MADISON – The Golden Bears are not yet in football shape.
New Shelbyville head coach Scott Fitzgerald noted that in his postgame speech to the team following Friday’s three-team preseason jamboree at Madison High School.
Shelbyville’s varsity and junior varsity units each got two periods to line up against their counterparts from Madison and Salem and see how close they are to being ready for the start of the 2023 season.
“It was a little bit of what I expected out there,” said Fitzgerald. “I knew there would be some good and I knew there would be some bad. We definitely have some things we have to work on and see on film.
“Being the first time to really get after somebody out there in a game situation with officials and everything else going on, I saw some nerves in a few places. That is what this is for, though. Let’s shake those out and now go prepare for Greensburg.”
The Golden Bears open the 2023 season Friday at Greensburg. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
Shelbyville debuted a new look offense much different from the run-heavy wing-T version utilized in 2022 by then head coach Brian Glesing.
Fitzgerald (photo) and new offensive coordinator John Werbe have pulled senior quarterback Eli Chappelow out from under center with just one running back in the backfield. Gone are the three running back sets. Shelbyville will now utilize four wide receivers in multiple formations.
Against Salem, Chappelow (photo) had sophomore Donavon Martin in the backfield as the lead running back. Chappelow was quick to pull the ball from Martin, who Fitzgerald said Salem was focusing on, and run on his own for positive yards.
When the senior did pass, he looked toward four seniors – Luke Brinkman, Kohen Myers, Axel Conover and Grant Schene.
“(Eli) missed some (passes) that he has to hit. There were a few in there that we have to make sure we are completing,” said Fitzgerald. “Those short ones, we have to make completions but he did make some good reads up the sideline to Schene when they tried to play some cover-2.”
Freshman receiver Grantland Fitzgerald had the game’s biggest impact. The head coach’s oldest son took a crossing pattern pass from Chappelow and broke free for a long touchdown run against Salem – Shelbyville’s first in the scrimmage.
Against Madison in Shelbyville’s second offensive series, Fitzgerald (photo) adjusted to a high-arcing Chappelow pass at the goal line and slipped in front of his defender to haul in a second touchdown reception (main photo).
“He made a play. I will give the kid some credit. He is an athlete,” said Fitzgerald of Grantland’s first catch-and-run touchdown. “He will make plays for us in different places. I am proud of him. Eli did a nice job throwing it to him on the back side because that is where the open receiver was.”
Defensively, Shelbyville squared off with Salem’s wing-T offense now under the direction of Glesing, who resigned his Shelbyville coaching position in the spring to return to southern Indiana and take over a young Lions program.
The Golden Bears struggled a little more with Madison’s physicality at the line of scrimmage but left their new head coach with plenty to talk about in the week leading up to the season opener.
“I think we just didn’t get ourselves to the right spots on a couple of occasions,” said Fitzgerald of the Madison series. “We didn’t finish with some of our tackling. I thought we were there in spots. We work on tracking the inside hip and running through and we just didn’t do that very well. So those are things we can work on all week long.”
While Salem was the first of the three teams to finish the jamboree, Glesing sent his team home and stayed until the end to congratulate the Golden Bears he coached for the last two seasons.
Steve Bush photos
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