Hope Stephens placed third in the girls varsity race in 20:26 and Jacob Lovell 13th in the boys varsity race in 17:42 for the Junction City High School cross country teams at the El Dorado Invitational on Saturday.
In the junior varsity girls race for Junction City, Jada Beck placed 13th in 23:47 and Kayleigh Riley 15th in 23:54, while on the boys side, Chase Bennett captured seventh place with a time of 19:19 and Bryan Gonzalez placed 15th in 19:37. Coach Rebecca Steiger said in addition, both runners on the boys C team earned medals. Dane Yale placed eighth in 21:02 and Chandler Smith ninth with a time of 21:07.
The Blue Jays and Lady Jays compete next Saturday at Felker Park in Topeka.
A key fourth down pass play for Manhattan late in the fourth quarter proved crucial in the Indians 27-22 football victory over the Junction City Blue Jays ( 5-1 ) at Al Simpler Stadium Friday night.
Manhattan faced a fourth and nine with over three minutes to play when the Indians opted to pass. The officials ruled the pass was caught for a first down, but Junction City players and coaches disagreed. The Indians drove on down the field for the game winning touchdown, and then sealed the victory by intercepting a late Junction City pass.
On the fourth down pass play Blue Jay coach Randall Zimmerman was certain the ball bounced on the ground before it was caught by the Indians. “It absolutely hit the ground, but that’s only one play out of many many plays in this game. I’m very frustrated with what I witnessed tonight. It shouldn’t have come down to that. We had opportunities to win.” Zimmerman added, “Javontez Brime made an outstanding play coming in front of the kid and knocking the ball down and then Jalen Brime came diving in to intercept it and the ball went in between his hands off the ground and the kid jumped over the top of him. Had his hands underneath of it, yeah.”
Manhattan coach Joe Schartz said he was certain the ball was caught. “Yeah I had a pretty good view of it. We were throwing a square into Jonathon Taylor on the left side, bounced off of him and a defender and there was no doubt. Parker was right there and he definitely caught the ball.”
On the next series the Blue Jays tried to make a final game-winning drive, but the Indians intercepted a pass and were then able to run out the clock.
Junction City had other chances to score. They had the football inside the Indians’ 20 yard line two times but failed to score a touchdown on either of those possessions, which produced only one field goal.
The Indians ( 6-0 ) were awarded the Sportsmanship Trophy that goes to the winner of the annual game between Junction City and Manhattan.
The doubles team of Codi Post and Jordan Dombrowski led the Lady Jay tennis team in the Centennial League Tournament at the Kossover Tennis Center in Topeka. They finished 4-2 on the day and earned a sixth place medal.
Ally McKenzie was the top singles performer for Junction City, going 1-2 in pool play, but then capped off her day with two consecutive wins in bracket play to earn ninth place.
The doubles team of Brianna Talley and Anne Kim went 2-4 to finish 14th.
Overall Junction City finished seventh in the team competition with 43 points. Washburn Rural captured the Centennial League title with 90 points, followed by Seaman with 74, Manhattan 58, and Shawnee Heights with 56 points.
The Lady Jays travel to Wichita East High School on Saturday to play in a Class 6A Regional Tournament.
Junction City High School sophomore Hope Stephens turned in the top finish for the Lady Jay cross country team with a ninth place finish in the JCHS Invitational varsity race. She turned in a time of 10:32.7 on the Milford State Park course.
“We started out really well. I thought I started out well, and I just stayed focused, started picking off people, and I had a pretty good race.” It helped for Hope to run on the Lady Jay home course. “Whenever you have home course you don’t know where everything is, but you know how everything feels and that really helps you mentally.”
Gabriela Reyna of Wichita North won the individual title in 18:44.8. For Junction City Kailey Koomen finished 26th in 22:02.3, Leah Ervin 29th in 22:20.5, Natalie Seib 45th in 23:10.1 and Jada Beck 55th in 24:37.6.
In the varsity girls team competition Manhattan had the winning low score of 35 points. Maize was second with a score of 92 followed by Wichita North 111, Clay Center 127, Hays 151 and Great Bend at 151, Junction City seventh at 152, Salina Central 157, Salina South 185, and Hutchinson did not field a full team.
In the boys competition for Junction City, Jacob Lovell led the way with a 19th place finish in 17:49.1 followed by Zack Bolen in 28th in 18:10.5, Kody Westerhaus 33rd in 18:25.4, Ryan Westfall 38th in 18:33.2, and Isaiah Galicia 40th in 18:37.8.
Kerby Depenbusch of Great Bend finished first in the individual boys varsity race of 16:21.9.
Manhattan won the boys varsity team title with the low score of 33 points followed by Great Bend with 88, Maize 116, Wichita North 124, Junction City fifth with a score of 158 points, Hutchinson 163, Salina South 166, Hays 192, Salina Central 197, Clay Center 204, St. Mary’s Academy 310 and St. John’s Military did not field a full team.
Blue Jay boys varsity cross country runners ( center ) huddle up before their race in the JCHS Invitational.
The Junction City Blue Jays ( 5-0 ) trailed early 6-0 but the offense got going in a 42-12 win over the Highland Park Scots ( 0-5 ) at Al Simpler Stadium.
Jacqaz Barksdale scored on a two-yard touchdown with 4:22 remaining in the first quarter to put the Scots ahead of Junction City 6-0, but on the ensuing possession the Blue Jays drove down the field with Baylor Wilkey scored on a two-yard touchdown run. Wayne Shirley kicked the extra point and Junction City went ahead 7-6. The Blue Jays would never trail again in the ballgame.
Baylor Wilkey rushed for four touchdowns on runs of 2, 2, 1, and 11 yards. Quarterback Ryan Hennington hit eight receivers with passes including Max Bazan four times. Johnnie Jones was on the receiving end of a 24-yard touchdown pass. The Blue Jays also struggled with penalties, and turnovers in the contest.
Highland Park scored a second touchdown late in the third quarter on a 61-yard pass play to Will White. The two touchdowns scored by the Scots in the game were the first two scored by their offense in a ballgame this season.
Next up for Junction City will be the Manhattan Indians next Friday night at Al Simpler Stadium. Both Junction City and Manhattan undefeated. The Indians defeated Seaman 42-21 Friday night in Topeka.
A canned food drive to benefit the Food Pantry of Geary County is being held at Junction City Blue Jay varsity home football games this season. Fans may deposit non-perishable food donations in collection boxes at Gate 2 in Al Simpler Stadium.
A safety proved to be the deciding two-points for Junction City in a 22-21 win over Washburn Rural Friday night in Topeka.
The Blue Jay defense stopped the Junior Blues in the fourth quarter and forced a punt. A low snap sent the ball through the legs of the punter down near the Junction City goal line. Rather than fall on the ball deep in Washburn Rural territory, the punter kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone. It gave Junction City two points and the lead instead of the ball first and goal deep inside Junior Blues territory.
The win for Junction City capped off a major rally from a 21-7 deficit early in the fourth quarter and kept the Blue Jays 4-0 on the season, while Washburn Rural fell to 2-2.
Junction City Coach Randall Zimmerman said he was proud of the grit his team showed. “I’m very proud of the way Washburn Rural played. They played extremely well \. They’re extremely well coached, we said that all week long, they played very hard and our kids showed a tremendous grit, especially in that fourth quarter.
The Blue Jays got two touchdown passes from quarterback in the win.
Junction City hosts Highland Park next Friday night.
Hope Stephens placed third in the girls varsity race in 20:26 and Jacob Lovell 13th in the boys varsity race in 17:42 for the Junction City High School cross country teams at the El Dorado Invitational on Saturday.
