The Junction City Blue Jay football team took advantage of eight turnovers by the Emporia Spartans to roll to a 47-0 victory over the Spartans at Jack Welch Stadium in Emporia.

Blue Jay quarterback Ryan Henington threw four touchdown passes, and completed 15-20 passes for 223 yards in the win. Jovan Baldwin, Rooster Adams and Joe Vallery each rushed for one touchdown.

Blue Jay coach Randall Zimmerman credited hard play by the team and good work on special teams. On offense he said he knew Junction City put a lot of points on the scoreboard, but he also expressed some concern. “I was very concerned at the pace in which we played. We were not playing fast. Some of our fast kids…kids that can really run were not playing as fast as they’re capable of playing.” The coach added the Blue Jays need to shore that up.

Zimmerman noted the Blue Jays were also playing outside their scheme on offense….something he found puzzling. “We get that taken care of, this group’s going to be a good group.”

The Blue Jay defense surrendered no points.

Junction City hosts Topeka High next Friday at Al Simpler Stadium. The Trojans opened their season with a 30-13 win over Hayden.

 

 

The Lady Jay volleyball team opened their season with a home tournament, just missing finishing on top.

After successfully shutting down Highland Park and Topeka West, the Lady Jays saw their toughest competition of the night in Topeka Hayden, who would hand them their first loss.

Head Coach Gennifer Booth said she’s pleased with how the girls played.

“I thought we did very well, the girls played up to their capabilities,” said Booth while noting their most visisble weakness. “One of the things that I told the girls [that we need to work on] is that transition speed, we’ve got to get faster, we’re doing ladders everyday, all of them are in athletic strength and conditioning – they’ve just got to get faster footwork.”

Booth added that at times the girls don’t realize the talents they do have, and they need to work on that confidence.

“Half the time the girls are so amazed at something that they do [that] they watch, and they have to realize that it’s still active play and they’ve got to be good participants,” said Booth.

Hopefully the girls get over the shock and awe as they head further in to the season, but Booth says that they are taking things a week at a time.

“We need to set small goals, small goals will get us to where we need to be…they’ve set a goal of where want to be at in two weeks, where we want to be at 3 weeks and where we want to be at 4 weeks,” said Booth.

Though the team faired well in their only home meet of the season, Booth was tough but optimistic.

“We were pretty competitive tonight, but I’d like to be a little more competitive in the long run, because we had a good finishing last year, but I’d like a higher finishing, so hopefully that will come out to play as the season progresses,” said Booth.

The Lady Jays compete the rest of the season on the road, with competition at Highland Park High school on Tuesday, September 6th.

Lady Jay tennis opened their season at home with a quad meet on Thursday evening.

In a quad meet, your four teams are put in to positions – 1 singles, 2 singles, 1 doubles, 2 doubles – and whatever position you are, you play the other three schools in that position.

Head Coach Matt Micheel said that on paper, you may not say the Lady Jays were successful, but he saw something else.

“When you look at how they played, these girls got better and better and better throughout the entire meet… a lot of them got match experience against girls that were close to them in ability level, so we had a lot of real close matches and games,” said Micheel.

Standing out amongst the Lady Jays was Codi Post, finishing 1-2 in singles play.

“She was chasing down every ball, she got better and better and better throughout the day…she was even tired at the very end but she was still chasing down the balls, making the extra hustle plays – she’s been a good leader in that respect,” said Micheel.

Returning state qualifier Ally McKenzie played like a seasoned athlete during the home meet, finishing 1-2 on the night.

“Last year she played well…but she played better than she did last year because the competition level is so much better…there’s a lot of things that I’m able to work with her on that is way more advanced that what I’ve been able to work on with any other player…she’s our leader of our team,” said Micheel.

Jordan Dombrowski and Alexis Cruz went 1-2 on the day in doubles play, and Brianna Talley and Anne Kim played in position 2 on the doubles bracket.

The lady jays finished  1-2 in 3 of the spots, and 0-3 in the other during the Thursday night home quad meet.

“I’ve got a lot of good faith in what this team can do,” says Micheel.

