By Jason Avery
News-Times Staff
After months of workouts and practices, Junction City will take the field for a dress rehearsal tonight, as the Dragons take on Hamburg in a benefit game.
Game time is set for 6 p.m.
Junction City officially begins the 2018 season a week from Friday when the Dragons host Harmony Grove.
For Junction City coach Steven Jones, this is a day he has been looking forward to.
“I’m excited to see it,” Jones said. “Hamburg is traditionally a team that has a lot of good size up front, and they are very blessed with skill guys over there, too. They’ve had a good mix in the last few years, and they’re a very talented team. They have a lot more players than we do, so it will be a good early test to see where we’re at.”
Jones said the Lions will give him a good barometer of where his team is at with a week to go before the season starts.
“I’ve coached against coach (Cecil Ray) Cossey for two years, and he always had a really good team,” Jones said. “That’s why I wanted to get those guys as a benefit game just because I knew where it is early on in the season.
“You better get a team that you’re scrimmaging that’s wellcoached so that you get a good look to see where you’re at, especially this season with the new dynamic of having to play your benefit game so early. We’re playing our benefit game the first week of school, so having a quality opponent was big for me. I’m very pleased that we were able to get Hamburg in that spot.”
Junction City held their annual Purple & Gold Game on Monday, but with the benefit game just a few days away, the team held an open practice instead of a scrimmage.
“We just held an open practice,” Jones said. “Fans were able to see what we come in and do every day. We didn’t want to scrimmage with our first game being bumped up to zero week and the benefit game at Hamburg being Thursday. We were able to get a lot of reps Monday.”
When asked if there was anything specific he wanted to see, Jones said it was a good performance from his younger players.
“Looking for some young guys to step up and fill some voids,” Jones said.