Washburn Rural football falls 24-6 to Junction City: 'We’ll keep playing. ... We’ll get better.'

Trying to get back on track following a disappointing loss at Manhattan, the Washburn Rural Junior Blues lost their second game of the season at the hands of visiting Junction City 24-6.

Washburn Rural fell to 3-2 on the season, while Junction City improved to 4-1.

A pregame surprise failed to lift the Junior Blues. When the home team returned to the locker room following warmups, the players were surprised to find new black jerseys for the bout with the Blue Jays. But the new gear couldn’t overcome the Junior Blues’ three turnovers and collection of costly penalties.

Here are some takeaways from the game.

Washburn Rural didn’t sustain its fast start

Washburn Rural limited the Blue Jays to just two yards on the visitors’ first possession. The Junior Blues put together a 68-yard drive that ended with a 15-yard scoring pass from Branton DeWeese to Amr Sabbarini with 3:01 left in the first period.

The Blue Jays managed just nine total yards in the first quarter. But an interception of a DeWeese pass at the close of the period turned the tide.

The Junior Blues’ next drive stalled at the Junction City 12, where Washburn Rural turned the ball over on downs. A fumble squelched Washburn Rural’s next drive and they wound up going to the locker room at halftime trailing 7-6.

“We did the same thing we’ve been doing the last couple of weeks — a lot of mistakes, putting ourselves in a hole,” said Washburn Rural coach Steve Buhler. “That’s on me. It’s been happening for a couple of weeks. I haven’t been able to figure out how to get it fixed. That’s what I’m responsible for. That’s my job.”

After halftime, the Junior Blues could muster no offensive attack. A three-and-out, an interception and a fumble was the extent of their offense until late in the fourth period when the game was out of reach.

“We only ran like eight offensive plays until that last drive,” Buhler said. “A lot of things were involved with that, all the way around. It was really just kind of an ugly ballgame.

“We’ll go back to work next week. We’ll keep playing. We’ll get better. That’s the focus of the next couple of weeks.”

After playing two of the top-ranked teams in 6A in Manhattan and Junction City, the Junior Blues face three teams with losing records the next three weeks: Topeka High, Emporia and Topeka West.

The defense could only hold so long

The Junior Blues, led by a hard-hitting linebacking corps, held the Blue Jays in check for the first half. Junction City was limited to just 67 yards rushing and 28 yards passing in the first half.

Unfortunately, a short field set up by a turnover led to a 38-yard scoring drive for Junction City. Other than the 18-yard scoring pass by Junction City quarterback Xavion Felton to receiver Sheldon Butler-Lawson, the Blue Jays had no gain longer than nine yards in the entire half.

“Our run defense was pretty good throughout the night, especially in the first half,” said senior linebacker Wyatt Conklin. “We had a couple of mishaps in the secondary, but those are just little mistakes that I think we can fix.”

Ineffective offense and turnovers left the Washburn Rural defensive unit on the field most of the second half. Junction City ran 40 offensive plays in the second half to Washburn Rural’s 16. Long drives based on punishing runs up the middle took their toll on the Junior Blues’ defense.

“It wore us down a little bit, but there’s nights when the offense is going to struggle and the defense has to step up,” Conklin said. “Tonight was one of those nights, and we had to step up to the challenge.”

Washburn Rural coaches pulled the talented linebacking corps aside after the game to talk to them about how to lead the team following the defeat. As a senior, Conklin understands how important leadership will be to getting the team back on track.

“Right now, I think the linebackers need to just step up and make sure we’re encouraging everybody, especially on the offensive side,” Conklin said. “I know they struggled a little bit tonight, but I think they can pick it up. We have a very skilled offense. We have to just encourage them, keep their hopes up, and they’ll show up for us.”

Junction City solved the Junior Blues’ offense

After the Junior Blues racked up 158 yards of offense in the first quarter, the Blue Jays got dialed in. The visitors forced three turnovers, three punts and two turnovers-on-downs the rest of the way.

“Those turnovers, that’s just kids in the right position,” said Junction City coach Randall Zimmerman.

Zimmerman credited an assistant coach who is familiar to Centennial League and Kansas State fans, his son Ty Zimmerman, an All-American defensive back with the Wildcats.

“Coach Ty, running that defense, and all those defensive coaches had our kids dialed in where they needed to be,” Randall Zimmerman said. “They knew the down-and-distance situations, they knew the formation situations, and then they just made plays. Credit goes to those kids. Credit goes to the defensive staff, putting our kids in the best position to make plays.”

Washburn Rural’s typically potent offense put up little in terms of statistics. DeWeese completed 11 of 20 passes for 124 yards and had two throws intercepted.

Running back Ma’kenttis Adams raced for 92 yards in the first half but finished with 91. He lost a yard on three carries in the second half.

“It’s so fun to watch those kids and how they’ve grown,” Randall Zimmerman said. “We’re young. We have a sophomore corner, a freshman safety. A freshman who’s rotating at nose guard. But these kids are resilient, and they work very hard.”

Junction City’s quarterback is a dual threat

Although the Blue Jays struggled to grind out offense in the first half, they continued to pound quarterback Xavion Felton on runs up the middle. The senior carried 11 times for just 25 yards. But the threat of the run set up an 18-yard touchdown pass in the first half to give Junction City a 7-6 halftime lead.

Felton continued to dish out punishment in the second half, running 10 more times for 31 yards. He bowled in from the three-yard line to put Junction City ahead. He then threw a 24-yard strike to Butler-Lawson to put the game away early in the fourth period.

“He’s obviously a great player, and at 215 (pounds) he’s hard to tackle,” Conklin said of Felton. “I think he played really well and he did what he needed to do.”

Felton played a part in all three Junction City touchdowns. He finished with 56 yards on 21 carries. He hit on seven of his 12 passes.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Junction City high school football pulls away from Washburn Rural