photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Lawrence High junior Luke Kress celebrates a tackle for a loss at Gardner Edgerton on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026 in Gardner.

Lawrence fell short 28-26 in a heartbreaking season opener loss to Gardner Edgerton a week ago, but the loss hasn’t kept the Lions down heading into Friday’s game against Junction City.

“We did a lot of good things, and I was proud of how our guys handled adversity,” Lawrence coach Jason Thoren said. “We didn’t get it done, and they aren’t happy about it. There wasn’t anybody hanging their head. This group works.”

The Lions face a team with a solidified identity with coach Randal Zimmerman in his 33rd year leading the team. The Blue Jays have had a lot of wins in that time, including a 14-7 win over Lawrence last year. Friday will be the third time in as many years that the Lions and Blue Jays have faced off, the second in Junction City. Lawrence won on the road 69-56 in 2024 but lost at home in 2025. Junction City is also coming off a season-opening loss as the Blue Jays fell to Hays 28-7.

Offensively, the Blue Jays have multiplicity. There isn’t one personnel grouping that the Blue Jays stick to, instead utilizing a range of tight-end, receiver and running-back groupings at all times. But the team’s strength appears to be at the receiver spot.

“They’ve got a lot of speed at receiver,” Thoren said. “It’s a good receiving corps. They have a 6-foot-7 kid who caught a lot of balls on us last year.”

The Blue Jays have tough runners out of the backfield, but the position did turn the ball over a few times in the loss to Hays. Lawrence has dramatically improved its run defense, and making the Blue Jays a one-dimensional offense by shutting down the run game would be a major advantage in the game.

Thoren said the Lions do a lot of similar things offensively, so the Lawrence defense will be much more familiar with what the Blue Jays want to do after having gone up against the Lawrence offense all summer.

Defensively, the Blue Jays have athleticism and size in the front seven to challenge Lawrence. Thoren has a lot of belief in the team’s offensive line and was proud of the success the line had against the Gardner Edgerton front. Lawrence will need a similar performance on the offensive line on Friday.

“Down the stretch of that game, there were some plays where we were knocking them 10 yards off the ball,” Thoren said. “That’s what I’m looking for.”

The main thing Thoren wants the offense to be able to do is take whatever the defense gives them. The Lions have multiplicity on their own, and being able to run the ball when the defense is in passing sets and pass the ball when the defense is set to stop the run is what makes a balanced offense.

Junior quarterback Joey Dooley had an impressive season-opening performance on Friday, going 23-for-27 passing for 259 yards and three touchdowns. He also added 53 yards on the ground. Six different receivers caught the ball, with the top two pass catchers being junior Truth Pope, who had six catches for 60 yards and a touchdown, and senior Ethan Curry, who had seven catches for 118 yards and a touchdown.

Continuing to get the ball in the playmakers’ hands is key for Lawrence to have a better offensive output than last year’s Junction City game, in which the Lions mustered just one touchdown.

“It’s just about banking reps and banking reps,” Thoren said. “We get better and better at the basics. That’s what we’ve been talking about all week, is just getting better at what we do.”

Lawrence and Junction City will kick off at 7 p.m. at the Junction City High School Blue Jay Stadium on Friday.