Shelbyville preparing for inaugural road trip to Speedway

Shelbyville football is at its best when the offense finds success running the ball.

Despite falling behind early to Greenwood last Friday, the Golden Bears took the field and ran the ball 11 straight times to the end zone. It was the start of Grantland Fitzgerald’s big night.

The senior produced 317 yards of offense (217 rushing, 100 receiving) and five touchdowns to get Shelbyville above .500 at 4-3 (2-3 Hoosier Legends Conference) for the first time this late in a season since 2017.

With the 41-28 win over Greenwood, Shelbyville is tied with the Woodmen (3-4, 2-3 HLC) and Triton Central (3-4, 2-3 HLC)) for fourth place in the HLC standings.

The Golden Bears’ final two games are against the two 1-win teams in the conference.

“We need to continue on what we were able to do on Friday,” said Shelbyville head coach Scott Fitzgerald. “We need to continue with the way we practiced last week. We are trying to have that same intensity throughout. I think that is something we are still working on, to be able to continue to have that intensity.”

On Friday, Shelbyville makes its first ever trip to Speedway (3-4, 1-4 HLC). The Sparkplugs opened the season 3-0 with a high octane aerial assault. As the opposition improved, Speedway’s offensive numbers declined and four straight losses followed.

Sophomore quarterback Conner Battle has completed 61% of his pass attempts this season for 1,424 yards and 20 touchdowns. He has thrown eight interceptions – six during the four-game losing streak.

The Sparkplugs have gained just 577 rushing yards this season and only junior Amari Forbes (289 yards on 58 carries) has surpassed 100 yards.

Battle will utilize four receivers who have combined for 1,064 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns.

Kellar Socks (23 catches, 357 yards, five TDs) leads the team in receptions. Miles Cessna (19 catches, 390 yards, six TDs) is tops in yards and touchdowns. Mazeed Ishola also has 19 catches for 300 yards and two TDs. Nate Chapman has just seven catches but four have resulted in touchdowns.

“They want to throw the ball,” said Fitzgerald. “They like to run some RPOs (run-pass options). They will keep some short stuff and run some crossers but they like to try and get it down the field. They will use some play action to try and utilize their speed and try to get downfield and get over the top of you if they can.”

After outscoring its first three opponents 117-39, the Sparkplugs have allowed 177 points in its four losses.

“They have a lot of speed,” said Fitzgerald. “They just make some mistakes … sometimes it’s within alignment, sometimes it’s within following their rules and getting to where they are supposed to go and they kind of lose people here and there. They give up extra gaps and that has hurt them.

“But, they will come hit you and create turnovers. And they play hard. You can tell they’ve been taught some good things, they just haven’t been able to put it all together.”

Grantland Fitzgerald (photo) laughed after Friday’s win when he learned he matched his season-opening number of carries in the backfield. The senior had 31 carries for 217 yards and two touchdowns in the 39-14 win over Greensburg.

Against Greenwood, it was 31 carries, 217 yards and three touchdowns. He was first to credit the offensive line for that success.

“The O-line did an outstanding job,” he said Friday after the win. “From the beginning of the week, we just wanted to run the ball and show them we came to play. We did that tonight.”

Fitzgerald had just 13 carries between the two dynamic performances while recovering from injuries. He still played wide receiver and saw time on defense but Friday was his second start in the backfield where he starred behind Nolan Cord (center), Ethan Griffin (guard), Clayton Watson (guard), Anthony Stafford (tackle) and Lamberto Leon (tackle).

“They got where they were supposed to go,” said Coach Fitzgerald of the offensive line. “They followed their rules. They were driving their feet and they got guys to where they needed to go.”

With that kind of success on the ground, it allowed senior quarterback Tyler Gwinnup to pick and choose in the passing game. He completed 8 of 12 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

For the season, he is completing 58% of his passes for 1,180 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Shelbyville has four receivers with double-digit catch totals and a combined eight TDs. Austin Martzall (photo) leads the group with 23 catches for 373 yards. Fitzgerald is second at 17 for 265 yards. Jackson Myers (12 catches, 182 yards) and Camden Thoman (11 catches, 99 yards) as well as tight ends Kellen Coffey (nine catches, 109 yards, two TDs) and Cooper Thoman (six catches, 54 yards) add to Shelbyville’s offensive arsenal.

After the Golden Bears allowed Greenwood 21 first-half points, the interior pressure intensified and the Woodmen struggled to get into the end zone in the second half.

“I thought our defensive line and our linebackers played really well,” said Coach Fitzgerald. “(Nolan) Cord did a great job. He kind of owned his guy all night long. Even when he didn’t get to the quarterback, he was feeling that pressure and flushing him out of the pocket.”

Cord (photo) finished the game with nine tackles, a quarterback sack and at least two holding penalties assessed to Greenwood.

“We pulled it together in the end and started dominating a little bit more up front, getting pressure and allowing the linebackers to come up and fill the gaps,” said Cord Friday night. “Our linemen were getting up there pressuring the quarterback and forcing pressure to throw it.”

Greenwood put together a 62-yard scoring drive on its first offensive possession of the second half that cut Shelbyville’s lead to 34-28.

The next four possessions resulted in 47 yards of offense, two quarterback sacks, an interception and a completion rate of 32%.

“When we did use our blitzing, our linebackers blitzed really well,” said Coach Fitzgerald. “I think the other part was, I thought Kellen Coffey (photo) played his best game of the year. From that injury at Rushville until now, he hadn’t got back into that groove. He ended up being our leading tackler (16 tackles, three tackles for loss, quarterback sack). He played really well.”

Cooper Thoman (photo) nearly matched that with 14 tackles, three for loss and a quarterback sack.

Class 3A, No. 5 Indian Creek (7-0, 5-0 HLC) needs a win at Beech Grove (5-2, 3-2 HLC) Friday to clinch no worse than a share of the conference championship.

Class 3A, No. 7 Tri-West (5-2, 4-1 HLC) is one game back with two games to go.

Beech Grove is alone in third ahead of Shelbyville, Greenwood and Triton Central – all at 2-3.

Speedway and Monrovia (1-4) round out the standings.

Shelbyville ends the regular season on Oct. 16 against Monrovia (2-5 overall).

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