Two fourth-quarter touchdowns lift Shelbyville to Senior Night win over Monrovia

Monrovia rattled Shelbyville with a dominant third quarter. Shelbyville responded with an impressive fourth quarter.

The Golden Bears scored twice in the Hoosier Legends Conference game’s final 10 minutes to earn a 27-20 victory that improved them to 6-3 (4-3 HLC) and guaranteed the football program’s first winning season since 2017.

“A lot of fortitude. That’s what we talked about,” said Shelbyville head coach Scott Fitzgerald. “At halftime, coming out it was about which team had enough to finish the game.”

Monrovia’s wing-T ground game churned out 239 yards rushing and three touchdowns Friday at McKeand Stadium but it was an onside kick to start the second half that sparked the offense.

The Bulldogs followed the recovery with a 9-play, 46-yard scoring drive (all running plays) and a 12-play, 67-yard scoring drive (11 runs, one pass) to take a 20-13 lead.

Shelbyville took four snaps between the two drives that took 10 minutes and 40 seconds off the clock.

“The onside kick coming out … we talked about it … we knew it was a possibility. We kind of retreated and that’s not what we talked about doing at halftime,” said Fitzgerald (photo). “They executed that play to perfection. They got the ball and took it down on us.

“That is a tough team. They have been in every ball game this year. They do a lot of really good things. For them to run that wing-T right at us, we have some things we have to fix before we get into the (postseason) tournament.”

The Golden Bears ran one play after Monrovia’s third kickoff of the third quarter before time expired. The offense worked its way into the red zone – then went the wrong direction with a false start penalty and a quarterback sack.

A third incompletion left Shelbyville with a fourth-and-18 play from the Monrovia 29. One more incompletion could have spelled doom.

Quarterback Tyler Gwinnup (photo) dropped back and lofted an incomplete pass just ahead of getting struck in the head by a Monrovia player. The fortunate penalty gave Shelbyville another shot.

This time Gwinnup found Layden Fitzgerald in the end zone. However, the extra point kick to tie the game never got off the ground and Shelbyville was left trailing, 20-19.

Now the defense needed to find a way to stop the Monrovia offense. A false start penalty on a fourth-and-4 play finally forced a punt that rolled all the way to the Shelbyville 6.

A 22-yard pass play to Austin Martzall got the Golden Bears going.

A 20-yard run by Fitzgerald pushed them across midfield.

A Jackson Myers (photo) catch resulted in 23 more yards.

Shelbyville was now in control of the clock as it ticked under four minutes.

The offense went back to hard-hitting Kameron Holland (photo), who had two short touchdowns runs in the first half.

A 12-yard run by the senior put Shelbyville inside the 10. Two more runs got the ball to the goalline.

From there, Gwinnup dove into the end zone to get his team in the lead – only the quarterback didn’t get up right away. He eventually walked off the field holding his left arm tight to his body.

Shelbyville turned to Layden Fitzgerald to run in the two-conversion for a 7-point lead.

Monrovia got a favorable roughing the passer call of its own to keep pushing down the field inside the final minute. A 13-yard reception by Gannon Prosser got the Bulldogs to the 15 as the seconds kept dwindling down.

Monrovia quarterback Michael Terrell rolled out left after the next snap and had pressure in his face. The senior threw the ball up for grabs and Shelbyville linebacker Kellen Coffey (photo) snagged it to preserve the win.

“We had our protection where it needed to be and (Nolan) Cord (photo) did a fantastic job getting off his guy and getting pressure like he did a few times tonight,” said Coach Fitzgerald. “We just forced him to throw the ball up and guys were where they were supposed to be and Kellen was smart enough to just drop right down.”

Holland finished with 113 rushing yards on 25 attempts.

“He did a fantastic job,” said Coach Fitzgerald. “He has really stepped up for us in a lot of different places this year. I am proud of him.”

Gwinnup completed 9 of 12 passes for 137 yards but will now await news on his left shoulder injury which will determine his availability for the postseason.

Shelbyville will go for its seventh win next Friday at Silver Creek in the postseason opener for both teams.

Monrovia finished 3-6 (2-5 HLC).

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