Junction City taking aim at state crown

After a two-year stint in the 3A ranks that culminated with a trip to the state finals, Junction City has returned to 2A.

However, the landscape of the 8-2A is much different than when the Dragons last competed as a 2A school in 2015.

Fordyce, a conference rival in the 6-3A over the last two years, dropped to 2A.

The 8-2A’s membership also lost two schools with Woodlawn and Hermitage opting to play eight-man football this fall.

Junction City was able to fill one of those vacancies by taking on Hector in Week 9 at Henderson State.

For Junction City coach Steven Jones, the process of trying to procure games was one of the toughest tasks he’s had as a coach.

“When eight-man football came about, that threw a wrinkle into everything,” Jones said. “That has made it probably the most challenging thing in scheduling that I’ve had to deal with. There’s a lot of moving parts into finding an opponent and an open date when everyone’s schedule matches. Most teams already have conference games filled, so it’s tough to find.

“You’re looking at numbers. You’re studying who could be a candidate for eight-man football. A team like Rose Bud that is really low on numbers, and you look at their Week 9, and you see Harding Academy. We called them and had a game worked out with them in Week 9, but it fell through because Rose Bud decided to play 11-man.

“We had to go back and look up and see who else might play eightman, and that’s where we found Hector. It just kind of worked out for both parties. Playing at Henderson State is something that’s been done a few times at Junction City. The Carpenter family has a lot of history, so I think that’s a cool addition.”

Getting the chance to play in a college setting is something that also appealed to Jones.

“Any time you can get your kids on a college campus, that’s something that is going to excite the team,” Jones said. “Even with Harding Academy, we were looking into what campus could we get on. We were going to try and do that regardless once we found out we weren’t going to have a conference game there. I felt like if we could make that happen, it creates an exciting atmosphere for both schools.”

But while the Hector game could prove to be a potential litmus test for the playoffs, the Dragons will be sternly tested with their non-conference schedule.

The Dragons open the season by hosting Harmony Grove before traveling to Union County rival Smackover and Haynesville (La.).

The Hornets are guided by Ernie Horstkamp, who left Bearden after a successful tenure.

“He is always going to put together a good team,” Jones said of Horstkamp. “Everything that he did at Bearden, he always put together a disciplined bunch. He always put together a team that played with a lot of intensity and very aggressively. It’s a very wellcoached team that we’ll see against Harmony Grove.

“On the flip side of that, you don’t really know what to expect. He’s going to a new school, so is he going to carry the offense that he ran at Bearden over? Is he going to do everything the same defensively? There will be a lot of things that we know that we’ll be ready for, but also the dynamic of him being new and not knowing what to expect there.”

A year ago, the Dragons overcame a 14-0 deficit to top the Bucks 36-14 in a 6-3A showdown, and Jones believes their meeting has the makings of being another physical clash.

“They play hard,” Jones said. “They play very aggressive. They play with a lot of intensity. They fly around to the ball. They make plays and they make it happen. We saw that in 7-on-7 this summer. They moved around very well, and they caught the ball very well. Two out of our first three games are against a new head coach, so as far as what to expect schemewise, who knows? We know what they did during the summer in 7-on-7, but who knows when it comes to Friday night football what we’re going to see with them.”

The Dragons’ clash with the Golden Tornado comes after a bye week in September.

Junction City came away with a 48-20 win last year, and Jones said the series has blossomed.

“It’s turned into a rivalry game for us,” Jones said. “Both schools have agreed that this is too good to pass up. Our schools are benefiting from gigantic gates at those games. Last season, being able to beat those guys has spiced up the rivalry even more. They have a defensive lineman (Joseph Evans) that’s committed to LSU. They have a very talented team. Haynesville on Friday night is one of the toughest places to play I think in all of high school football. We’re excited to go against those guys every year.”

As far as the league is concerned, Jones cited the new staffs at Bearden and Strong as something the Dragons will have to adjust to.

“Starting with Strong and Bearden, both of those teams have new coaches,” Jones said. “Four of our nine games are going to be played against a team with a first-year coach, so they’re kind of a mystery to us. Then you have teams that have had recent success. Fordyce has been in the conference with us, and they’ve been a team that Junction City has had a couple of bloodbaths with over the past few years. They’ve been really good games.

“Coach (Wes) Ables at Hampton gets those guys to play so hard. They do a good job in the weight room, so they’re going to be a really good opponent. Parkers Chapel is a team that’s on the rise to me. Coach (Jacob) Midyett has brought them so far from when he got there, just to see the excitement around their community makes it good for our conference.”

With Woodlawn and Hermitage no longer in the league, there are only five league games, making October a critical month.

“When you get into conference play, you have got to take care of business,” Jones said. “There aren’t enough games in there to have that one night where you don’t show up or don’t make it happen. You’ve got to show up every Friday night in our conference and find a way to come out on top or it could be detrimental to your playoff seeding.”

If the Dragons are going to make a run at a state title, Jones said his team must be able to handle adversity.

“Mental toughness,” Jones said. “Last year, we had some very costly penalties throughout the playoffs that really put us in a bind and kept us from pulling away from opponents when we had the opportunity to do that. Just being mentally tough, being a good teammate and not getting that stupid penalty or being ready for when something bad happens, we get over it quickly and continue to move forward. I think mental toughness is going to be the biggest key.”