The Junction City Bluejays will venture away from home to square off against the Derby Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Junction City is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They claimed a resounding 47-14 win over Topeka. The Bluejays pushed the score to 41-14 by the end of the third, a deficit the Trojans had little chance of recovering from.
Meanwhile, Derby put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They breezed by Haysville Campus to the tune of 62-7. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas football rankings (they are ranked second, while the Colts are ranked 146th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Derby found their leader in sophomore Arieus Finley, who rushed for 80 yards and three touchdowns on only five carries. Finley has been hot recently, having posted two or more rushing touchdowns the last four times he's played. Da?Saahn Brame also deserves a mention for his punt return touchdown.
The victory was the fourth in a row for Junction City, bringing their record for this year to 5-4. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 38.0 points per game. As for Derby, their win was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-0.
Junction City took a serious blow against Derby in their previous matchup back in November of 2020, falling 62-27. Can Junction City avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
