Eagles trying to overcome Pioneers, distractions

Shelbyville running back Will Trice returns after injuring his shoulder several weeks ago and will be called up to help stabilize the Eagle offense tonight at home against Warren County at 7.
(T-G Photo by Gary Johnson)

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The Golden Eagles (0-1) lost a 20-7 heartbreaker last week at Coffee County in a game they let slip away in the second half.

The Pioneers (0-1) fell 42-25 to Class 3A's DeKalb County last week.

Both Coffee County and Warren County are in Region 3-5A.

Celebration week is a challenge each year for the Golden Eagles and their coaching staff.

"I'm not going to sugar coat it, horse show week is always hard and never fun," Shelbyville coach Jason Hardy said. "It's rough for the kids, the coaches and the parents. All we can do is make the best of the situation and try to have as good practices as we can. There is always distraction during this week, and I just hope our kids are mature enough to handle it."

There is a lesson to be learned from last year's game against the Pioneers.

After losing to Coffee County in double overtime in the season opener, Shelbyville turned in perhaps its worst effort and performance of the season at Warren County, falling 34-14.

"In that game at Warren County last year we just came out and had a total letdown," Hardy said. "That was probably the most disappointing game we played all year. We've talked about that a lot at practice this week. I hope that we've learned that we can't let what happened last week affect us this week."

Warren County rushed for 326 yards in that game, led by fullback Morgan Wilcher with 122 yards on 20 carries. Wilcher suffered an injury in the preseason and is not expected to play tonight.

Shelbyville turned the ball over six times last week, including four fumbles, and failed to punch into the end zone in four attempts from inside the 1-yard line late in the game.

Costly turnovers and too many penalties are areas in which the Eagles have worked on this week.

"Last week we just killed ourselves with all those turnovers and penalties," Hardy said. "Good teams can't beat themselves with penalties and turnovers. During the preseason turnovers really wasn't an issue and we've been pretty solid. After watching the film we had a lot of people that I wouldn't expect to get penalties but they did. If we can control and limit those two aspects of the game we've got a chance to be in every ballgame."

Injuries have already hampered the Eagles this season with a number of players not dressed out in the opener.

Several of those will be available this week, including junior running back Will Trice and senior linemen Marco Munoz and Drew Clanton.

"Thankfully we'll have a little more depth for this game, but it will be nice when we can get everybody back," Hardy said.

Once again, as with nearly every opponent on Shelbyville's schedule, it will be the Eagles' speed and quickness against Warren County's strength, size and power.

Warren County runs the veer on offense and likes to run the football and control the line of scrimmage.

Defensively, the Pioneers are big and strong up front but could be suspect to the pass. DeKalb County threw for over 200 yards against the Pioneers in the season opener.

"Warren County is big and physical and they aren't going to come out and be real fancy," Hardy said. "They are going to run the veer option offense where the fullback or quarterback going to keep it or pitch it off to the tailback."

The Eagle defense showed a lot of improvement last week. Some consistency from the young offense can give Shelbyville a major boost.

In other Region 5-4A action this week, Maplewood hosts Pearl-Cohn, Lawrence County visits Giles County, Tullahoma hosts Franklin County, Whites Creek hosts Hunters Lane, Hillsboro visits Overton and Stratford has an open date.