Shelbyville football has shown marked improvement over its abbreviated three-week season. New head coach Brian Glesing has righted a sinking ship and created new momentum for a program that entered the 2021 season with a 25-game losing streak.
What lies ahead over the final three weeks of this regular season is a staunch character test with New Palestine, Mt. Vernon and Pendleton Heights on the schedule.
The Golden Bears (1-2, 0-1 Hoosier Heritage Conference) travel to unranked New Palestine (3-3, 3-1 HHC) Friday to face a program it has not beaten since 2012.
“We will see what kind of character we have,” said Glesing. “We have two tough opponents ahead. We just have to keep getting better each day.”
Not only is Shelbyville 0-8 against New Palestine head coach Kyle Ralph, it has been outscored 479-51. Ralph, in his ninth year with the Dragons, is seeking career win No. 100 Friday night.
Sophomore Grayson Thomas (5-11, 170 pounds) keys the offense with 785 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns this season.
Senior quarterback Damon Hockett (6-2, 165) has completed 43-of-82 pass attempts for 748 yards and two touchdowns but has thrown seven interceptions.
The leading receivers are juniors Isaiah Thacker (15 receptions, 377 yards) and Blaine Nunnally (14 receptions, 227 yards).
“We’ve got our hands full with their offense,” admitted Glesing. “We have to do a better job of tackling (than we did against Yorktown). That is one thing we didn’t do well and it’s been a focus this week.”
Defensively, New Palestine has four players with 40-42 total tackles.
Freshman Michael Thacker leads the Dragons with eight tackles for losses and five quarterback sacks.
“They are aggressive,” said Glesing. “They have a strong attack up front and are very sound defensively.”
New Palestine’s three losses came to Class 5A, No. 4 Decatur Central (31-29), 3A No. 2 Brebeuf (38-14) and 4A No. 6 Mt. Vernon (49-10).
For the first time this season, Shelbyville’s offense sputtered in a 35-0 loss to Yorktown.
“Penalties and too many loss-yardage plays,” said Glesing. “We only had nine first downs (each game’s goal is to have 14) and when we got to the red zone we got stopped and missed a field goal.”
Friday’s game was Shelbyville’s first in four weeks after canceling three straight games due to a lack of players available due to COVID-19 protocols.
“We didn’t get out of the gate very well,” said Glesing. “We looked like we hadn’t practiced in three weeks and everybody was waiting for somebody else to make a play.”
Shelbyville’s two quarterback system of sophomore Eli Chappelow (6-0. 155) and senior Colton Adkins (6-0, 160) are a combined 16-for-37 passing this season for 190 yards and one touchdown.
Cael Lux (5-5, 125), a junior, leads the rushing attack with 260 yards and three touchdowns.
On defense, senior Roman Scott (5-11, 215) leads the team with 23 total tackles. Senior Bryce Shelton (6-2, 230) has 20 tackles.
Jackson Parker (6-2, 165), a junior, has three interceptions.
With its win over New Palestine, Mt. Vernon (5-1, 4-0 HHC) – Shelbyville’s opponent next week – is in control of the conference standings. The Marauders are at New Castle (2-4, 1-2 HHC) Friday.
Yorktown (4-2, 2-2 HHC) sits in third place in the standings and hosts Greenfield-Central (3-3, 1-2 HHC) this week.
Delta (4-2, 1-2 HHC) is at Pendleton Heights (3-3, 1-3 HHC).
