New Castle spoils Shelbyville’s Homecoming celebration with 28-7 victory at McKeand Stadium

New Castle dinked and dunked its way to a 28-7 victory Friday at McKeand Stadium to spoil Shelbyville’s Homecoming.

Cade Logston reeled in two short passes from quarterback Carson Bell and found his way to the end zone for a pair of first-half touchdowns. The junior added a third touchdown early in the fourth quarter that proved to be a back breaker for the Golden Bears.

Logston finished the Hoosier Heritage Conference game with eight catches for 96 yards. Caleb Clapp carried the ball 21 times for 113 yards which included a fourth-quarter 47-yard scoring scamper that set the final score.

Following a week of Homecoming activities, Shelbyville came out listless and wasted several opportunities to reverse its fortune.

“I’m at a little bit of a loss to be honest with you,” said Shelbyville head coach Scott Fitzgerald. “We just came out flat and I don’t understand it. We tried different things to get them fired up. We felt like it was a game we could get and they were a little bit tight so to speak and it just took us awhile to get going.

“We are trying to figure that out. I told them afterward I feel like I am failing them. We just have to keep battling.”

Shelbyville's Wes Bailey (bottom) gets tangled up with New Castle's Tylin Thrine (5) along the sideline.

Shelbyville, now 1-3 (0-2 HHC), opened the second half trailing 14-0 but was lifted by Grantland Fitzgerald’s 62-yard kickoff return to set the offense up at the New Castle 32-yard line.

On the next play, freshman running back Jasper Hahn got stripped of the ball for the game’s first turnover. Shelbyville’s next possession was stalled by a holding penalty on first down.

But the defense was holding its own despite New Castle’s “death by a thousand paper cuts” offense that sprung two first-half touchdowns.

“It was nothing we hadn’t seen all week long, coming down and making a play,” said Fitzgerald. “It’s just coming down and being physical and making a play. If we make a couple of those plays, and don’t let them just break that one you don’t know what can happen, but we are not making those plays right now.”

Shelbyville's Keagan Turner takes down New Castle's Tylin Thrine (5).

The Golden Bears stuffed a punt attempt on the Trojans’ next possession which set up a drive at the NC 31. Eight plays later, on fourth down, quarterback Tyler Gwinnup found Grantland Fitzgerald in the end zone for a 15-yard scoring strike to cut the lead to 14-7.

New Castle (2-2, 1-1 HHC) went back to pounding the line of scrimmage with Clapp and connecting on short passes before Logston broke a route deep for a 28-yard touchdown that took the life out of the Golden Bears.

Bell completed 20-of-27 pass attempts for 152 yards and three touchdowns.

Gwinnup was similar in performance, completing 21-of-29 passes for 100 yards. Fitzgerald had a game-high 69 yards.

The Golden Bears finished with 20 rushing yards on 12 carries. Starting running back Donavon Martin did not play after suffering a shoulder injury in the week three loss at Delta.

“The last thing I told the kids is it is time to do some soul searching,” said coach Fitzgerald. “That’s what it is about. And that goes for us as coaches too. We have to figure what it is that we are doing, what is working and what isn’t working and how do we make it work.

“We have half a season left. We can either correct this or tuck our head between our legs and roll over and let it happen to us. I don’t think we’re that group. I don’t think they are that kind of kids. I want to see the response. We have to have response because we still have big games coming up.”

Shelbyville hosts Class 4A, No. 4 Greenfield-Central (4-0, 2-0 HHC), a 28-14 winner over Pendleton Heights Friday, at McKeand Stadium next Friday.

Steve Bush photos.