Junction City set to take on Foreman in semis

News-Times Staff

Legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson would often call a football game that had the makings of being very physical and intense as a “slobberknocker.”

That term seems very appropriate for tonight’s clash in the 2A state semifinals between Junction City and Foreman.

Game time is set for 7 p.m. from Foreman with the winner set to take on the winner of the semifinal showdown between Hazen and Mount Ida for the state title next week in Little Rock.

Junction City (10-2), the 8-2A’s No. 1 seed, enters with a nine-game winning streak.

The Dragons have posted lopsided wins over McCrory, Mountainburg and Des Arc to reach the semifinals.

Foreman (10-1), the defending state champions and top seed from the 7-2A, have won four straight, but narrowly escaped last week by rallying past Earle 28-26 in overtime to advance to the semifinals.

Both schools have voracious running attacks with Foreman’s triple option guided by senior quarterback Kyren Batey serving as a tough task for Junction City’s defense.

“They’re a triple option team, and the last couple of times we’ve played it, we’ve talked about having to play responsibility football,” Junction City coach Steven Jones said. “You have to have somebody covering the dive, you have to have somebody there when the quarterback pulls it and you have to play the pitch as well. Just having all three aspects of that covered is going to be key. They’re a very wellcoached team. When you watch them on film, you see that they do a lot of things right on both sides of the ball, and that’s a testament to (Foreman coach) Mark King.”

Jones said the Dragons saw some triple option a week ago against Des Arc, but with junior running back Robbie Smith complimenting Batey in the backfield, Junction City must keep a watchful eye on the duo.

“Des Arc ran some triple option against us, not as efficiently as Foreman will show us, but having that second option when Batey pulls it, he’s a special player, so that makes Foreman’s option a whole lot more to deal with,” Jones said.

The Dragons counter with the onetwo punch of senior Dhante Gibson and junior Jakiron Cook in the backfield, but junior quarterback Brady Hutcheson has been solid in the postseason as well, completing 14 of his 21 passes for 442 yards and six touchdowns with only one interception.

Senior Kevontae Haynes has been a favorite target of Hutcheson’s, having caught 10 passes for 367 yards with half of those receptions going for touchdowns in the playoffs.

That productivity has forced defenses to shy away from gearing up to solely stop the run.

“We’ve just got to go out and execute,” Jones said. “If we do that, we’ll be able to move the ball. With Brady coming on late in the year and being able to throw it a little bit, that’s helping us out and creating huge lanes for us to be able to run the football.”

With the Dragons’ ability to strike with both the run and pass, Foreman coach Mark King said his defense faces a tough challenge.

“In my career in coaching in high school football, I’ve always said the first thing you better do is stop the run,” King said. “That’s the first priority. Their skill guys are extremely athletic and can take it to the house. They can run with power. They can run with speed. But you also have to be good enough to slow down a passing attack and not let them get the big plays off it. Again, it just comes down in the secondary to reading your keys and making sure you’re in the right spot and we’re in the right coverage.

“That’s the biggest thing, and second, getting some pressure on them up front with our defensive line. We can’t let him sit back there and have a long time to throw. When they do fake the jet sweep or the dive, where he turns to toss the ball in that bubble, we have to be physical on the edge and be good tacklers to stop it. We need to rally to it and don’t let them get started.

“The first thing you better do is stop the run. If you don’t stop the run, there’s no need for them to throw the football. They want to run it, but they are very capable of having an outstanding passing game too, so we’ll have to be on our toes for both aspects.”

King is no stranger to Junction City having coached previously at Parkers Chapel, and King said that experience helped get his team ready.

“It does,” King said. “We’ve talked about that. I told the guys, ‘I’ve coached against this bunch. The tradition and the winning that they have, they expect to win.’ Expecting to win is 90 percent of the battle.

“If you step on the field and you know you’re going to win, most of the time, you will. They’ve grown up they way in Junction. Coach (David) Carpenter built a dynasty, and I’ve leaned on him quite a bit.

