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Shelbyville still trending in right direction as Class 4A, No. 1 New Palestine comes to McKeand Stadium

One of the most dominant high school football programs in the state of Indiana arrives at J.M. McKeand Stadium Friday.

Class 4A, No. 1 New Palestine (6-0, 4-0 Hoosier Heritage Conference) is Shelbyville’s week seven opponent.

The Golden Bears (1-5, 1-3 HHC) have lost two straight HHC contests and are allowing 39 points per game.

“They are huge, big and strong. They have everything rolling right now,” said Shelbyville head coach Brian Glesing. “Their only challenge has been Westfield in week one. I think they are the real deal. They look like a state-championship team. They have all the parts.”

New Palestine’s offensive line features features the No. 1 ranked offensive tackle in the Class of 2024 and a University of Louisville recruit.

Ian Moore (6-6, 290 pounds) is ranked as the No. 33 overall player in the Class of 2024, along with being the top tackle in the country, by Rivals.com.

Senior Luke Burgess (6-7, 291) is committed to Louisville and bookends the offensive line with Moore as tackles.

The interior line features senior center Trey Keele (6-1, 273), who has college offers from DePauw and Taylor, and senior guards Thomas Wood (6-2, 284) and Ben Purciful (5-11, 258).

That kind of protection has allowed quarterback Daniel Tippit IV to throw for 1,257 yards and 14 touchdowns this season. The senior tied the program record for touchdown passes in game (5) last week in a 42-7 victory over Class 4A, No. 10 Greenfield-Central.

For the third week in a row, Shelbyville is playing a top 15-ranked program – and all are from the HHC. That streak will continue into week eight when the Golden Bears travel to 4A No. 13 Mt. Vernon (3-3, 3-1 HHC).

Now 13 games into his Shelbyville coaching career, Glesing sees all the benchmarks the program has put in place. The Golden Bears ended a long losing streak in 2021 and followed that up with its first conference win since 2018 this season.

Missed opportunities cost Shelbyville in losses this season to Greensburg and Rushville. And with its win over New Castle, Glesing believes the program is stable enough to compete with football programs in similar situations.

However, catching up to the upper echelon of the Hoosier Heritage Conference is a much bigger challenge.

“We lost two close games there early and then we win the one with New Castle and now it’s a buzzsaw the rest of the way,” said Glesing. “You would love to have a couple of those games back but you can’t. Realistically, going in to the year … two wins … one, two, three wins is what you were shooting for.”

A favorable draw in the sectional will offer Shelbyville another opportunity to enter a game where it is not a double-digit underdog. There are two state-ranked teams in Sectional 23 but there also are three more teams that are 1-5 like the Golden Bears.

“We are making progress,” said Glesing. “The numbers are still not where we need to be. Our strength is not where it needs to be. Our size and speed is not where it needs to be. We have to continue doing what we’re doing.”

The program will graduate just five seniors which should help the roster size grow in 2023.

The Shelbyville Central Schools board recently visited the high school’s new weight room which is not yet fully-stocked with equipment. The board also announced a plan to replace the track surface at McKeand Stadium and replace the natural grass playing surface on the football field with artificial turf in time for the 2023 season.

Shelbyville’s junior varsity squad is currently 3-3, according to Glesing, with wins over Greenfield-Central, Yorktown and Greensburg.

“We are having some success and that’s good,” said Glesing. “JV wins are not indicative of what is going to happen in the future. I’ve been coaching long enough to know that it is not indicative in football.

“It helps morale but it’s not necessarily indicative of what will happen in the future.”

Shelbyville Middle School’s program also is 3-3 with wins over Rushville, Triton Central and Indian Creek. The three losses came to HHC programs.

“The program is getting set in stone with how it’s going to be,” said Glesing. “They are running what we are running. They are lifting (weights) with us and some of those kids will be far more advanced as freshmen than our current seniors and juniors were as freshmen.”

 

 

QUICK FACTS

Class 4A, No. 1 New Palestine at Shelbyville

Game Time: 7 p.m. at McKeand Stadium in Shelbyville, Ind.

Media coverage: Follow Shelby County Post News Editor Jeff Brown on Twitter at @Sportsboss4life for live updates from McKeand Stadium.

SHS student section theme: Student Section T-shirts.

Head coaches: Kyle Ralph, 110-10 in 10th year at New Palestine; Brian Glesing, 2-11 in 2nd year at Shelbyville, 120-105 in 20th year overall.

2021 record: New Palestine 8-4; Shelbyville 1-6.

Sagarin ratings: New Palestine, 100.68, 2nd overall; 1st in Class 4A; Shelbyville, 26.62, 247th overall, 53rd in Class 4A.

Point spread: New Palestine is favored by 72 points.

Last meeting: Shelbyville lost 52-0 in 2021 at New Palestine.

Last 10 meetings: Shelbyville is 1-9 against New Palestine in the last decade and has never beaten the Dragons in head coach Kyle Ralph’s career.

Around the HHC Friday: New Castle (2-4, 1-3) at Class 4A, No. 13 Mt. Vernon (3-3, 3-1); Pendleton Heights (2-4, 1-3) at Delta (3-3, 1-3); Class 3A, No. 15 Yorktown (5-1, 3-1) at Class 4A, No. 10 Greenfield-Central (4-2, 2-2).

Sectional 23 lookahead: Class 4A, No. 8 Martinsville (5-1); Bedford North Lawrence (3-3); Shelbyville (1-5); Class 4A, No. 4 East Central (5-1); Silver Creek (3-3); Edgewood (1-5); Jennings County (1-5); Greenwood (1-5).

Note: The IHSAA Football State Tournament Pairings Show is Oct. 9 at 5 p.m. on IHSAAtv.org.

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