A strong and sturdy house must have a great foundation.
Brian Glesing believes he poured one in 2021 despite a one-win season interrupted for three weeks by a pandemic.
“We are building for what it needs to be to be a championship team,” said Shelbyville’s second-year football coach. “Five years down the road, what’s this program going to look like?
“I see a mansion. That’s my vision. It’s something that can happen but it takes a lot of work and we are not stopping, we’re not going to get pushed around and we’re not going to get bullied. We are going to do what we do and get a little better each time. Our parents are bought in. Our community is bought in.”
With a playbook and terminology now firmly in place, Glesing demanded more in the weight room. And he instilled the way to act into his senior class to lead the way for a program that added 15 freshmen this season.
“The thing I like about what is going on is the kids are playing with more confidence,” said Glesing. “Last year, everybody was a rookie. Now we have veterans and that helps a program. When you start from scratch with what we did, it’s exhausting – and I’m old. It wears you down.
“I’ve got great assistant coaches that have been through this a year now. They know what to expect. Everything is going a lot smoother now. Its high school, you are still coaching teenagers but there are no surprises. The kids know the expectations. And now that things are going smoother, we can work on more details and more football-related stuff.”
That starts with a somewhat expanded offensive playbook entrusted to junior quarterback Eli Chappelow, who split time with senior Colton Adkins last season.
“Chappy understands the system and what we are trying to do,” said Glesing.
Chappelow, six foot, 178 pounds, completed 58% of his pass attempts at the varsity level and led the junior varsity team to several wins in 2021.
“We definitely have a lot more plays in (this year) than last year,” said Chappelow (photo). “About this time (last year), we would just be running. Now we’re starting to put in a lot of plays.”
Chappelow looked confident in the preseason scrimmage Friday at Madison rolling out of the pocket and finding open receivers. New this year will be more offensive sets with Chappelow under center rather than in shotgun formation.
Seniors Cael Lux (5-6, 134) and Jordan Marcum (5-10, 141) and junior Axel Conover (5-9, 164) combined to rush for nearly 700 yards and five touchdowns last season. All three will be entrusted with continuing to move the chains down the field and keeping the opponents’ offense off the field.
“We are looking at improving. We are more confident and have more size and strength. That has us excited,” said Marcum (photo).
Senior Jackson Parker (6-2, 161) caught 16 passes for 196 yards last season and leads an athletic group that includes juniors Alex Macharia (5-8, 133) and Grant Schene (6-0, 148) and senior tight end Riley Fortune (6-0, 186).
“Those guys all can catch and run with the ball,” said Glesing.
Four juniors and a sophomore are challenged with providing Chappelow time to throw the ball.
Connor Duncan (5-11, 241) is the center with Jacob Harker (6-0, 248) and Brayden Schultz (5-8, 183) on each side of him as guards. Jacob Dupont (5-9, 183) and Elias Jones (5-9, 247) start at tackle. Schultz is the only sophomore in the group.
“I like the experience (of the group),” said Glesing. “These guys all played last year whether it was JV or varsity, they all played and got experience.”
Several of the offensive linemen will play on the defensive line as well along side junior Jaylen Sturgill (6-0, 265).
“We like those big pluggers inside,” said Glesing.
The defense will feature more speed on the ends with Conover and Marcum playing a hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker role.
“They can play on the line or off the line. It’s a little bit different look,” said Glesing, who tabbed junior Luke Jackson (5-11, 182) as having a good preseason run that will result in playing time in the offensive backfield and at linebacker.
Lux moves from a defensive back to linebacker this season to work with Fortune.
“Obviously, Cael is undersized but it’s what is best for the team,” said Glesing. “It’s unselfish of him because he wants to be a defensive back and he is a defensive back … just playing linebacker.”
Lux had 35 total tackles in 2021.
“We are not the biggest team, that’s for sure,” admitted Lux (photo). “We have to play smarter. We have to play harder. You can’t have any fears; you just have to go hit.”
Macharia and Parker are the starting cornerbacks with Chappelow and Schene at safety. Chance Kisby (5-10, 166) will be in the defensive rotation as well.
“The battle is our relief. The four we’ve got are solid. We’re battling for those relief spots – the first guy in,” said Glesing.
