Page 15 - 2016 Football

Offense could be prolific, less predictable this season
By Kev Moyé
News-Times Staff
JUNCTION CITY – The Junction City Dragons should be able to strike from multiple areas of the field.
Coach David Carpenter’s offense is bolstered by a fusion of veterans and talented young players. The majority of those individuals – especially at the skill positions – are occupying various roles for an offense which expects to be prolific.
Throughout fall camp the Dragon offense has bene- fited from the wisdom provided by a group of seniors. “Our seniors have done a good job of leading the
offense,” Carpenter said. “Joe Lowe, Keelen Ford, Tez Brown, Zack Hodges, those guys are working hard to help the younger players transition to handling their responsibilities.”
Having those upperclassmen lead the way has made Carpenter’s task of preparing the offense much easier. “During our offensive team period we have three groups. And the older guys are trying to help the younger guys,” the coach said. “When the older play- ers are not in, the younger guys know to ask them
questions when they need to know something.” Ultimately, Carpenter believes the Dragons should
accumulate points in a myriad of ways.
“I hope we’re able to get quick strikes. That always makes things a lot better,” he said. “But I also see us being able to sustain good drives and move the foot- ball around. Also, the linemen are understanding what they’re supposed to do. That helps everybody.”
Expect the Junction City offense to look somewhat different this season.
“We’ll be able to add a lot more to the offense this year compared to last year,” Carpenter said. “That’s going to help us sustain drives and get quick strikes.”
The team being a year older should help them adapt to a larger offensive scheme.
El Dorado NEWS-TIMES – Thursday, September 1, 2016 – 15
Smith: We’re going to be like we always are
By Kev Moyé
News-Times Staff
JUNCTION CITY – The formula has been effective for years.
And there’s no reason for it to change now.
Junction City typically creates havoc with a fast, aggressive, fundamentally sound defense.
Junction City Defensive Coordinator Brad Smith is confident his defense will maintain its excellence in 2016.
“That expectancy is the main part of this program coach (David) Carpenter has built,” he said. “The next guy up. That’s just kind of like the conveyor belt for the program.”
With this version of the Dragon defense, several young players are being asked to fulfill an important role.
“We expect contributions from the young kids,” Smith stated. “We expect Kevontae Hayes, Charles Hoof, Jerrodney Tubbs, Cody Adkins to help us.”
Smith has plenty of confidence in his young linemen as well.
“Jerrodney Tubbs, Charles Hoof, pos- sibly Sema-J Levingston. We’re looking at him at linebacker and tackle. He has the size,” the coach said. “We also have James Walthall and Blake Wilson. These are all kids we believe can give us something. The amount of snaps they’ll receive will increase as their experience increases.”
When the situation gets tough, the Dragons have a group of experienced linemen who’ll assume a leadership role.
“We have two players returning up front who have played a lot of football in Trey Miner and Brock McGoogan,” Smith said. “Also, Zackary Hodges could’ve played a lot (of defense) last season but we just decided to put him on one side of the ball.”
The linebackers and defensive back- field are manned by battle-tested, tal- ented players.
“We have Terrell Gibson back, who had a superb sophomore season. Keelen Ford has done well. They both can play at end. In the secondary everybody is
back. Jalen Davis is returning from a knee injury,” Smith said. “We’re moving Hishmma Taylor from safety to line- backer. He started at safety last year even though he’s more of a lineback- er-type of player. But he did a good job at safety last season.
“Cordé Meadows and Tez Brown are back. The only player to start in the 2014 state championship game (who’s currently here) for us is Tez Brown. So these players have competed in a lot of games.”
A staple of Junction City’s defense is the players knowing the responsibilities of multiple positions. Smith does a lot of cross-training with his personnel. The players being able to compete at multiple spots on the field is a luxury that gives the Dragons versatility.
“That helps us immensely. It’s truly the next guy up. We want the best tack- lers on the field. We’ve done that before and we’ll do it again. Basically, the best 11 players play defense,” Smith said. “If we have to play four or five lineback- er-type of players, we’ll do it. If the next
best guy available is a defensive back, we’ll get him on the field. When you’re playing defense, you play with your best options.”
The Dragons are not asked to do anything overly complex defensively. By design – whatever scheme Junction City employs – is easy to grasp.
“My theory about simplicity is this: If you really want to tear something up, you take a simple hammer to it and you can tear just about anything in the world up,” Smith said. “That’s what we believe our defense should be. We want to keep it really simple, have the players play hard and let everything fall into place.”
Junction City’s defense could be dom- inant this season. But as of this point, it remains a work in progress.
“It can be a very good defense. Right now I just don’t know,” Smith admitted. “We still have some question marks. But the ones that I do know will be out there are going to play hard.”
See OFFENSE, Page 22
Smith loves for his players to be com-
See DEFENSE, Page 22
Special Teams
Continued from Page 14
guys working on extra point,” the coach said. “It’s different responsibilities in what they’re
trying to do. It’s kind of a wait and see what’s going to hap- pen.”
The Dragons being in game
situations will be vital to devel- oping a dependable kicker.
“It is easy to get out there and kick when there’s no pressure
on you,” Carpenter said. “Even I can get out there and do that if nobody is coming at me.
“On kickoff, the hard part is
getting it into the exact zone we call for the ball to be kicked in. A half step off and you can totally throw off your kick.”
Timmins
LOVES The Wildcats
& Razorbacks!
Your Razorback &
Wildcat Headquarters
3611
102 Elm St. • Downtown El Dorado • 870-863-8111
• New Collegiate Bentley Drinkware • License Plates • Tailgating Supplies
• Canvas Decor • Chairs • Flags
• Outdoor Decor • Umbrellas
• Jewelry • Cups • Signs • Much More!
101 East 5th• El Dorado, AR • 870-863-7104 3691
Hardware