Beech Grove survives battle with Shelbyville in HLC opener for both teams

On a hot and humid night at J.M. McKeand Stadium, Kordell Martin’s 5-yard touchdown reception in the middle of the third quarter was all Beech Grove needed.

The Hornets’ defense stifled Shelbyville all night long and prevailed with a Hoosier Legends Conference victory, 7-0, to improve to 3-0.

The Golden Bears’ offense struggled to string together positive yardage plays but a Carson Nance interception near the goalline and long return near midfield lit a spark.

A 24-yard reception by Grantland Fitzgerald moved Shelbyville inside the Beech Grove 30 for the first time in the game. Two more short passes and a short run set up three chances at the end zone to tie the game.

However, three straight passes fell incomplete and Shelbyville never threatened again.

“What a great high school football game,” said Shelbyville head coach Scott Fitzgerald. “Two teams really battling it out. They just happened to make the plays when they needed to make the plays.”

After scoring 90 points in its first two games this season, the Shelbyville offense was limited to 105 yards of offense and just eight first downs.

“To put it pretty blunt, they kicked our butt up front,” said Fitzgerald. “They were very athletic, even up front with what they were doing. They were slanting and getting underneath us and we were having some trouble with that. We just didn’t do a very good job there. And they were getting into the backfield.”

The first half was basically a stalemate with neither team giving an inch.

Beech Grove found more success running the ball in the second half and quarterback Bishop Moore had some timely completions to keep putting pressure on the Golden Bears.

The Hornets tried to ice the game with a 33-yard field goal attempt inside the fourth quarter’s final two minutes but missed.

Shelbyville followed with three consecutive incomplete passes from its own 20-yard line then quarterback Tyler Gwinnup was sacked to effectively end the game.

Moore completed 16 of 30 passes for 179 yards. Martin had a game-high seven catches for 58 yards.

The Hornets improved to 3-0 for the first time since the 2018 season. They have not started a season 4-0 since 2015 and will try to match that next week at Triton Central (1-2).

Shelbyville dropped to 2-1 and is at Tri-West next Friday.

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