Injuries mounting for Shelbyville football ahead of trip to Mt. Vernon

One look to the sideline of a Shelbyville football practice can be disheartening.

The Golden Bears lost starting quarterback Tyler Gwinnup and key linebacker Keagan Turner to season-ending injuries during Friday’s 35-0 loss to Class 4A, No. 1 New Palestine.

Gwinnup (photo) was sacked late in the third quarter and injured his left knee. Shelbyville head coach Scott Fitzgerald could not confirm if it was a season-ending injury Tuesday afternoon but was not optimistic of the sophomore’s return.

Turner, a senior, tore an anterior cruciate ligament in one of his knees during a week two loss to Rushville in 2023. It was confirmed he re-tore the ACL against New Palestine.

Fitzgerald also is unsure if junior tight end/defensive lineman Ben Bailey will be available this week due to an illness.

The Hoosier Heritage Conference schedule will show no mercy with the Golden Bears traveling Friday to Mt. Vernon (3-4, 3-2 HHC), winners of three straight and coming off an impressive 45-21 victory over New Castle.

In that win, sophomore quarterback Mason Meyer threw for 202 yards and two touchdowns while senior running back Joliba Brogan II rushed for 205 yards and two touchdowns.

“(Brogan) definitely has breakaway speed at any point in time,” said Fitzgerald. “If he sees something as far as a hole, he is going to hit it and get there. If we aren’t there to meet it, he can break it at any time.”

In seven games this season, Brogan has accumulated 865 yards and nine touchdowns.

Meyer made his first varsity start at quarterback at McKeand Stadium last season and led the Marauders to a 28-14 victory. He completed 8 of 15 pass attempts for 149 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for 37 yards and a touchdown.

“He does a nice job. He gets rid of the ball quick,” said Fitzgerald. “He has a nice release. And he’s shifty back there as a runner.”

Meyer has completed 51 of 101 pass attempts this season for 694 yards and five touchdowns with four interceptions.

The challenge for the Shelbyville defense is not to be distracted by Mt. Vernon changing looks at the line of scrimmage.

“They like to dress it up and do a lot of eye candy,” said Fitzgerald (photo). “They will shift guys around and use a lot of motion. We have to be disciplined within what we are doing. We have to be disciplined defensively, seeing what we are seeing, then making sure we are staying on top. We don’t want to give them those big plays.”

Shelbyville’s defense put forth its best effort of the season last week while holding the high-powered Dragons to just 14 first-half points and 10 points under their season average of 45 ppg.

“We played extremely well,” said Fitzgerald. “It wasn’t that we made killer hits, sometimes it was clipping an ankle and getting a guy down. We found ways to get guys down.

“I think the biggest thing I was impressed with as you go back and watch it on film, there were several plays where their offensive line did a really good job and maybe pushed our guy 10 yards down the field, or got a pancake (block) on our guy, and we picked ourselves right back up and went and played the next play. And then the next play we might have beat them. It was continuous effort and we’ve talked about consistent effort, and play in and play out they showed that.”

Offensively, the Golden Bears are a mess even without injuries. The team has been held scoreless for 10 consecutive quarters and now will be without its starting quarterback, who has thrown for 531 yards and four touchdowns this season.

During Shelbyville’s week six loss at Yorktown, 33-0, Fitzgerald used a “Wildcat” offense where the ball was directly snapped to Donavon Martin or Grantland Fitzgerald. Inclement weather (rain and wind) made passing nearly impossible and Gwinnup only took a handful of snaps.

Sophomore Jackson Myers took his varsity snaps after Gwinnup was injured. He will see time there Friday but Fitzgerald expects Grantland Fitzgerald to handle the signal-calling at the start of the game.

“I think we will have a mixture of things. I don’t think we can sit in one thing (i.e. Wildcat offense) and do it,” said coach Fitzgerald. “I think right now we have to look to the future of the season, as far as tournament time. I don’t think we can live in ‘Wildcat.’ I think we still have to run through our offense.

“We will do what best suits us there and see where we are at. I won’t say go week-to-week but a little bit of week-to-week with what we are going to do.”

Grantland Fitzgerald leads Shelbyville in all-purpose offensive yards this season. He does have quarterback experience.

“He has played quarterback before growing up,” said coach Fitzgerald, also his father. “He played it at the middle school a little bit. We will go from there but we will have some sets with Myers in there.”

Postseason draw

Shelbyville is looking at a similar postseason scenario in 2024 as 2023. The Golden Bears could use a little better luck with the postseason draw.

On Sunday, the IHSAA will announce the sectional pairings for the Football State Tournament. The program will air live at 6 p.m. at IHSAAtv.org. The pairings show also can be heard on GIANT fm locally at 96.5 fm, 106.3 fm or 1520 am.

Following a 3-6 regular season that was the most competitive the Golden Bears have been since 2017, the random draw paired the program with top-ranked East Central, the defending state champions.

On Sunday, Shelbyville’s Sectional 23 includes No. 2 Martinsville (7-0) but no other teams with a winning record. Those seven teams will look to avoid the Artesians, off to their best start since the 2001 season.

“Hopefully we will get a little bit of luck and draw somebody you feel like you can be competitive with for the entire four quarters and maybe have an opportunity to win a ball game or two,” said Fitzgerald. “We will see how that pans out.”

Steve Bush photos

Shelbyville at Mt. Vernon

Site: Hancock Stadium.

Kickoff: 7 p.m.

2024 records: Shelbyville 1-6, 0-5 HHC; Mt. Vernon 3-4, 3-2 HHC.

Coaches: Scott Fitzgerald, 4-13 in second year at Shelbyville; Vince Lidy, 30-14 in fourth year at Mt. Vernon.

Series record: Mt. Vernon leads the all-time series 19-10 and has won eight straight over the Golden Bears.

2023 meeting: Mt. Vernon defeated Shelbyville, 28-14, at McKeand Stadium on Oct. 6, 2023.

Sagarin rating: Shelbyville 42.23 (203rd overall, 46th in Class 4A); Mt. Vernon 68.33 (72nd overall, 17th in Class 4A). Mt. Vernon is a 28-point favorite.

Sectional 23: Class 4A, No. 2 Martinsville (7-0), Silver Creek (3-4), Connersville (2-5), Shelbyville (1-6), Jennings County (0-7), Greenwood (2-5), Charlestown (1-6) and Bedford North Lawrence (1-6).

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