Golden Bears look to bounce back from subpar performance at Rushville

Shelbyville football is not a completely remade product yet. Friday’s mistake-filled performance in a 28-7 loss at Rushville is proof, according to second-year head coach Scott Fitzgerald.

“We are going to push them. We are turning up the intensity on them a little bit during practice this week and expecting them to turn it up on themselves a little bit, trying to create more excitement in practice, more excitement when a guy makes a play,” explained Fitzgerald. “That again is part of changing the culture, we are still working on that. We haven’t fixed everything. That is something after seeing last week that we are emphasizing and getting after it during the week of practice.”

The Golden Bears gave up three touchdowns on Rushville’s first nine plays from scrimmage and never recovered despite twice getting inside the Rushville 20-yard line but not scoring.

After a 225-yard rushing performance in a week one win over Greensburg, junior running back Donavon Martin struggled to find an offensive rhythm with Rushville controlling the line of scrimmage.

“It felt it was like one guy missing an assignment here and another guy missing an assignment over there. Or it was a guy just falling off a block,” said Fitzgerald. “We just didn’t bring the physicality like we had been. It was a sign of two different teams from the first week to the second week. I don’t know if that was our attitude walking on the field, not thinking they were going to be as physical as they were. They brought it to us. We have to turn that intensity back up ourselves.”

Without a consistent rushing attack, defenses can then key up the pressure on sophomore quarterback Tyler Gwinnup, who now has two varsity starts for the Golden Bears.

Experience is vital for Gwinnup (photo) – the good and the bad experiences.

“He is doing a good job. He understands he is going to make mistakes,” said Fitzgerald. “Nobody is down on him or getting on him that way. It’s learning and trying to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes over and over again.”

Gwinnup completed a career-high 12 passes at Rushville but threw two interceptions and was out of sync with his receiver group on several plays.

“That is understanding the trajectory you have to put on the ball on different throws,” said Fitzgerald. “He is still learning that. Some of those seam throws I thought we had guys open and he put just a little bit too much air on it, allowing the (Rushville) corner to get back over the top of it. It’s learning what trajectory to put it on and where the ball is being thrown, if it’s outside, if it’s up the field, just how he needs to throw the ball.”

Gwinnup (photo) completed six passes to Grantland Fitzgerald and four more to Ben Bailey and Wes Bailey but will not have the opportunity to complete any more passes to Gavin Reed, who has a broken bone in his left arm and will miss the remainder of the season.

“(Tyler) knows we are going to ride or die with him,” said coach Fitzgerald. “He is going to continue to get better. He is going to continue to push himself. We are going to continue to push him.

“He knows we are going to have success with him throwing the ball a little bit to try and ease the box out a little bit. And when there are opportunities downfield, we have to take advantage of them.”

Gwinnup’s counterpart this week is Delta senior Bronson Edwards. In two games this season, he has completed 21-of-37 pass attempts for 388 yards and six touchdowns in just six quarters.

Class 3A, No. 7 Delta opened the season with a 28-7 win at Muncie Central then quickly built a 35-0 lead at Norwell last Friday before inclement weather forced the cancellation of the game without a second half being played.

“They are going to be able to run the ball and turn around and throw some play action,” said Fitzgerald. “Just like last year, the quarterback does a great job when he gets a little bit of pressure. He is able to break out of that pressure and he still likes to try and get the ball down the field. There will be late plays that he will try and make going down the field. We have to make sure we are staying on coverages to the whistle.”

Late in the 2023 game at McKeand Stadium, Edwards connected with Zach Cline for a 39-yard scoring strike that broke the Golden Bears’ hearts. Shelbyville had not played a competitive game with the Eagles since 2017.

Cline is one of three receivers with five receptions this season. Senior running back Nolan Carpenter has 152 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

“We have to swarm to the ball and get to where we are supposed to get to,” said Fitzgerald. “We didn’t do that very well last week. We have to go meet the physicality and go meet the speed. The speed will be a little faster this week than what we’ve seen this year. We can’t produce that in practice all the time so we have to make sure we are playing at top end all the time during practice and, hopefully, that carries over into the game.”

Steve Bush photos

Shelbyville at Class 3A, No. 7 Delta

Site: Delta Stadium in Muncie.

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.

Broadcast: The GIANT fm pre-game show will air live from Delta Stadium at 6:30 p.m. with Johnny McCrory and Jeff Brown. Listen live at 96.5 fm, 106.3 fm, 1520 am or on the GIANT fm app.

2024 records: Shelbyville 1-1; Delta 2-0.

Coaches: Scott Fitzgerald, 4-8 in second year at Shelbyville; Chris Overholt, 53-38 in ninth year at Delta.

2023 records: Shelbyville 3-7; Delta 8-5.

Series record: Delta leads the all-time series 15-12.

2023 meeting: Delta won 21-14 at McKeand Stadium on Sept. 1, 2023.

Sagarin rating: Shelbyville 47.53 (204^th in state, 52^nd in Class 4A); Delta 72.99 (55^th in state, 8^th in Class 3A). Delta is a 28.5-point favorite.

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