Class 3A, No. 7 Tri-West scores late to defeat Shelbyville

LIZTON – Shelbyville scored twice in the fourth quarter Friday at Class 3A, No. 7 Tri-West but had a potential game-winning field goal blocked as time expired to suffer a 27-24 loss.

Wanson Hall turned a fourth-and-two play into a 16-yard touchdown run with 26 seconds left to get the Bruins the lead once again.

Three straight completions to Grantland Fitzgerald and Austin Martzall moved the Golden Bears to the Tri-West 17-yard line but there was only time for one more play – a game-winning play into the end zone or a game-tying 34-yard field goal.

Head coach Scott Fitzgerald opted for the field goal attempt which was blocked to drop the Golden Bears to 2-2 this season and 0-2 in the Hoosier Legends Conference standings.

“I think it was a 50-50 flip,” said Fitzgerald of the final play call. “We decided to try and hit that field goal. (Luke Coomes) has been hitting them in practice so we felt percentage wise that was the better chance.”

Shelbyville played a near perfect first half against a high-powered offense led by a Wisconsin-bound quarterback Jack Sorgi.

“We played really well. I thought we were sound in everything we needed to do,” said Fitzgerald. “We made plays offensively. We got guys in some spots we knew we could get them in. Defensively, I thought we did a really solid job holding a very good quarterback down. I think we did a good job defensively the whole game. It just came down to making a play or two there and they got us on a run play.”

Shelbyville struck first on its opening series when quarterback Tyler Gwinnup found Austin Martzall running behind the defense for a 49-yard scoring strike.

Coomes connected on a 24-yard field goal late in the second quarter to extend the lead to 10-0.

Shelbyville’s defense limited Tri-West (3-1, 2-0 HLC) to 12 rushing yards and 82 passing yards in the first half and created a turnover on the Bruins’ second series of the game.

Tri-West’s final two plays of the opening half resulted in Sorgi being sacked.

Layden Fitzgerald was stripped of the ball on the opening series of the second half and Tri-West responded with an 8-play, 47-yard drive that ended with Sorgi running into the end zone from 22 yards out.

Gwinnup was intercepted on Shelbyville’s next series and Sorgi connected with Carter Cummings for a 57-yard touchdown strike on the very next play to give the Bruins a 13-10 lead.

Shelbyville’s response was impactful.

The Golden Bears put together a 13-play, 73-yard scoring drive that culminated with Gwinnup scoring on a 5-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Coomes’ extra-point kick was good, but a Tri-West player suffered a serious arm injury on the play, and the game was stopped for 30 minutes.

“We had just gone down and scored, and we had a little momentum and then we were sitting there for 30 minutes,” said Fitzgerald of the unfortunate injury.

Following the ambulance's departure, Sorgi orchestrated a 62-yard scoring drive that ended with Cummings’ second touchdown reception and Tri-West led 20-17.

Shelbyville countered with a 14-play, 80-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock. Layden Fitzgerald scrambled eight yards for the touchdown and the Golden Bears were back up 24-20.

Sorgi had 2:25 and three timeouts to work with. An 18-yard pass to Cummings quickly moved the Bruins past midfield.

After consecutive incomplete passes, Sorgi hit Gage Bundy for an 8-yard gain setting up fourth-and-2 at the Shelbyville 16.

Tri-West went with a two-back set and trusted Hall to at least get the first down. He found space and raced into the end zone for the game-winning score.

“We kind of kicked ourselves after that. They got into a formation that we really weren’t ready for,” said Fitzgerald. “I don’t know if we could have done a whole lot differently. I thought we had guys that were there and we missed some tackles.”

Sorgi finished the game 18 of 28 passing for 210 yards, two touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown. Cumming collected six receptions for 122 yards.

Layden Fitzgerald led Shelbyville with 96 yards rushing on 20 carries.

Gwinnup finished 21 of 30 for 296 yards with a rushing and passing touchdown.

Martzall and Grantland Fitzgerald each had five catches.

Shelbyville (2-2) will host Triton Central (2-2) at McKeand Stadium next Friday still in search for its first Hoosier Legends Conference victory.

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