By Jason Avery
News-Times Staff
It may seem strange, but despite their close proximity to one another, Junction City and Harmony Grove haven’t officially met on the gridiron since 2007.
That changes tonight, as the Dragons and Hornets collide to start the 2018 season.
Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. from Junction City.
The Hornets have a pair of explosive playmakers in senior Kentrell Hill and junior Xaylon Falls, and Junction City coach Steven Jones cited Falls when asked about the Hornets’ offense.
“Offensively, they’re very multiple in what they do,” Jones said. “They like to spread it out, and they use No. 3 (Falls) as much as they can. They’ll put him out in the slot and line him up in the backfield. They center everything around him, but they also switch from their spread look and do a little single wing, so we’ve got a lot to look at and prepare for this week.”
Who starts at quarterback for the Hornets will also be something to keep an eye on.
that junior Zach Smith guided the offense during the Hornets’ scrimmage against Hampton with senior Gannon Bearden limited only to defense while he recovers from arm surgery.
Adding to the intrigue is that the Hornets have a new coach in Ernie Horstkamp, who is no stranger to showdowns with the Dragons thanks to his successful tenure at Bearden.
“We know they’re going to play very sound on both sides of the ball,” Jones said. “They understand their assignments, and they really don’t make a lot of mistakes, so it comes down to who wants it more when you play a team like that.”
Last year, Junction City rolled up over 6,000 yards of total offense en route to reaching the 3A state finals, but Jones said his team faces a tough test in the Hornets’ defense.
“Defensively, they run a 3-3 stack, which is something you don’t see a whole lot,” Jones said. “As we go through our preparations for them, we’ve got to get that look, and understand our assignments on that side of the ball.”
Junction City traveled to Hamburg for their scrimmage last week, and Jones was pleased with the performance of some of his underclassmen.
“We wanted some young guys to step up, and we had a few guys that we found that can play,” Jones said. “Tate Barnett played outside linebacker and did a really good job there. He’s worked his way into the starting lineup defensively.
“He and his brother, Tanner, will get a lot of time on the defensive side of the ball. That’s two sophomores that will be there, and it’s good to have some youth that we know that can really get out there and make plays.”
While Jones was happy with the defense, he said there were some mistakes on offense that needed to be addressed.
“We put the ball on the ground a couple of times, we weren’t as efficient as we wanted to be and we struggled up front a little bit, but nothing that we found mistake-wise was anything we couldn’t fix,” Jones said. “We feel good about where we’re at going forward. We just needed to play somebody else to see how we messed up, what we looked like and where to go from there so our guys understand the things that we need to improve on.”
Jones thought the Dragons held up well against a bigger school, but added that he’ll have a better idea of what kind of depth his team will have once they play a full game.
“We got tired late in the second quarter, but we didn’t play a full football game, so depthwise, it’s hard to tell,” Jones said.
“I thought we held up just fine, and we’re right where we need to be as far as conditioning goes. We’ve just got to continue to build on that and move forward because that’s one of the things that we take pride in on both sides of the ball.”
The Dragons and Lions played their benefit game on a searing hot day, and with temperatures expected to be close to triple digits, conditioning could play a key role.
“We try to get those guys ready for that,” Jones said. “We feel like with the way that we practice and the things that we do to prepare ourselves, that can be an advantage, so when the lights come on Friday night, just moving with great tempo and pushing every time the ball is snapped and we’ll be fine.”
For the Dragons to open the season with a victory, Jones said his offensive line must win the battle in the trenches.
“Offensive line play is key,” Jones said. “If we can have low pad level and drive kind of an undersized defensive line, I think we’ll have a good night.”