Junction City set to host Bearden

By Jason Avery

News-Times Staff

After a bye week, Junction City kicks off the second half of their schedule by hosting Bearden in an 8-2A clash that also marks the Dragons’ final home game of the regular season.

Game time is set for 7 p.m. from Junction City.

It is also homecoming this week for the Dragons (3-2, 2-0), who have won two straight, including a 30-12 triumph over Hampton two weeks ago in their last outing.

The Bears (2-3, 1-1) have won two straight after an 0-3 start, and Junction City coach Steven Jones said the Bears are better than what their record indicates thanks to a very difficult schedule.

“Bearden has been right there in a lot of their ballgames this year,” Jones said. “Their record doesn’t show it. I know they’ve struggled at times, but they’ve been right there in just about every game that they’ve played. They’ve given everybody a fight, so we expect to have a big ballgame Friday night.”

With new coach Trey Outlaw, the Bears are running the showgun offense.

In their win over Parkers Chapel last week, junior Robert Miller ran for 170 yards and a score on 23 carries, and Jones said the Bears are similar to Hampton in some respects.

“They base everything out of the double slot and do it from the shotgun,” Jones said. “We’ll have to be ready for the option this week. A lot like Hampton did as far as the option goes, and they’ll spread it out and throw it a little bit, too. We have a pretty good bit of stuff to prepare for.”

Jones added that his offensive line will have their work cut out for them with Bearden’s front line.

“They’re very aggressive defensively, so we have to stay the course with our blocking scheme and just continue to have a lower pad level than they do,” Jones said. “They fire off the ball well, and they have a couple of defensive linemen that have pretty good size. They can give you some fits if you don’t take care of them in run blocking.

“They’re an odd front, so they’re very similar to us in how they line up with an old 50 front, and they’ll play a couple of different coverages behind it. They’ll play cover-three and we saw some cover-zero when they played against Fordyce. They’ll mix it up on the back end, but they stay pretty base in their front.”

The bye week was the second for Junction City, who had their first one back in Week 2.

For Jones, the second bye not only helped the Dragons get healthy, but also gave them an extra week to prepare for the Bears.

“It’s been an interesting year with the schedule, but as far as having a bye week in the middle of the season, I think that it works out well,” Jones said. “Just to have that extra time to get healed up and get ready to roll into the second half of the season. To have two weeks to prepare for a conference game is always nice, too.”

Against Hampton, Brady Hutcheson got the nod at quarterback, and Jones indicated the junior will be the starter going forward.

“Right now, Brady has taken over the spot at quarterback,” Jones said. “He’s done a good job of leading us. He’s able to get out of the pocket, move a little bit and hopefully provide a spark. That’s what he’s done in the last two weeks. Moving forward, he’s going to get a shot at it.”

With Dhante Gibson back in the lineup after an injury caused him to miss a couple of games earlier this year, the Dragons have a solid one-two punch with Jakiron Cook in the backfield.

Against the Bulldogs, the duo combined for 166 yards, and Jones said the ground game must continue to produce.

“We had to get kind of creative in how we were able to do that against Hampton, but every week, we want to come out and run the football and throw enough to keep people from loading the box up on us,” Jones said. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to run it.”

If the Dragons are to upend the Bears, Jones said his team must execute.

“We need to be sharp,” Jones said. “Just come out and play to the best of our abilities and just continue to improve from the Hampton game to this week and just keep finding ways to get better.”

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