Shelbyville football focused on finishing Homecoming Week with win

With a limited roster, Shelbyville football head coach Scott Fitzgerald knew going into this season that long talks with the athletic training staff would not be a good sign.

After practice Tuesday at McKeand Stadium, Fitzgerald was briefed on his ailing Golden Bears but offered no specific insight whether starting running back Donavon Martin would be cleared to play Friday against New Castle.

Martin had just four carries for minus-7 yards in a 37-7 week three loss at Class 3A, No. 7 Delta before suffering a shoulder injury. The junior was not in uniform Tuesday for practice.

“We are kind of waiting for (Wednesday),” said Fitzgerald. “They don’t think it is anything serious but they need to double check some things and we will know later.”

With Martin out, Shelbyville was forced to use sophomore Grantland Fitzgerald, the team’s leading receiver, in the backfield at Delta and freshman Jasper Hahn (photo) got his first varsity carries.

“We will use both. It may be a game flow kind of thing,” said coach Fitzgerald if Martin is unavailable at game time. “Jasper may start back there if Donavon can’t go and then if we feel like we need to do something different we may put Grantland back there. I think it will be more of how the game goes and who looks good back there.”

When it was all over, Shelbyville (1-2) managed just six first downs, had only three plays result in at least 10 yards, ran 51 total plays over a total of 14 minutes, 43 seconds.

By comparison, Delta finished with nearly 300 yards rushing, collected 24 first downs and ran 73 plays over 32 minutes, 21 seconds.

“They started eight seniors on their defense, three juniors and two kids that are going Division I,” said Fitzgerald. “That’s a solid defense. Their coaches do a great job. No excuses. We just have to play better.”

While the score reflected Delta’s strength and experience, Shelbyville’s defense put itself into position to get stops.

The game opening drive told the story. The Eagles marched 80 yards on 18 plays and took eight minutes off the scoreboard clock before scoring their first touchdown. They converted a third-and-nine and two fourth down snaps to keep the drive alive.

“They got two fourth downs on the first drive, we had them in third-and-long three times but they were able to get them,” said Fitzgerald. “We made them work the ball down the field with an 8-minute drive. It was a 10-0 ball game with 3:50 left in the first half.”

Delta took full advantage of Shelbyville battling a strong headwind in the second and third quarters which kept the Golden Bears from flipping the field. Shelbyville punter Aiden Helfer-Vazquez (photo) delivered a 65-yard punt in the first quarter with the wind at his back but his next four punts into the wind traveled 25, 36, 31 and 20 yards.

“We got stuck in that back end with all that wind and we couldn’t get first downs and then they got two scores quick on us in that last three minutes,” said Fitzgerald.

While Martin, also a starting defensive back, is still questionable, Fitzgerald speculated that sophomore defensive back Cooper Thoman (photo) may miss Friday with an ankle injury. That will press the depth chart Friday night against a quarterback that has had success throwing the ball in the first three weeks.

“(New Castle) has a young quarterback like us and he throws a pretty good ball,” said Fitzgerald. “He is doing a good job. We have to get in his face when we have those opportunities and make plays when we can make plays.”

Sophomore Carson Bell has completed 30-of-64 pass attempts for 486 yards and four touchdowns. He has only thrown one interception.

The trio of Tylin Thrine (7 receptions, 57 yards), Neil McMartin (9 receptions, 244 yards) and Cade Logston (7 receptions, 120 yards) are Bell’s top targets. Thrine also has 14 carries this season.

“Thrine is the guy they want to get the ball to,” said Fitzgerald. “He is extremely fast and plays well on the defensive side as well. We have to know where he is at all times.”

Thrine, a junior, has lost just one high school wrestling match in two seasons (80-1). He was crowned state champion at 126 pounds in 2023 and finished third last season at 132 pounds.

New Castle (1-2) opened the 2024 season with a 41-14 loss at Franklin County (now 2-1) then won at Jay County, 20-0. The Trojans lost their home opener Friday against Pendleton Heights, 42-21.

Friday’s game at McKeand Stadium will be the culmination of Homecoming Week at Shelbyville. A parade and Powder Puff football games were held Wednesday and a pep rally is scheduled for Friday during school hours.

“We talked Saturday about there being a lot of distractions. There is a lot going on,” said Fitzgerald. “We have a job. Our job is to win the game on Friday night. Everything else can happen, have fun and do those things but our focus when we come out here to practice is focus on New Castle and focus on winning this game.

“That is our job for the week. We are supposed to go 1-0. We want to get to 2-2 on the year and we have to get this one to make that happen.”

New Castle at Shelbyville

Site: McKeand Stadium in Shelbyville.

Kickoff: 7 p.m.

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

SHS Student Theme: Blackout.

2024 records: New Castle 1-2, 0-1 HHC; Shelbyville 1-2, 0-1 HHC.

Coaches: Kyle York, 27-50 in 8^th year at New Castle; Scott Fitzgerald, 4-9 in second year at Shelbyville.

2023 records: New Castle 1-9; Shelbyville 3-7.

Series record: Shelbyville leads the all-time series 6-5.

2023 meeting: Shelbyville won 34-14 at New Castle on Sept. 8, 2023.

Sagarin rating: New Castle 53.69 (154th overall, 39th in Class 4A); Shelbyville 46.79 (188th overall, 48th in Class 4A). New Castle is a 5-point favorite.

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