Kapaun Mount Carmel 28, St. James Academy 27

Labette County 59, Independence 0

Lakeside 28, Thunder Ridge 14

Lansing 35, KC Turner 13

Larned 46, Lyons 0

Lawrence Free State 38, Olathe East 31

Lebo 72, Altoona-Midway 8

Liberal 23, Great Bend 21

Little River 62, Canton-Galva 14

Madison/Hamilton 28, Southern Coffey 24

Maize 39, Salina Central 14

Maize South 31, Augusta 23

Marion 58, Southeast Saline 28

Marysville 56, Beloit 28

Maur Hill – Mount Academy 56, Pleasant Ridge 0

McPherson 48, Hays 6

Meade 55, Johnson-Stanton County 8

Mission Valley 33, Rossville 27, OT

Moscow 48, Minneola 0

Nemaha Central 21, Sabetha 7

Neodesha 34, Fredonia 7

Northern Valley 46, Sylvan-Lucas 6

Norton 31, Russell 7

Norwich 62, Burrton 6

Olathe South 21, Leavenworth 14

Olpe 40, Chase County 0

Osborne 36, Victoria 30

Otis-Bison 54, Dighton 8

Paola 24, Ottawa 0

Pawnee Heights 63, Fowler 0

Perry-Lecompton 56, Royal Valley 0

Pike Valley 50, Tescott 16

Pittsburg Colgan 42, Yates Center 0

Plainville 39, Oakley 0

Pleasanton 72, Chetopa 0

Prairie View 26, Osawatomie 8

Pratt 42, Hugoton 14

Pretty Prairie 49, Ashland 0

Rawlins County 50, Quinter 0

Riley County 53, Minneapolis 0

Riverside 18, Hiawatha 13

Riverton 32, Southeast, Mo. 12

Rock Hills 54, Linn 6

SM South 33, SM West 14

Scott City 42, Colby 14

Sedgwick 41, Moundridge 7

Silver Lake 68, Oskaloosa 0

Smith Center 78, Salina Sacred Heart 0

Smoky Valley 36, Rock Creek 0

Solomon 68, Bennington 62

South Barber 52, Stafford 6

South Central 58, Fairfield-Cunningham 0

Spearville 64, Satanta 16

St. John’s Beloit-Tipton 49, Glasco/Miltonvale-Southern Cloud 0

St. Mary’s 51, Council Grove 11

St. Thomas Aquinas 61, Blue Valley Southwest 27

Syracuse 33, Southwestern Hts. 20

Tonganoxie 49, Atchison 0

Topeka 55, Topeka West 21

Topeka Hayden 35, Santa Fe Trail 6

Troy 34, Washington County 6

Uniontown 34, Oswego 18

Washburn Rural 35, Topeka Seaman 21

Wellington 14, Winfield 7

Wellsville 34, Osage City 0

Weskan 57, Western Plains-Healy 12

West Elk 48, Sedan 8

West Franklin 46, Central Heights 8

Wetmore 42, BV Randolph 8

Wichita Bishop Carroll 35, Wichita Heights 14

Wichita Campus 35, Hutchinson 7