Fast.
That’s the best way to describe the Junction City Tigers. It’s also the reason they have rolled to a 4-0 opening season record, including a 27-21 win Friday over the Huskies at Sweet Home.
The Huskies played matched-up football with their always tough foes in the first and fourth quarters, but in the middle of the contest, two long touchdowns by the Tigers put Sweet Home on alert and scrambling to focus on stopping the potent J.C. offense.
Junction City put the first points on the scoreboard, marching to the 24 yard line on its first set of downs. With 10:27 left on the first period clock, the Tigers saw quarterback Stephen Johnson connect with receiver Chris Glore for a 24 yard touchdown. The PAT failed.
Sweet Home had good momentum in return including a nice pass from Brian Seward to Richard Erevia that put the Huskies at the 47. Two minutes later Seward was sacked hard.
Junction City moved to a ground game but defensive pressure from Bobby Cartwright, Richard Erevia and Kylan Walker forced the Tigers to punt with 5:46 left.
Sweet Home steadily moved the football and with just 46 seconds left in the quarter, Seward hit Walker to the 12.
Senior running back Adam Knight got the call to drive the ball home and did just that, running up the middle to a touchdown.
Randy Wunker booted the PAT and Sweet Home took the lead, 7-6.
Sweet Home kicked off to the Tigers and junior Levy McCubbins had excellent coverage on the J.C. receiver, hammering him for a negative return at the 15 yard line.
Junction City opened the second quarter with a long pass that could have put them into scoring position but it was called back on a foul.
Both teams battled on the ground until Junction City’s Chris Surface scrambled 21 yards for paydirt. The PAT run failed.
Junction City took a 12-7 lead into the half-time break.
The Tigers continue their offensive drive early in the third quarter, as Brandon Nystrom, a sophomore state quarter miler, b low 45 yards for a TD. Surface ran the PAT off the left side for a 20-7 lead.
Junction City posted an onside kick to the Huskies and came out fired up with Nystrom breaking loose again for a 70 yard TD. The PAT kick by Martin was good and J.C. took a 27-7 lead.
Although it appeared bleak early in the fourth quarter, the Huskies snapped back with a two yard plunge by Knight, followed by a nice one-two punch by McCubbins setting up fullback Troy Scott, who hammered the ball in from the three yard line with about four minutes left in the game. McCubbins was called on for the PAT run and came through.
Sweet Home was down only by six, 27-21, after capping their 98-yard drive.
Junction City attempted a field goal with less than two minutes left in the game, but it failed.
Sweet Home’s final drive was cut short by a pass interception.
Overall, a fired-up McCubbins led the Husky ground game with 90 yards but Scott was on his heels with 86, his best offensive night of the season thus far.
“When we broke this game down on film, we found that our special teams did an excellent job,” Coach Rob Younger said. “They consistently gave us great field position. Our offensive line also played very well. They executed well and our running backs ran very hard. We need to work on breaking the big plays. We need to find the next gear, turn those 5-10 yard runs into 40-50 yard plays.”
The offensive line includes Starha, Miner, Vassar, Brewer, Rodgers, Erevia and Walker.
Defensively, Coach Younger said Brewer, Cartwright and Miner had strong games.
“Defensively, we played well most of the game, but when you let fast guys like J.C. has get around you, they make the big plays,” Coach Younger said.
Players of the week are: Offense-Troy Scott; Defense: Daniel Brewer; Specialty Teams-Levi McCubbins; Practice-Tyler Emmert.
The Huskies drop to 0-1 in league and 1-3 overall.
This week’s game: Sweet Home travels to North Marion on Friday.
North Marion is 2-0 in Capital Conference play, having beaten Cascade and Central.
“Their offensive set is a carbon copy of Junction City’s,” Coach Younger said. “They have a single back and wide outs.”
The key to the game will be control on the line, Coach Younger predicted.