The Junction City High School junior varsity volleyball team will play in a triangular in Abilene beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The varsity volleyball team will play on Thursday in a quadrangular at Hayden in Topeka. That action will begin at 5 p.m. as well.
The Junction City Blue Jay football team didn’t try to do anything flashy and kept the plan simple in their Blue – White scrimmage Friday night at Al Simpler Stadium.
Coach Randall Zimmerman for the most part was pleased with the team’s performance. “Our kids executed decently offensively, defensively we kind of handicapped them just a little bit in that we wanted them to protect their teammates. ” The play calls in the game were very limited. The varsity only played a short time. “I think our oldest kids got eight snaps and that’s it, and defensively I think we had fewer than that.”
Zimmerman said the team has had two weeks of good practice and now it’s time to start getting their legs back underneath them.
The coach said the offensive line is coming around. Caleb Miller is the returning starter there. At quarterback Andrew Khoury is working with the first team. Dawson Kratzer, David Rowell, Ashton Sharpsteen and Keghan McConnel are also playing in backup roles at quarterback.
The Friday night activities also included scrimmages for the middle school teams. the Junior Jays and a future Blue Jay Drills segment. The parking lot at JCHS was filled to capacity and there was a strong turnout at the football stadium. Other fans attended the Lady Jay volleyball scrimmage in the Shenk Gym.
The Blue Jays play at Hays next Friday night. Zimmerman said the Indians have a big offensive front, strong talent at running back and quarterback. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sept. 6. You can hear the game on 107.9 FM and 1420 KJCK.
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The upperclassmen showed good leadership in the Blue – White soccer scrimmage at Al Simpler Stadium Thursday evening. Head coach Allan McFarland felt good about the team’s performance. “Think that have had this varsity experience and it showed out there. We worked the ball really well, actually had two goals that we scored early in the first JV vs. Varsity match, and that was really positive to see.”
Four players with varsity experience return this season, said McFarland. “The defense looks pretty solid out there, they look comfortable.” The coach cited the return of Thomas Green as a big help.
On the conditioning for the team McFarland noted it was a little bit rough early in the season because there were problems getting out to practice due to the weather. “But we’ve been running every single practice and we still have about four more practices until game. so we’ll get out, we’ll run a little bit more, but it looked pretty good tonight.”
The soccer team opens the season next Thursday at Washburn Rural.
The traditional Blue – White scrimmage for Junction City High School football is scheduled from 7:15 – 9 p.m. Friday at Al Simpler Stadium.
There are other community football activities planned as well with Future Blue Jay drills from 5:30 – 6 p.m., the Junior Jay and Middle School scrimmages from 6 – 7 p.m. and a full program stretch for players 4th grade through 12 grade on the field from 7 – 7:15 p.m.
Admission will be free for the scrimmages. The concession stand hosted by the Dance Team will be available. Pulled pork sandwiches will be available for dinner.
By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
The Junction City Blue Jay football team wrapped up their first week of the 2019 season with a public scrimmage at Al Simpler Stadium.
Coach Randall Zimmerman was pleased with the team. The speed on defense is evident. “Defensively it’s very, very obvious we’re incredibly fast. ” The coach added there is also speed on the offense but sometimes they struggle keeping up with the defense. ” I think we might be as quick as we’ve been for a little while.”
The Blue Jays will have a pair of tall receivers in seniors Ethan Alcorn and Qua’Vez Humphreys. Both are in the 6’3 to 6’4 range. Zimmerman said that’s an advantage for the Blue Jays. “Huge advantage. We haven’t had that since I think it was 1998. I think we had a couple of big tall wide receivers. ” He added everyone thinks about catching the football and running routes. “The biggest plus to that is when you’re running the football those guys should be able to hold their own against a corner as big as they are out there on the edge as far as just blocking and giving some space to our running backs, and that kind of stuff. It’s a big plus to have big receivers.”
The Blue Jays also appear to be well stocked at running back and receiver as well.
The annual Blue – White scrimmage is scheduled next Friday evening at the stadium. The season opener is Sept. 6 at Hays and the home opener is Sept. 13 against Washburn Rural.
The Junction City Lady Jay volleyball team worked out in the Shenk Gym Thursday as they prepare for the upcoming 2019 campaign. There are 32 players on the team.
Coach Basil Nevill said the Blue – White scrimmage will be held Friday, August 30th. The freshman and junior varsity teams will play at Abilene on Sept. 3 and the varsity at Hayden High School in Topeka on Sept. 5.
