Photo by Adam Vogler
Quarterback Taylor Euler finishes off Emporia High's only touchdown in the Spartans' 26-7 loss at Hayden last Friday. Euler is the Spartans' leading rusher this season with 130 yards on 23 carries.
Call this one the take-home test. Only most take-home tests are easier than this.
The Emporia High football team has already had its hands full with one perennial Kansas football powerhouse, losing last week at Hayden 26-7. This Friday will bring the Spartans another one — the Junction City Blue Jays.
“Junction City’s the real deal — they may be the best team in the state other than Hutchinson,” Spartan coach Bill Lowe said. “They’ve got a lot of kids back from last year, very talented, big, a lot of speed. They’re very good. They don’t really have any weaknesses.”
The fact that the Spartans get to host this game at Welch Stadium might be the only indicator that things would go easier than they did in Topeka last week. Junction City, which reached the sectional round of the 6A State playoffs last year, has looked the part of a potential state champion in its first two games. The Blue Jays bullied two of the Centennial League’s weakest teams in Weeks One and Two, crushing Highland Park 59-6 and pounding Topeka West 55-0.
Then there’s the little matter of a revenge factor. Emporia scored a monumental upset last October when it went to Junction and knocked off the third-ranked Blue Jays 34-33 to win the Class 6A District 5 title and advance to the State playoffs.
Many of the key players from both teams’ 2007 editions are back — but the Spartans no longer have Edd Noonan around to shoulder the rushing load. Noonan carried the ball 43 times for 206 yards and scored two TDs in last year’s game, including the 16-yard game-winner.
Scouting Emporia
This year’s Spartans don’t have one single runner that can deliver the combination of quantity and quality that Noonan delivered in last year’s game. It’ll take a group effort.
“It’s obviously not gonna be one guy with 200 yards this year, like it was with Edd last year,” quarterback Taylor Euler said. “It’s gonna be a bunch of backs, maybe three, maybe four guys. All of our yards will add up to that, 200 or more yards. So I think keeping the ball in our hands and milking the clock down won’t be a problem. I think we’ve done a really good job so far this year of doing that.”
Euler has been the Spartans’ most productive and consistent runner over the first two games, rushing for 130 yards on 23 carries and scoring three touchdowns. His backfield mates had a much easier time getting free against Topeka High in Week One than they did against Hayden.
Slotback Corey Bacon ran for 64 yards on eight carries against T-High, but just 29 yards on nine carries last week. Fullback Mark Kolmer struggled running the ball against Hayden in his first game back from a sprained ankle, rushing eight times for 16 yards. Sheldon Patton, who started in Kolmer’s place in both games, ran for 81 yards in week one but only 17 last week, and a fumbled option exchange between he and Euler ended a potential scoring drive in the first quarter.
With ball control a priority — as it is in most every EHS game — Lowe says the unit that will be most key for the Spartans this week, on either side of the ball, will be the offensive line. Center Danny Goodman, guards Lorenzo Serna and T.J. Heins and tackles Cody Yevak and Jordan Barr must open holes and knock the Blue Jays’ D-linemen off the line of scrimmage in order for the Spartans to control the clock and keep the game close. Emporia isn’t comfortable throwing the ball to play catch-up, as it showed last week during a 19-play, 10-and-a-half-minute drive in the second half against Hayden. Despite trailing 26-7, the Spartans passed just twice on the drive before it stalled at the Hayden 6-yard line.
Defensively, the Spartans will likely be called on, for the first time this year, to get consistent pressure on a QB dropping back to throw. Junction City is the first Emporia opponent to use its passing game as more than just something for show. In fact, the Blue Jays had exactly 28 runs and 28 passes against Highland Park.
By contrast, Topeka High and Hayden passed just 29 times combined in EHS’ first two games. Defensive lineman Cord Stanley has Emporia’s only sack so far this season, notching it in the fourth quarter against Topeka High.
As for the overconfidence that Euler thought was prevalent before the loss to Hayden? He believes that issue’s been addressed.
“We definitely had a reality check,” he said. “We did a lot of soul-searching over the weekend, and we’re different — we’re a humble team now. We know what we can do, but we obviously haven’t proved that to anybody. So we’re just gonna go out there and give it our best effort.”
Scouting Junction City
Ty Zimmerman was selected as last year’s second team All-Centennial League quarterback behind Hayden’s T.J. McGreevy. This year, he might have a shot at climbing past McGreevy onto the first team.
Zimmerman, the son of Blue Jays coach Randall Zimmerman, threw for 212 yards and five TDs in the win over Highland Park, then completed 12 of 16 for 136 against Topeka West in just over one half of work. He has good size at 6-foot-2 and will throw the ball primarily to three receivers who have shown big-play ability. Senior Anthony Caine was a first-team all-league selection last year and caught four balls for 72 yards and a score against Highland Park. Brandon Martino and Conor Gallentine have three TD catches already this year.
The speed of Junction’s backfield is another concern of Lowe’s. Cody Parmely is the Blue Jays’ top running threat and will be running behind a line anchored by returning all-league tackle Justin Aumen.
The Blue Jays replaced several honored players on defense this year — including All-State defensive back Reggie America — but thus far, the six points put up by their two opponents combined suggests they haven’t lost much. Andre Briggs, a senior linebacker and second team all-league selection last year, will be one to watch, as will defensive back and punt returner Chris Toombs. Toombs took a Topeka West fumble 100 yards for a TD last week, then took West’s next punt back 77 yards for another score.
Also on special teams, Zimmerman was an all-league first team selection as a punter last season.
Unmistakable
Every week, without fail, Lowe emphasizes minimizing mistakes and taking care of the ball. But this week, the message should carry as strongly as ever for EHS.
The fumble on the opening drive against Hayden hurt — Emporia had marched to the Wildcat 24. So did the roughing-the-punter penalty that erased what would have been a Spartan possession with a 7-6 lead. Hayden got to keep going, got more help in the form of a pass interference call in the end zone, and scored to go up for good.
Other penalties, another lost fumble, a shanked punt and an out-of-bounds kickoff — the mistakes didn’t necessarily affect the outcome of the game, but several of them helped erase any chance the Spartans had of scoring the upset over Hayden. And they’re errors that can’t be repeated if EHS is going to make it two in a row over Junction.
Maybe the comfort of Welch Stadium will help the Spartans take better care of the ball and draw fewer flying yellow flags at crucial moments. But even if the Spartans play mistake-free, they know they still can’t fall behind. Spectacular comebacks against teams like Junction City — like last year’s district game, in which the Spartans trailed 33-15 midway through the third quarter — are rare.
“We’re gonna have to establish something early,” Lowe said.
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