Junction City, Smackover host first practices

Local schools formally made their return to the gridiron on Monday with two schools holding practices in the morning and two in the afternoon.

After finishing as the 2A state runner-up last year, Junction City hit the practice field with morning workouts for the senior high and junior high squads.

“It went really great,” Junction City coach Brad Smith said. “The guys have been lifting weights and wanted to do some football stuff. There was a lot of enthusiasm. It was a lot better than lifting weights.”

Smith added that he had 34 players out on the first day.

Smackover coach David Osborn had his first practice guiding the Bucks with the senior high and junior high squads joining the Dragons with early workouts.

“Overall, I thought practice went well,” Osborn said. “The kids seemed to be excited to be back out with helmets on. We moved quickly from station to station and had a good amount of energy and enthusiasm. We really stressed fast-paced practice and offense today.

“Our coaches did a great job of keeping things moving and I feel like we got a lot done.”

Osborn said he was also pleased with the turnout on the first day.

“We had 24 in senior high and 27 in junior high for the first day,” Osborn said. “Still have a few more who were out in senior high, but it was a good turnout.”

Strong and Parkers Chapel held their initial practices later on Monday.

The Bulldogs conducted their junior and senior high practices at 3 p.m., while the Trojans began their workouts at 5:30 p.m.