Junction Hoping Transition from Spread Pays off in 2018

JUNCTION, TX-- The motto for the Junction Eagles in 2018 is “E.A.T.” That means effort, attitude and toughness to the Eagles.

Second year head coach Rob McAdams says to do that, his players “need to be hungry.”

That’s the feeling you get when you go to a practice at Junction High School; the players are hungry. It’s been almost three years since they’ve made it past the first round of playoffs and they last made a truly deep run in 2009. That team, coached by Corey Spivey, went 8-5 and 10-4 the year prior.

“In the offseason, we really got after it,” McAdams said. “We knew we had to get tougher. We want to be hungry. So, we’ve been preaching hungry, hungry, hungry. Bring out the effort and get after it...So far, effort has been good in practice.”

The Eagles experienced some growing pains in McAdams first year, going 3-8 but still making the playoffs.

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The Eagles had been primarily a spread team up until McAdams took the reins. Since then, Junction has begun the transition to McAdams’ “home” offensive scheme, midline, which means a lot more running the ball.

To get the rushing attack going, play on the offensive line will determine whether or not Junction will be successful in each game.

“It’s going to be big,” McAdams said of his offensive line’s importance. “We’ve been a spread team for the last four years...So, those guys have to make [the offense] work. We’re depending on them to move the line around and open holes for us to run through.”

Regardless of the scheme, a quarterback’s ability to direct the offense will also factor into a team’s success.

McAdams says his QB1, senior Julian Sauceda, has managed the transition “well.”

“It is a slow process. It won’t happen overnight,” McAdams added. “[Julian] is a talented young man. He’s a smart, young guy. As long as the attitude and effort is there, good things are going to happen...It’s just going to take a little bit of time.”

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The antiquity of running midline, which means running the ball up the middle, could prove to be one of the biggest upsides for Junction.

“It’s exciting to see what it’ll hopefully do,” McAdams said of the scheme. “A lot of teams don’t see this necessarily anymore. Could it be an advantage later on down the road? I sure hope so. But we have to execute it. There’s still a long ways to go before we count it as a blessing.”

Also returning 6-foot-8 receiver Kyle Lumpkins, who will likely still see plenty of footballs thrown his way. Lumpkins comes from a great athletic lineage, as his dad and sister both excelled as track athletes at Angelo State University.

The Eagles begin their season with a tough five-game non-district slate that features teams like Menard, Ozona, Goldthwaite and Ingram Moore. That will likely help the Eagles prepare for District 14-2A Division I, where Mason is rightfully favored to win.