Aiden Helfer-Vazquez (5-7, 114) returns to handle the kicking duties. The sophomore was 8-for-8 on extra-point attempts last season.
Parker will handle the punting duties again this season.
Greensburg
Two familiar names return for Greensburg – quarterback Sam West and running back Kaden Acton. The duo combined for 173 yards rushing and two touchdowns against the Golden Bears in last season’s 42-21 victory.
West also threw for 124 yards and two touchdowns. The 6-5 senior, who also plays defensive line for Greensburg, is committed to play college football at Indiana University.
“They have two horses in the quarterback West and the sophomore running back,” said Glesing. “That’s two big dudes there that are real football players. We have to be able to contain them and not let them go wild on us.”
Glesing lamented the way the 2021 game started – Acton taking the kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown – and the way the first half ended – West hitting Ethan Meadows with a 10-yard scoring pass with 15 seconds left on the clock – with hampering the Golden Bears’ ability to get control of the game.
“Big plays. We can’t give up big plays,” he said. “You look back at the Greensburg game last year and the opening kickoff, and they had a big run and then they scored right at the half. If we can just keep them from making big plays, by the fourth quarter I want it to be a football game … give us a chance to win.”
New to the 2022 schedule is old rival Rushville returning to Shelbyville’s regular season schedule. The Lions and Golden Bears have been steady preseason scrimmage partners for many years but an opening came up on Rushville’s week two schedule and Glesing was thrilled to bring a rivalry game back to fruition.
The Hoosier Heritage Conference schedule follows for Shelbyville, starting with a road trip to Class 3A, No. 13 Delta on Sept. 2.
Back-to-back home games follow with New Castle and Class 4A, No. 13 Greenfield-Central. The Golden Bears did not face all three HHC opponents in 2021 due to COVID-19 contact tracing protocols that limited the program’s active number of healthy players.
Shelbyville travels to Yorktown on Sept. 23 before hosting Class 4A, No. 2 New Palestine one week later.
The final road trip is to Class 4A, No. 1 Mt. Vernon on Oct. 7.
The final regular season home game at McKeand Stadium is Oct. 14 against Pendleton Heights.
Glesing, who spent many years as a head coach in southern Indiana football programs, may need to pull some contacts to scout Shelbyville’s potential Sectional 23 opponents.
While the Golden Bears are familiar with Class 4A, No. 7 East Central and neighboring Greenwood, there are potential postseason matchups with Bedford North Lawrence, Edgewood, Jennings County, Martinsville and Silver Creek.
QUICK FACTS
Greensburg at Shelbyville
Game Time: 7 p.m. at J.M. McKeand Stadium in Shelbyville, Ind.
Broadcast time: 6 p.m. pregame show from McKeand Stadium on GIANT fm (96.5 fm) or on the GIANT fm app with Johnny McCrory and Mark Drake.
SHS student section theme: Blackout.
Tailgate: Starts at 5:30 p.m. in front of the baseball facility. Free hot dog, chips and drinks for all SHS students. Also, all SHS students that attend the tailgate, dress the theme and stand in the student section will receive a raffle ticket to win a $25 Amazon gift card.
Head coaches: Scott Moore, 72-74 in 15th year at Greensburg; Brian Glesing, 1-6 in 2nd year at Shelbyville, 119-100 in 20th year overall.
2021 record: Greensburg 4-5; Shelbyville 1-6.
2021 final Sagarin Ratings: Greensburg, 48.78, 137th overall, 27th in 3A; Shelbyville, 25.09, 240th overall, 51st in 4A.
Last year: Greensburg won 42-21.
Last 10 years: Series is tied 5-5 with Greensburg winning the last four meetings.
Around the HHC Friday: Class 3A, No. 13 Delta (5-6 in 2021) at Muncie Central (1-9); 4A, No. 13 Greenfield-Central (7-4) at Plainfield (4-6); 4A, No. 1 Mt. Vernon (14-1) at Noblesville (2-8); New Castle (2-8) at Franklin County (6-4); Pendleton Heights (5-5) at Lebanon (7-4); 6A, No. 6 Westfield (12-2) at 4A, No. 2 New Palestine (8-4); and Yorktown (5-5) at Anderson (2-5).