The Junction City Blue Jay football team practiced outdoors for one hour Monday and then moved indoors to the Shenk Gym. A heat protocol followed by the school district and recommended by the Kansas State High School Activities Association was the reason for the limit on the outdoor portion of the practice.
Coach Randall Zimmerman said the team could only be outdoors for an hour and then moved inside where they participated in some walk-throughs. “Tough time of year to have it ( heat limit ) because you’re teaching so much and you need space, the timing and all that kind of stuff.” Zimmerman said the players and coaches did a good job with the requirement. There will only be one hour allowed outdoors on Tuesday as well due to the heat protocol.
A total of 136 players checked out gear on Monday and another 10-15 have expressed interest and could report in the next few days. Zimmerman said they could end up with nearly 145 players.
The team will hold their first public scrimmage this Saturday from 8 a.m. to about 11:15. The Blue Jays will then participate in a picnic afterward.
By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
Junction City Blue Jay football practice for the 2019 season begins Monday.
Head Coach Randall Zimmerman assessed the offensive line prospects, often considered a key area for a football team. “We have to replace four of the five guys up there. We’ve got some great competition going on.”
Zimmerman noted that Caleb Miller is returning this season. The other candidates for varsity time will be juniors. “We’re leaning on him to really lead that group, but there’s some really good competition. We’ve got some quality kids. The experience is not there, we’re very inexperienced but attitude and heart I think will make up for that because I really like what those kids are doing. Coach Chase Jones is coaching those guys and did an unbelievable job with them this summer. He’ll continue to do that through the fall.
Zimmerman said there’s a lot of competition but Andrew Khoury is ready to take the reins at quarterback, while at running back Russell Wilkey and Chris Randolph are returning and D.J. Giddens will play this season.
At receiver Ethan Alcorn, Marcello Bussey and Jo Jo Nieves are among a handful of candidates in the mix, while on the defensive line Terrance Crumpton and Antonio Cooper return. At linebacker returning players include Albert Caba, Sadiki Smith and Kazerick Smith, along with Zane Thornton and Jordan Irby in the defensive secondary.
Mindy Lechuga returns to help with the kicking duties and Andrew Khoury could be in the mix at punter.
The coach noted that all positions are wide open. Some new players and some others who are already in the program will also achieve playing time.
For Randall Zimmerman this is his 26th season guiding Blue Jay football and 34th year in coaching. He said he’s extremely excited about the year. “I love what I see from our kids and that is completely outside of when there’s a football out there. I like their attitude.” The coach said he likes how they’re communicating with each other, associating with each other, associating within the school, leading in the school, just picking people up. “They know it’s bigger than themselves so I’m really, really, really looking forward to the year.”
The Blue Jays play at Hays on Sept. 6 and host Washburn Rural in the home opener on Sept. 13. The rest of the home schedule includes Topeka West Sept. 20, Highland Park Oct. 4 and Seaman Oct. 18. Other road games include Topeka High on Thursday, Sept. 26, Manhattan Oct. 11, and Emporia Oct. 25. The postseason playoffs, with all teams guaranteed a first-round berth, begin Friday Nov. 1.
All fall sports teams can begin practice in Kansas on Monday. At Junction City High School that includes the boys soccer, girls tennis, boys and girls cross country, girls golf and girls volleyball.] teams.
By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
Junction City High School fall sports athletes have been conditioning this week for their upcoming season.
Friday evening a large group of Blue Jay football players traveled to the Junction City Athletic Training Center where they worked through the different stations on the course and tested their endurance and physical agility.
Junction City Athletic Training Center manager Rick Bazan helped coordinate the 
activity. “They ran around the whole course which is not very long, maybe a quarter-mile warm up and then they finished with 21 obstacles. ” There was also some individual competition.
Bazan said the Center has hosted other teams in the past. We’ve had a lot of teams. We’ve had three or four Manhattan High School teams come and compete and team build and build that type of culture. The Junction City softball team, we had the wrestling team last year, we try to get all the sports out here, give them an opportunity to train and have fun and do some team building.”
There will be JCHS cheerleader tryouts for new students on Aug. 21 from 4-6 p.m. at the HD Karns Building in the main gym.
According to Blue Jay Athletics Twitter, tryout packets are available in the JCHS Athletic Office. If you have questions contact Coach Lyndsey Brantley.
