The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

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Some people take longer to brush their teeth than Junction City took to score during its first-half drives against Emporia High on Friday night.

Rinse, gargle, spit: the Blue Jays wasted no time — really, none — showing the Spartans why they’re one of the biggest, fastest and best teams in the state, and any thoughts of a comeback like the one Emporia forged last year at Junction to win the district title were all but gone by the end of the first quarter.

Junction scored touchdowns on four of its first five drives — all four of them lasting less than three minutes — and cruised in the second half to a 48-21 victory.

For the Spartans (1-2), the fact that they had been run by, knocked around and dismantled by the second-ranked team in Class 6A was of zero consolation afterward. They didn’t make the mistakes they made last week at Hayden, but they’re not where they want to be after three games, and they’re not playing like they want to.

“We gotta come together as a team, and we’ve gotta put away selfish ambitions, and everybody’s gotta find a way to pull together,” Emporia coach Bill Lowe said. “They’re a better football team than we are, but we have to play better than that.”

It took seven plays and 1:45 for Junction (3-0) to go 76 yards on the game’s opening drive. Quarterback Ty Zimmerman, who completed his first eight passes, found Anthony Caine twice for 27 yards on the drive, and B.J. Tremble’s 7-yard touchdown run finished it off.

The Blue Jays’ next drive was just a bit slower — 6 plays and 68 yards in 2:41. On 2nd-and-2 from the Emporia 44, a Zimmerman pump fake froze the defense before he found Brandon Martino downfield for a 29-yard pass. Three plays later, Zimmerman scored on a keeper from six yards out. Drive number three took just four plays, with a 22-yard TD pass from Zimmerman to Connor Gallentine capping it off.

Score No. 4 came on the shortest drive of all — one play, 11 seconds. Zimmerman — displaying speed highly uncommon for a 6-foot-3, 200-pounder — went right on the option, faked a pitch and bolted down the sideline, falling headfirst into the end zone for a 28-0 lead.

“We just weren’t being fundamentally sound,” Spartan safety and fullback Mark Kolmer said. “I know I missed a few tackles, and our defense, we just gotta learn to hit, and concentrate on that this week.”

A bright spot for EHS finally emerged on the ensuing kickoff following the fourth TD. Taylor Euler took the kick at the 12, found a hole on the right side, burst to about the EHS 40 and cut back to the middle. After cutting again down the left sideline, Euler was dragged down at the Junction 7-yard line after an 81-yard return. A 6-yard run by Corey Bacon set the Spartans up at the 1, and Euler ran a QB keeper for Emporia’s first score. Brian Dorsey’s extra point made it 28-7.

Then came another glimmer of hope on the second play of Junction’s ensuing drive, when Blue Jay running back Cody Parmely fumbled. Linebacker Brock Sheldon pounced on the loose ball at the Blue Jay 31, and EHS was in business again. But a false start pushed Emporia back, and on a 4th-and-13 play from the 34-yard line, Euler connected on a pass to Jacob Loucks, who was stopped six yards shy of the sticks.

Another rapid Blue Jay touchdown drive, ending with a one-yard keeper by Zimmerman, made it 35-7 before half.

Emporia opened the second half with a little-by-little, seven-minute drive that ended with a one-yard TD plunge by Kolmer on 4th-and-goal. The Spartans added another touchdown with 2:55 left in the game as Sheldon pushed his way up the middle from the fullback position for a three-yard score.

Just about every yard the Spartans earned offensively was a tough one. Emporia finished with 183 yards on the ground, led by Bacon’s 67 yards on 14 carries. Euler finished with just 30 yards on 16 carries, and Kolmer had 45 yards on 13 tries.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays rolled up 352 yards on the ground and 512 yards of total offense. Zimmerman completed 12 of his 16 passes for 160 yards and also ran for 95 yards on nine carries. Jimmie King led Junction City with 105 yards rushing and had a nine-yard TD run in the second half.

Emporia certainly fared better than Junction City’s first two opponents, Highland Park and Topeka West, which got dismissed by 59-6 and 55-0 scores. But they were clearly overmatched.

“They were just a big, strong, fast team,” Spartan defensive lineman Cord Stanley said. “We didn’t seem like we put out our best effort every play, 100 percent. The defensive line, we’d get knocked off the ball. ... That’s just what it comes down to, just getting knocked around.”

Friday at Welch Stadium

Junc. City (3-0) 21 14 6 7 — 48

Emporia (1-2) 0 7 7 7 — 21

First quarter

JC — Tremble run (Birchmeier kick)

JC — Zimmerman run (Birchmeier kick)

JC — Gallentine 22 pass from Zimmerman (Birchmeier kick)

Second quarter

JC — Zimmerman 49 run (Birchmeier kick)

EMP — Euler 1 run (Dorsey kick)

JC —Zimmerman 1 run (Birchmeier kick)

Third quarter

EMP — Kolmer 1 run (Dorsey kick)

Fourth quarter

JC — King 9 run (kick failed)

JC — Kozlowski 10 run (Birchmeier kick)

EMP — Sheldon 3 run (Dorsey kick)

GAME STATISTICS

JC EMP

First downs 18 14

Rushing yards 352 183

Comp.-Att.-Int. 12-16-0 4-10-0

Pass yards 160 42

Total yards 512 225

Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-1

Penalties-yards 9-50 3-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — JC: King 12-105, Zimmerman 9-95, Kozlowski 9-75, Parmely 7-58, Tremble 4-19; EMP: Bacon 14-67, Kolmer 13-45, Euler 16-30, Sheldon 4-22, Keisler 4-19.

Passing — JC: Zimmerman 12-16, 1 TD; EMP: Euler 4-10.

Receiving — JC: Caine 6-63, Martino 2-36, Kozlowski 2-20, C. Gallentine 1-22, King 1-19; EMP: Gentz 2-13, Keisler 1-22, Loucks 1-7.