Week three of the Shelbyville football season kicks off Friday night when most other football programs across the state are in week six.

In quite possibly the longest month in program history, Shelbyville finally escapes the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic for a follow-up performance to its stunning 22-16 victory over Richmond on Aug. 27. The win was the first for the program since midway through the 2018 season.

“I hated that we lost three football games because you only get so many, especially for our seniors,” said head coach Brian Glesing. “We are excited. Everyone is happy to get back to work and have our full team together.”

Shelbyville was less than 24 hours from a week three Hoosier Heritage Conference contest with Delta when the number of COVID-19 cases within the program and close contact tracing throughout the school forced the cancellation of the game. Back-to-back road games at New Castle and Greenfield-Central were shut down as well meaning the Golden Bears are making their 2021 HHC debut Friday when Yorktown visits McKeand Stadium.

“Even with it raining today we went outside and practiced and everything went well,” said Glesing Wednesday afternoon. “The kids had fun with it. It’s always fun to have a rain practice.

“The mood is good. They are ready to get back at it … ready to play.”

Yorktown (3-2, 1-2 HHC) opened the season with consecutive routs of Anderson (46-6) and Muncie Central (49-12) before losing at New Palestine (42-14). The Tigers rebounded for an overtime win at Delta (28-27) before losing to New Castle, 28-21, last Friday night.

Sophomore quarterback Mason Moulton (6-3, 192 pounds) has been dynamic within the Yorktown offense. He has completed 80-of-141 pass attempts (57%) for 1,007 yards and 10 touchdowns. His two favorite receivers, Kolton Nanko (6-0, 170) and Carter Loveless (6-3, 230), have combined for 51 catches, 636 yards and seven TDs.

Moulton is the team’s second-leading rusher at 109 yards and four TDs. Jalen Thomas (5-10, 155) leads the Tigers with 263 yards on the ground and two touchdowns.

“He is big, he runs and can throw,” said Glesing of Moulton. “They do a lot of things offensively as far as formations go.

“We have to control the ball, get first downs and win the time of possession battle and keep their offense off the field.”

Moulton threw for just over 300 yards and three touchdowns against New Castle.

Class 4A, No. 7 Mt. Vernon is the only HHC program with four wins this season and holds a one-game advantage in the HHC standings with a 3-0 mark. New Palestine is 2-1 with the other six teams at .500 or below.

“It’s interesting how our conference is going,” said Glesing. “(Yorktown) beat Delta then turned around and lost to New Castle. And we haven’t played a conference game yet.”

Yorktown is a 28-point favorite Friday according to Sagarin ratings, but Glesing sees a favorable matchup ahead of a tough three-game stretch to end the regular season.

“Yorktown will be a good opponent and I think we can compete with them,” he said. “And then we get into the meat of it after that with New Palestine, Mount Vernon and Pendleton Heights to finish it off.”

Friday’s game feels more like a season opener than a week six clash. Glesing had to refresh the team on its regular weekly schedule that was non-existent the last two weeks with no Thursday practices, Friday games or Saturday morning meetings.

“We had to reteach them on all these processes,” said Glesing. “Football is a game of routine during the football season. You have a Monday practice, you have a Tuesday practice, you have a Wednesday practice, you have a Thursday practice. They are all usually the same. Then a Friday game and Saturday morning and you get into that routine. We haven’t been able to get into that routine.

“That’s been an issue. I like routine. I think teenagers like routine. When you get out of your routine, people start to act differently.”

Friday night is Homecoming at Shelbyville. Wednesday afternoon’s festivities, including the parade and powderpuff football games, were canceled due to inclement weather. Friday night is the third day of fall and the weather looks terrific.

“It’s all new to me since this is my first Homecoming here. Every school is a little different,” said Glesing, in his first season at Shelbyville. “I think our student body is ready for a football game. I think the weather is going to be good on Friday. I hope for a big game, a party atmosphere like we had a month ago and a good football game.”

As part of Friday’s schedule, youth football players will be recognized at 6:55 p.m., the participants in a youth cheerleading camp last month will perform in between the first and second quarters, and the Homecoming court will be introduced at halftime.