Junction City, Des Arc to collide in quarterfinals

Although school may be out this week for Thanksgiving, two teams with a lunch-pail mentality will punch in Friday night with a berth in the 2A state semifinals at stake, as Junction City hosts Des Arc.

Game time is set for 7 p.m. from David Carpenter Stadium.

The Dragons (9-2) are the 8-2A’s No. 1 seed and have won eight straight with lopsided wins over McCrory and Mountainburg to reach the quarterfinals.

The Eagles (9-3) are the 6-2A’s No. 2 seed and have also been a roll having won six straight.

Des Arc outlasted Magnet Cove in the first round of the playoffs before downing Mountain Pine to reach the third round.

Friday’s meeting also marks the fourth time since 2008 that the Dragons and Eagles have met in the playoffs with Junction City winning all three meetings, including wins in the state finals in 2008 and 2013.

Interestingly, this game is one of two pitting the 8-2A against the 6-2A with Hampton playing at Hazen.

If there is one word that could potentially describe what Friday’s game will be like, physical would probably be the best term.

“I feel like they’re very physical. I feel like they’re very aggressive,” Junction City coach Steven Jones said of the Eagles. “They play very hard from whistle to whistle. They play a good, clean game. They really try to physically punish their opponents, so we’re excited to play somebody that does a lot of what we like to do.”

Des Arc coach Drake Widener had similar thoughts when asked about the Dragons.

“They’re very big up front. They’re very physical,” Widener said. “Defensively, they really get after it, and they do a really good job as well of knowing their assignment and playing really sound. They’ve shut people down since they’ve switched back to the 5-2. They’re doing a good job all the way around. They’re a very good football team.”

Both schools sport powerful running attacks.

Senior Dhante Gibson and junior Jakiron Cook have both rushed for over 1,000 yards, giving the Dragons a solid one-two punch in the backfield.

“They’ve got a couple of good backs that are impressive,” Widener said. “Offensively, they do a good job of executing their stuff. I think coach Jones does a good job with them. They’re very sound and a complete football team.”

The Eagles counter with an option attack that is guided by senior quarterback Garrett Goodman that has a deep stable of running backs that have produced.

However, junior Jackson Morton has stepped to the forefront, rushing for over 1,200 yards this season.

“He’s done a good job of running between the tackles,” Jones said. “He doesn’t go down on first contact, so we have to do a good job of wrapping him up, rallying to the ball and have two or three guys there to get him down because he’s a load to bring down. He runs the ball very hard.”

But while both teams certainly have had success running the ball, big plays in the passing game have also played pivotal roles in their success.

Against Mountain Pine last week, Goodman rushed for 159 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries, but was also 3-of-4 passing for 93 yards and two scores.

“He’s been very sharp and very efficient offensively,” Jones said. “As far as passing goes, his completions that have gone for touchdowns, the percentage has got to be through the roof on that. I feel like every other pass that they throw is a touchdown.

“They don’t throw it a lot, but he does a good job. They grind it out with three yards and a cloud of dust, but if you fall asleep on them, they’re going over the top with a big play, so we’ve got to be ready for that.

“We’ve got to be sound in what we do defensively and do a good job in the option and making sure that we have everything covered. He doesn’t like to pitch it as much, but we’ve got to do a good job of making sure that we play the dive and the quarterback.”

Widener said the Eagles will go through the air if the situation presents itself.

“It just depends on the situation and what the other team is doing and how we’re running the ball,” Widener said. “We’ll throw it when we need to. We have the ability to throw it when we need to, we’re just not going to throw it just to throw it.

“If you’re going to let us run it, we’re going to run it. I’m going to be honest, if we can go a whole game without throwing a pass, we’d love to.”

And while the Eagles certainly prefer to run the ball, Jones said there is more to it than just the option.

“They’re an option attack, but they’re also a downhill run team,” Jones said. “I feel like they’re downhill run first. They’re going to try to run those powerful run plays right at you. They’re not as fast as some other teams we’ve seen this year, but with the option, that equalizes that, so being very sound is going to be important for us.”

Seeing the option also isn’t completely foreign to the Dragons.

“Hampton gave us a little bit of option earlier the year, and Bearden gave us some midline and veer as well to see,” Jones said. “We’ve had some games this year where we’ve prepared for option teams, but we haven’t seen a lot of option on Friday night.”

Since settling into the starting role at quarterback in the middle of the season, junior Brady Hutcheson has done a solid job of running the Dragons’ offense.

However, he was at his best last week, going 7-of-8 passing for 250 yards with three scores against Mountainburg.

“He’s done a good job of getting better each week,” Jones said. “He continues to find ways to lead our team offensively. Last week, just being the field sergeant out there and getting the ball where it needs to be, there are a lot of quick reads that he has to do, and he’s doing the right thing and getting the ball where it needs to be and making sure we have the right matchups and taking advantage of it.”

Senior Kevontae Haynes has been Hutcheson’s top target, having caught seven passes for 313 yards and four touchdowns in the Dragons’ two playoff wins.

“Kevontae is extremely explosive out there,” Jones said. “We’ve got to continue to find ways to get him the ball, and that’s going to help to bring people out of the box where we can effectively run the football.”

For Widener, trying to stop the Dragons’ passing attack comes to down to understanding what the situation of the game is.

“I think the key is just making sure your kids understand certain situations, down and distance and what coverage checks we’re going to have, and then also just looking and knowing certain alignments they get in and different tendencies that they have based on what they do that are going to tip us off on when they throw and when they run,” Widener said.

“We think we’ve pretty well got some of those figured out for the most part, but it’s one of those things where they’ve got more talent than us and they have more speed than us, but the bottom line is our kids play with a lot of heart and are really, really intelligent as far as football goes, so I think our guys are going to be ready for it.”

Both coaches were pleased with how their teams performed last week.

For Widener, the Eagles’ win at Mountain Pine was one where they played well in all phases of the game.

“We put together a complete game,” Widener said. “Offensively, we scored every drive we had the ball. We ran the ball really well. Defensively, we played well. We had to make some adjustments in the second half, and we really played better in the second half.”

With the score being lopsided in the second half, Jones was able to get some reserves into the game.

“I thought we gave great effort for all four quarters,” Jones said. “We were able to play a lot of guys. In this long stretch of the season, it’s valuable to have everybody ready to play different spots.”

If the Eagles are to knock off the Dragons, Widener said his team cannot have any mistakes.

“We’ve got to take care of the football,” Widener said. “We can’t have any stupid mistakes. We can’t have stupid penalties. We can’t beat ourselves. We can’t do things to get behind the sticks. Defensively, we’ve got to try to contain the big plays as much as we can. They’re going to get their shots.

“They’re going to get their plays in. They’re going to bust some, but we’ve got to make sure we contain how many they get, and we’ve got to counter it. When we’re on offense, we’ve got to grind and grind and grind and just try to get three or four yards and take it one play at a time.”

For the Dragons, Jones said his offense must put points on the scoreboard when they have the chance to do so.

“Offensively, we’ve got to finish drives,” Jones said. “They’re going to try to play keep-away from us, so every time that we have a possession, it’s extremely valuable that we get into the end zone.

“That is the key to victory. We have to finish drives. I saw a game where the other team didn’t get a possession until six minutes were left in the second quarter.

“They took the ball down and scored. Then they recovered an onsides kick and did the same thing, so every time we have a chance to score, we have to take care of it.”