The team will travel to Topeka next week for the Washburn Rural Quad on Thursday, September 8th.

The first Friday night of the high school football season finds:

–Junction City at Emporia

–Manhattan hosting Shawnee Heights

–Topeka High goes to Hayden

–Washburn Rural is at Highland Park

–Seaman visits Topeka West

–Abilene goes to Hays to play TMP-Marian

–Chapman visits Jefferson West

–Wamego is at Rock Creek

–Marysville hosts Rossville

–Concordia hosts Beloit

–Riley County travels to Wabaunsee

–Clay Center goes to Phillipsburg

–Herington hosts Bennington

–Rural Vista hosts Peabody

–Centre travels to Little River

–Solomon is at Canton-Galva

–Blue Valley Randolph plays at Colony Crest

–Wakefield is at Goessel

 

The Junction City Blue Jay varsity and junior varsity soccer matches at Highland Park Thursday evening have been postponed due to an unplayable field. JCHS Athletic Director Matt Westerhaus reported that a make-up date will be announced.

The Emporia Spartans defeated the Junction City Blue Jay boys soccer team 2-0 Tuesday night at Al Simpler Stadium.

It was the season opener for the Blue Jays.

The parking lot was full and there were a lot of people in the stands as youth in Junction City had the opportunity to scrimmage in front of their community Friday night.

Football and Future Lady Jay volleyball and football players, and middle school football players all competed at JCHS, and cross country time trials were held at Milford State Park. They were all part of the activities on Blue / White Scrimmage night at the senior high.

Football coach Randall Zimmerman liked what he saw in the scrimmage. “It’s been fun. They’ve responded to everything we’ve challenged them with. We’ve had, I feel, a very good first two weeks.”

When the varsity played early in the football scrimmage. running Tim Bell scored on a 28-yard touchdown run, Ryan Hennington completed three of five passes, and showed good running ability. He would also complete more passes later in the scrimmage.

On defense Zimmerman called lineman Bradley Breckenridge perhaps the most improved player on the team. Cody McGee also has come in for praise from the coach for volunteering to shift from tight end to center where he will play. Zimmeman called McGee one of the “most unselfish kids that I’ve been around for a long time.”

The Blue Jays play their first football game at Emporia next Friday night.

 

 

There is a full slate of extracurricular activities for Junction City High School on Friday.

They include the cross country team time trials at Milford State Park at 4:30 p.m..

The annual community night is being held at JCHS. In Shenk Gym from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. there will be the Future Lady Jays volleyball night. At Al Simpler Stadium Future Blue Jay drills will be held from 5:30 to 6 p.m., Junior Jay and Middle School scrimmages 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m., Full Program Stretch Stretch from 7:15 to 7:30 p.m., and from 7:30 to 9 p.m. the anual JCHS Blue / White football scrimmage.

All activities and admission for scrimmages are free.

The J-Stepper Dance Team is sponsoring an End Zone meal. Blue Jay nation will also be selling shirts at $5 for students and $7 for the general public.

For Junction City High School students only there will be a Back to School Dance from 9 to 11 p.m. in Fiffe Gym. Admission is $3.

The Junction City Blue Jays got a stamp of approval from Head Coach Randall Zimmerman after their football scrimmage at Al Simpler Stadium on Saturday.

Zimmerman likes what he has seen after one week of practice by his team. “I was very pleased with the execution of assignments, offensively, defensively, special team wise. Sure there’s a ton of mistakes today. Some of our younger kids are still kind of scrambling a little bit to get it figured out, but they’ll get it. I’m very pleased with where we’re at.”

The Blue Jays appear to have  strong running backs such as Tim Bell and Jovon Baldwin, and feature a veteran returning senior quarterback Ryan Hennington. On defense Zimmerman noted the there is tremendous speed. “They’re running around really really well, playing together and playing very unselfish.” Two safeties were mentioned by the coach. “Devonte King and Aryus Jones seemed to always be in position, and did a really nice job.”

The Blue Jays will have their Blue / White Scrimmage at the stadium next Friday night, August 26. The varsity plays at Emporia on September 2 and hosts Topeka High in the home opener on September 9.