Foundation set for Shelbyville football to enter new conference, celebrate milestone season

Three consecutive strong senior classes have helped Scott Fitzgerald revitalize the Shelbyville football program. Now, the excitement can build for the 100^th year of Golden Bears football.

The 2026 version of Shelbyville football has a good foundation as it departs the Hoosier Heritage Conference for the Hoosier Legends Conference. The Golden Bears finished 5-6 this season – one unsuccessful 2-point conversion run in overtime at Greenfield-Central away from a sixth win – and celebrated its first sectional game win in a decade.

“The big talk we had with the kids is we have to start from this point,” said Fitzgerald (photo). “We can’t go backward and think it’s OK to just be 5-6 again or it’s just OK to be under .500 again. We are moving forward. We want to keep walking up that ladder. We want to go rungs up and not go down.

“They understand that the work they put in was good work, but if we want to move further, we have to put in more work. We have to continue to progress in that way.”

The school system’s investment in a modern 8,000 square foot weight room paid off on Friday nights this season. A stronger offensive line helped the Golden Bears rush for nearly 2,000 yards this season and propelled Donavon Martin’s name into the record book.

The senior (photo) set a program record with 272 rushing attempts and produced the fourth-best single season total of 1,397 yards.

Replacing Martin’s production (12 rushing touchdowns) and the consistency of center Jack West (photo) and right guard Ben Bailey are high priorities this offseason.

“To start right now, Grantland (Fitzgerald) will probably move back to the running back position,” said coach Fitzgerald. “I think he is dynamic enough. We have to find different ways to get him the ball in different positions. We still have to be able to put him at receiver so we have to find a couple of guys that can fill in at that running back position and do some different things, kind of what we did with Grantland this season.”

Grantland Fitzgerald (photo) had a team-leading 39 receptions this year for 537 yards and seven touchdowns. The junior also rushed for 415 yards and seven touchdowns. Over the last two seasons, Fitzgerald has averaged 4.7 yards per rush, just short of what Martin averaged (5.1) this season.

Sophomore Ethan Griffin (photo) and freshman Clayton Watson gained experience on the offensive line this season and are the frontrunners to be the two starting guards next season working with left tackle Anthony Stafford and right tackle Lamberto Leon.

Starting left guard Nolan Cord (photo) is projected to replace West at center.

“We have several other young guys that need to progress and get stronger, and they will get opportunities to play as well,” said coach Fitzgerald.

There will be a quarterback battle for the starting role next season which excites the head coach. Tyler Gwinnup (photo) was the starting quarterback in 2024 before tearing his ACL and requiring surgery. An offseason basketball injury was a setback, but Gwinnup hoped to get through his junior season before another surgery. He completed 17 of 19 pass attempts for 192 yards and three touchdowns through three quarters in the season opener at Greensburg before going down once again.

Freshman Layden Fitzgerald immediately became the varsity quarterback before ever taking a snap as the junior varsity quarterback.

Fitzgerald (photo) went 4-6 as the starter, completing 54% of his pass attempts for 1,448 yards, 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

“(Layden) needs to make sure he understands that nothing will be given to him next year,” said coach Fitzgerald, also Layden and Grantland Fitzgerald’s father. “He has to come through. He has to battle. That’s what we want to get is every year battling for your position. That means you have to work even harder in the offseason to gain your position back. I think we will have that.

“Tyler is working really hard to get himself back. Layden has a lot of things he needs to improve on. If you ask him that same question, he would say there are a ton of things I need to improve on. He understands that and knows he has to get better.”

Bailey (photo) led the Shelbyville defense this season with 68 total tackles, three tackles for loss and two quarterback sacks. Freshman Kellan Coffey gained experience this season as a backup linebacker and made 20 tackles.

“Kellen was able to come in and play this year,” said Fitzgerald. “He has to get stronger and get faster and get more physical.”

Coffey can be paired with Cooper Thoman (photo), who had a breakout season at linebacker next to Bailey with 53 tackles and team-highs in tackles for loss (5) and quarterback sacks (4).

West will need to be replaced on the defensive line, but Fitzgerald is confident in the work production of Cord (21 tackles, two quarterback sacks), Griffin (35 tackles, two quarterback sacks), Stafford (21 tackles) and J’Kobe Moore (photo).

“J’Kobe has to come back and get stronger,” said Fitzgerald. “Stafford and Lamberto (Leon) may share a position in a place. Cord will be back as an end. Griffin may move to end. We have pieces there. We want to have more pieces come along so you don’t have to have as many guys going both ways (offensive and defensive).”

2026 Schedule

The Golden Bears will be at home at J.M. McKeand Stadium for its preseason scrimmage against Jennings County and five of its nine regular season games in 2026.

The first two opponents remain the same – Aug. 21 against Greensburg (4-8 this season) and at Rushville (2-8) on Aug. 28.

The new Hoosier Legends Conference schedule starts Sept. 4 at home against Beech Grove (4-7).

“We are excited about the move. I think the kids are excited that week in and week out they can compete and win,” said Fitzgerald. “They understand it’s a very good football conference and they will have to compete each and every week. We have to do the thing we’ve been doing in the weight room in the offseason. It’s that glimmer of hope, some of the teams (in the HHC) we don’t have to play anymore but still understanding we have very good competition in this conference.”

The Golden Bears’ first HLC road game is at Tri-West (7-4) on Sept. 11 to face Louisville-bound quarterback Jack Sorgi (2,911 passing yards, 31 touchdowns).

Homecoming follows on Sept. 18 but more on that in a minute.

Shelbyville is at Indian Creek (8-3, sectional champion) on Sept. 25; home against Greenwood (2-8) on Oct. 2; at Speedway (1-9) on Oct. 9; and home for the regular-season finale against Monrovia (4-7) on Oct. 16.

Shelby County rivals Shelbyville and Triton Central have never met on a football field. On Sept. 18, that first meeting will happen when Hall of Fame coach Tim Able brings the Tigers, who won the inaugural HLC title (5-0 record) and finished 10-2, to McKeand Stadium.

“Obviously, they’ve had great success. Coach Able has done a great job with them over there,” said Fitzgerald. “I’m sure for them, it will be bulletin board material all year long. It might be in their weight room.

“It will be a fun day. If you lose, it isn’t real fun. It’s not a 1-game season but it will be one we will be looking forward to.”

Fitzgerald is 9-22 in three seasons as head coach. After three wins total in the five previous seasons to his hiring, the veteran coach was able to enjoy a resurgent season, led by his two sons and several players he coached at the middle school level.

“This was a lot more fun than last year. The stress of last year of guys getting hurt and just what can we do,” he said. “This year, it felt like a lot of the pieces fell together. Did we make mistakes? Did we do some bad things? Yes, but you will have that all the time. Night in and night out, they had such great fight.

“That happened week in and week out. If something bad happened the week before, we jumped right back in. That means nothing now and we’re going to move on to the next game. When you have kids like that, it really helps your mentality going into practice. As a coach, they were great kids to be around. It was a great group of seniors. Kids that really worked hard and put in the time and put in the effort and showed great leadership. That makes it a whole lot more fun.”