Olympians bring end to Shelbyville's 100th season of football

The 100^th season of Shelbyville football ended with an Olympic-sized nightmare one night before All Hallows Eve.

The two former South Central Conference foes met for the first time in 13 years Friday night at McKeand Stadium in a Class 4A, Sectional 23 semifinal game.

The Olympians took full advantage of a wounded Golden Bears squad by rushing for nearly 270 yards and three touchdowns and throwing for nearly 200 more yards and four touchdowns in a 47-7 victory.

“That made it really tough, I think more mentally for a lot of the guys coming into it,” said Shelbyville head coach Scott Fitzgerald. “I’m super proud of the guys for the way they fought all night long. They played hard.”

With No. 5 East Central defeating Jennings County Friday, 69-7, the Olympians, now 7-4, will host the Trojans (9-2) in the Sectional 23 championship game.

Shelbyville, already without senior Grantland Fitzgerald with knee and hamstring injuries, also had junior starting linemen Nolan Cord and Ethan Griffin sidelined with concussions and junior defensive back Jasper Hahn out with an illness.

That thrust sophomore Eddie Bond and freshman Braylan Ethridge into starting roles on both sides of the ball where the game was ultimately decided.

Shelbyville defensive back Jackson Myers (1) tackles a Columbus East ball carrier in the first half Friday at McKeand Stadium.

Columbus East sophomore Owen Hatfield racked up nearly 150 rushing yards in the first half and scored two of this three touchdowns to get his team a 20-7 lead.

Shelbyville was in a similar position one week earlier at Silver Creek but produced a strong third quarter to regain the lead and eventually pull out a 35-25 victory.

There was no repeat performance against a much more physical Columbus East squad that has now won four straight.

“We couldn’t protect our linebackers and they were able to get up on our linebackers,” said Fitzgerald. “When you are missing two of your best defensive linemen, it really handcuffed us and we were putting guys in there that hadn’t had a whole lot of reps. They were making mistakes getting deep up field and they were getting trapped.”

The Olympians scored on their first four possessions of the second half as quarterback Kam Combest connected with Jackson Miller once and Carson Gallion twice while Hatfield added a third rushing touchdown.

Hatfield finished with 230 yards rushing, eclipsing 200 yards rushing for the second consecutive week, on 22 carries (10.5 yards per carry).

That took pressure off Combest, who completed 11 of 14 passes for 185 yards and four touchdowns.

Shelbyville never got its run game in gear and the Olympians’ defense was able to sit back in pass protection and make first downs hard to come by. Quarterback Tyler Gwinnup (photo) completed 8 of 24 passes for just 52 yards. The lone touchdown came late in the second quarter when he lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone for Camden Thoman.

The Golden Bears finished 7-4, the most wins for the program since 2017. And for the second straight season they reached the sectional semifinal round of the playoffs.

The program will lose 11 seniors to graduation, many who have only known Fitzgerald as their coach from middle school to the high school level.

“All the way up through the middle school and all the way up through (the high school), they have been a class that has stuck together and done the work,” said Fitzgerald. “That was the one thing I was always impressed with this group. In the summertime, they were always showing up, they didn’t miss days, they were in the weight room. They were in the weight room as middle school kids.

“And they have talented players that are very smart … and a lot of heart. They had a lot of success and I think they helped this program grow and we will definitely miss them next year.”

Steve Bush photos

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