RISON - Rison used three first quarter turnovers by Junction City to build a big lead and then held off a third-quarter charge by the Dragons as the Wildcats came away with a 58-38 victory Friday night at George Walker Field of Champions.
The ‘Cats remained perfect with the non-conference win, moving to 3-0. Junction City, meanwhile, suffered its second defeat to fall to 1-2 overall.
Turnovers played a critical role in the game for both teams. Together there were 11 in the game: Rison losing four and Junction City losing seven. Those were the first turnovers the Wildcats have suffered this season.
While the lost fumbles certainly hurt Rison, they were far more costly for the Dragons as Junction City turned it over three times in the first quarter as the ‘Cats jumped out to a 20-6 lead.
Wildcat Coach Chris Vereen said he and his staff picked up something in game prep that paid off Friday night. “We noticed on the film that whenever (the Dragon center) had somebody over him, he had a tendency to have some bad snaps,” Vereen said.
To take advantage of that, Vereen said they put Tanner Collins over the center’s shoulder to apply some pressure and the move worked. The Dragons put nine snaps on the ground and Collins recovered three of them.
However, it was Rison that suffered the first turnover as the Dragons recovered an onside kick to start the game at the Junction City 49. On the first offensive play of the night, Zamundrae Gray went 51 yards into the endzone to give Junction City an quick 6-0 lead just 11 seconds into the game. The two-point attempt failed.
That turned out to be the only drive where the Dragons were able to maintain possession in the first quarter as the Wildcats recovered fumbles on their next three series.
Rison responded to Gray’s TD with its own scoring drive.
The Dragons, which attempted onside kicks on every kickoff, touched the ball at their own 48 to set up the Wildcats’ first possession. The ‘Cats drove the distance with Aidan Bitel…