Junction City to face Genoa Central
Fresh off of a win over one of the contenders for the conference title, Junction City hits the road for the first time in 6-3A play.
Tonight, the Dragons will play at Genoa Central.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. Last week, the Dragons (4-0, 1-0) outlasted McGehee 64-38, racking up 499 yards of total offense in the process, while Genoa Central (1-4, 0-1) fell at Fordyce 48-10, dropping its second straight game.
"They're a well-coached team," Junction City coach Steven Jones said of the Dragons. "They do a lot of stuff right. They struggled the first few weeks to finish drives, but I think they've gotten better as the season has progressed. They run some option-type stuff. They have had a couple of issues with ball security, but overall, I think they do things the right way, and they're going to be a good opponent for us."
Jones added that preparing for the Dragons is difficult due to running the option.
"Any time you play an option team, it's pretty difficult to prepare for," Jones said. "You can try as hard as you want to, but your scout offense is never going to give the look that you're going to get on Friday night just because that's not what we're not used to doing offensively. It's tough to prepare for. It's a lot of extra film time and seeing the way that they do it as opposed to trying to get our guys on the scout team to run it efficiently."
Genoa Central has had no difficulty in racking up yards on the ground, averaging 326 yards per game on the ground.
Senior quarterback Bo Jewell (52 carries, 339 yards) leads the team in touchdowns with five
while averaging 6.5 yards per carry.
Senior Kole Allen (60 carries, 409 yards, two touchdowns) averages nearly seven yards per carry and 102 yards per game, while sophomore Patrick Markham (46 carries, 287 yards, one touchdown) also averages over six yards per carry.
Sophomore Dalton Savell (26 carries, 196 yards, two touchdowns) may not have as many carries as his teammates, but he averages over seven yards per carry.
However, throwing the ball has been another matter for the Dragons, who had three interceptions among their seven turnovers at Fordyce last week.
A year ago, Junction City rolled to a 46-10 home victory, and while a letdown would certainly seem plausible after last week's win over McGehee, Jones said he is expecting his team to be ready.
"I don't think so," Jones said. "We just come in and try to continue to do what we do each day, and try to get a little bit better every day in practice and be ready to go on Friday night. We'll put together a good game plan and go execute it."
Jones also had plenty of praise for Genoa Central's defense.
"The defensive line fires off very low, and their linebackers do a pretty good job," Jones said. "Their front seven is not bad at all, and they've gotten better each week, so it will be a good challenge for us."
Thus far this season, Junction City's lowest point total in their four games has been the 48 they scored against Haynesville (La.) in Week 3.
And while it may be mind-boggling to see the sheer number of points and yards the Dragons have accrued, Jones said he thought his offense was capable of producing at their breakneck pace.
"I think when we got into preseason camp in August and knowing that those guys really bought in to what we were asking them to do, I knew that we had the explosive players in the right places, and a good offensive line that can really put up some points," Jones said. "Those guys jumped right in there and went to work and learned an entirely new scheme. Once again, it's a true testament to them of how they were able to adapt to something new and go forward with it."
Against the Owls, senior Hishmma Taylor continued his terrific start by rushing for 262 yards and four touchdowns on 24 carries, while senior quarterback Shuvasceiaye Frazier threw for 130 yards and rushed for 109 yards en route to scoring 64 points, something that Jones was not expecting.
"I definitely didn't expect to score 64 points," Jones said. "I thought we came out and were able to execute offensively and have another good night.
"They're a great team, and I didn't expect 64 to be on the board, but it was one of those things where we were able to wear them down in the second half. Offensively in the second half, we really executed."
Senior Terrell Gibson led the Dragons' defense with nine tackles, including three for a loss and a sack.
But while the Dragons are off to a 4-0 start, Jones said the coaching staff has been working diligently to get mistakes on both sides of the ball fixed.
"Mistakes here and there on both sides of the ball that we've got to fix," Jones said. "Defensively, just being able to be where we're supposed to be. We look at film, and there's one or two guys that take a play off or don't do their job and it ends up being a touchdown on the play, so having all 11 guys on the same page is something that we've definitely been working on."
With the Dragons heading into Week 5 of the season, Jones said that while he is pleased with his team's results thus far, there is much more that lies ahead.
"As far as effort and the way our guys work in practice, I would them an A-plus for that," Jones said.
"But at this point in the season, when you start getting into conference play, you can't just be happy with what you've done to this point, you've got to continue to put in work and find ways to sustain what you've been able to do and find ways to play even better."
If Junction City is to collect a road win in league play, Jones said his team can not turn the ball over.
"We've got to take care of the ball," Jones said. "We've got to get the defense off the field. We've got to have those three-and-outs. We've also got to do a better job this week in field position. That's been something we've struggled with. Our special teams play has not been great, so we've challenged our guys to do a better job of that."