“I had him come down and speak to my team last year before the season, and our kids bought into it. He told them what he did and how he built the culture there and how the kids play for each other. You don’t necessarily have to like the man next to you, but you play for him and you fight for him when you’re on the field.”

In reaching the semifinals, the Dragons have quickly put games away, having outscored their opponents 107-12 in the first half.

“It’s something that we want,” Jones said. “It’s something we try to go after in pregame. We want to win the coin toss, get the ball first, go down and score, come out and trust our defense to get a big stop, get the ball back and try to get two scores ahead before they can blink. We’ve been able to do that. We’ve been able to control the game. We’ve been able to put people away. Last season, we got out front a lot of times, but we let people hang around and come back. We’ve done a good job throughout this season’s playoff run of really finishing an opponent.”

Turnovers were critical to the Dragons’ success a week ago against Des Arc, as Junction City forced four turnovers that allowed the offense to get right back on the field.

“The defense has done a great job of getting the other team off the field whether it’s a three-and-out and forcing them to punt or creating a turnover when we need it,” Jones said. “They’ve stood tall all year and found ways to get the ball back for the offense to have a chance to go score.”

While the Dragons have rolled in their three playoff wins, the Gators rallied to stun Earle, getting a touchdown from Batey along with a successful two-point conversion run by backup quarterback Isaac Carver to tie the game late in regulation.

Then in overtime, Batey scored again before adding the game-winning twopoint conversion in the extra session to seal the victory.

For King, the character his team showed stood out.

“Just the heart that they showed,” King said. “We had a chance to blow the game open in the third quarter. We came out and we stuffed them. I think they had just 63 yards in the second half, and they had one 50-yard drive in the second half. Our defense played outstanding.

“We had the ball in the red zone three times in the third quarter and didn’t get any points out of it. When we get in the red zone, we’re close to 90 percent when we get points. We just made some mistakes and shot ourselves in the foot. For them to come back the way they did, getting the ball back and make a 76-yard drive with four minutes on the clock, score and then get the two-point conversion to tie it up and then win it in overtime, it just showed their heart and their toughness and the grit that they have.”

King also gave plenty of credit to Earle.

“You watch Earle on film, and you’re not going to play anybody more athletic than they are,” King said. “That’s probably the most athletic team from top to bottom that I’ve ever coached against, and they probably played the best game I’ve ever seen them play. I had several films on them, and they always seemed to self-destruct, turn the ball over four, five, six times a game. They didn’t do that the other night. They had one turnover, and that was late in the game. We got the turnover down in our territory and ended up getting the tying drive. They came to play. They came in with an attitude and a chip on their shoulder, and they played like that. They played extremely physical and fast. But our kids overcoming all of the mistakes that we made and finding a way to gut it out and get a win just speaks volumes for our kids.”

But while the game will certainly be physical, Jones said the Dragons will try to wear down the Gators with the frenetic pace their offense plays at.

“I think that’s one of the things we want to do is to try and wear them out,” Jones said.

“A lot of people that we’ve played the last couple of weeks have tried to play ball control against us and keep it and hold on to it. We’ve been the opposite. We’re trying to run as many plays as we can and snap the ball as fast as we can and try to wear down the opponent in the fourth quarter.”

If the Gators are to keep their hopes of repeating as state champions alive, King said his team must avoid turnovers.

“The first thing is we’ve got to win the turnover battle,” King said. “We can’t turn the ball over, and we’ve got to create some turnovers. If we can do that and find a way to control the line of scrimmage, which most people don’t do against Junction. They’re so good up front. They’re very physical up front on the offensive and defensive lines. I think if we can win the turnover battle, not turn it over and create some, I think we have a good shot at winning the football game.”

For the Dragons to move on to the state finals, Jones said his defense must find a way to stop Batey.

“We’ve got to stop Kyren Batey,” Jones said. “It’s a tall task, but our defense is battle-tested. They’ll be ready. Playing after Thanksgiving and playing in the semifinals is something that we’ve gotten used to doing. Our kids are focused and ready to roll. The mood of the team is that we’re ready for Friday.”