Shelbyville showed off its playmaking depth Friday night at McKeand Stadium in a 41-21 Homecoming win over Triton Central.
The meeting was the first for the Shelby County schools. And the win was the Golden Bears’ first Hoosier Legends Conference victory.
Shelbyville also took possession of the inaugural traveling trophy -- a football helmet painted green and white on one side and black and gold on the other side.
Shelbyville scored on the opening possession of the game then saw Carson Nance intercept Triton Central quarterback Matthew Wilkins and return it to the end zone for a 13-0 lead it would never relinquish.
Quarterback Tyler Gwinnup completed 20 of 28 pass attempts for 310 yards and three touchdowns. Six different Golden Bears scored a touchdown.
“When we are healthy and got all those guys, what are you going to do defensively?” said Shelbyville head coach Scott Fitzgerald. “You are picking your poison. And we can come off that and have the right play call. (Offensive coordinator) John Werbe does a great job making those calls. We had a great game plan coming into it and I think this was one of the best preparation weeks we’ve had.”
Kameron Holland finished off a 13-play, 68-yard drive with a 3-yard run into the end zone for an early 6-0 lead. The extra point kick failed.
Nance (photo) stepped in front of Wilkins’ first pass of the game and raced 37 yards for the touchdown to make it 13-0 midway through the opening quarter.
“We talked about being on our home field – we were defending our turf,” said Fitzgerald. “We don’t want them to come in here and think they would win this game. We had to be the aggressors and play the most physical game that we’ve played all year. We felt like we were the better team, we just needed to go play like it.”
Triton Central needed a spark and got one from Dylan Showalter (photo) who hauled in a Wilkins heave and raced to the end zone for a 70-yard score early in the second quarter.
That was the first of three long catches by Showalter in the loss, but the Tigers defense could not shut down the Golden Bears.
Shelbyville answered back with a 10-play, 57-yard drive capped off by a Grantland Fitzgerald 15-yard run.
Jackson Myers (photo) intercepted Wilkins in the red zone on Triton Central’s next possession and Gwinnup hit Austin Martzall in stride for a 71-yard touchdown that extended the lead to 27-6.
“(Shelbyville) is better than I thought they were. I can say that honestly. They were really impressive tonight. They got on us quick and we never really recovered,” said Triton Central head coach Tim Kegley.
Showalter got loose again for a 31-yard scoring reception just before halftime.
Gwinnup opened the second half with a 52-yard touchdown pass to Myers that pushed the lead to 34-13.
Camden Thoman had a 5-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter.
Weston Smith followed with an 18-yard catch and run to the end zone for Triton Central that helped push Wilkins over 300 yards passing.
Wilkins (photo) was 18 of 29 passing for 317 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Showalter finished with seven catches for 211 yards.
Layden Fitzgerald led the Golden Bears with 91 yards rushing. That helped Shelbyville amass over 450 yards of offense.
“It’s a tough loss. It meant a lot to our kids I think, more than I thought,” said Kegley. “I don’t know that it was the loss specifically that stung, but it was the way it all went down. We were constantly chasing and it was lapse after lapse. We will watch film. We have to get better.”
With the win, Shelbyville keeps itself in contention for the HLC title. The Golden Bears improved to 3-2 (1-2 HLC).
Indian Creek defeated Tri-West, 19-12, to sit atop the standings all alone. The Braves are 5-0 (3-0 HLC) and host Shelbyville next Friday.
Tri-West (3-2, 2-1 HLC) and Beech Grove (4-1, 2-1 HLC) are one game back.
All five remaining teams are 1-2 in the standings.
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