The best defense is a good offense is an old adage used by coaches to describe how important it is to maintain possession of the ball and keep it away from an opponent’s high-powered offense.
Unfortunately, Shelbyville’s offense never got on track Friday and the Golden Bears were shutout at Yorktown, 42-0.
Shelbyville’s ground game accounted for only 67 yards rushing on 29 attempts and added 53 yards in the passing game. The Golden Bears crossed into Yorktown territory once and saw two turnovers turn into Tiger touchdowns.
Luke Jackson led the Golden Bears rushing attack with 27 yards on six carries. Quarterback Eli Chappelow rushed for 15 yards on four carries and Axel Conover mustered only 10 yards on eight attempts.
Chappelow was 6-of-12 passing the ball for 53 yards. Cael Lux caught three balls for 31 yards.
Yorktown’s leading rusher, junior Jalen Thomas, was the catalyst for the Tigers' offense Friday. He rushed for the game’s first two scores in the first quarter, including a 30-yard touchdown run that capped a drive to begin the game. On that drive, Thomas accounted for 55 of the 70 yards.
Thomas also scored the second touchdown of the night on a four-yard run to give Yorktown a 14-0 lead. He finished with 141 yards on 13 carries -- 123 of those rushing yards were in the first half.
Yorktown led 28-0 at halftime.
Junior quarterback Mason Moulton started his fourth game for the Tigers after missing the opening two weeks with an injury. Moulton found his favorite target, senior Kolton Nanko, for touchdown receptions of 32 and 25 yards. He also threw a 25-yard touchdown to receiver Blair Webster.
Moulton was 11-of-15 passing for 145 yards and three touchdowns. He completed eight of his last nine pass attempts.
In all, Nanko had four catches for 46 yards as a wide receiver. The do-it-all Tiger also narrowly missed on two interceptions (he has two on the season) and forced Shelbyville to start each possession after a Yorktown score at the 20-yard line by kicking off into the endzone. The only time Nanko failed in that category was a short kick to open the second half that the Golden Bears brought out to the 27.
It was a fifth consecutive win in the series for Yorktown (5-1, 3-1 HHC).
Shelbyville (1-5, 1-3 HHC) will host Class 4A, No. 1 New Palestine (6-0, 4-0 HHC) Friday at McKeand Stadium. The Dragons defeated visiting Greenfield-Central Friday in an HHC matchup, 42-7.
