By Kev Moyé
News-Times Staff
With the mandatory Arkansas Activities Association dead-period fast approaching, Junction City football coach David Carpenter is currently evaluating his players.
“Everything is going good right now. We’re getting back into our groove after we gave them about a week-and-a-half off. We just wanted to give them the chance to get away for a few days,” Carpenter stated. “So we’ve started coming in during the mornings to workout and that’s going real well.”
Recently, Junction City faced its first opposition of the summer as the Dragons played their initial games of a weekly 7-on-7 league which features teams from South Arkansas. Wednesday morning the league was held in Hampton. Carpenter acknowledged that the Dragons, who will enter the 2015 football season on a 40-game win streak, received plenty of teaching during the 7-on-7.
“We had fun. We were rusty, and looked bad. But we were also able to do a lot of things well, and that helped out,” the coach stated. “It’s just a small league between a couple of teams. Bearden and Hermitage will join-in following the dead period.
“The fun part of being in this league is, even though we play each other in the regular season, we still help each other out. It’s really fun.”
The members of Junction City's program who were available for the 7-on-7, had ample opportunity to showcase their abilities.
“We have a lot of new faces. But, we also have good experience mixed in with it,” Carpenter stated. “We’re trying to get more continuity in the secondary, but we also had a bunch of guys gone to football camps this week. We were able to get a team together where everybody could get some reps and just have a good time.
“We used a lot of people. We want to get everybody in the games and comfortable with what’s going on so when we go to 7-on-7 tournament’s
– we’re better prepared. So everybody receives plenty of reps and we cover a lot of different looks.”
The Dragons’ linemen are also working hard. They’ve dedicated plenty of time in the weightroom. Additionally, the linemen have also completed a multitude of agility drills.
“Wednesday, coach (Justin) Thompson kept the linemen and worked with them. He helped them take care of what they needed to get done,” Carpenter stated. “But, that’s the same thing we do everyday with those guys. We have different crews (of linemen) coming and going each day so we get a lot done.”
Next Wednesday, the Dragons will host the South Arkansas 7-on-7 series.
Junction City, Smackover, Parkers Chapel, Camden Harmony Grove, and the Hampton junior high team are the scheduled participants. Whether it's on the field, or in the weight-room, every player on the Dragon roster will work vigorously until the AAA mandated dead-period arrives.
“Right now everything is going good,” he said. “We just have to get our work for the rest of this week and next week in, before the dead week begins.”