SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – The injury-riddled  Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles (1-2, 0-1) began Region 6-6A play with a 42-0 defeat against the Franklin Admirals (2-1, 1-0) on Friday night.

The Golden Eagles committed two turnovers, and Franklin began two other possessions inside the Shelbyville 30-yard line thanks to rushed punts in the opening period. Shelbyville Central also was without multiple starters on both sides of the ball, and the inexperience showed against a good region foe.

“We put ourselves in a hole to start. We’re incredibly talented, but we’re incredibly inexperienced,” Shelbyville Central Head Coach Jud Dryden said, “Our starting left tackle was out, so a sophomore comes in to start for his first start of his career. We’re missing a senior special teams leader in Titan Long, we’re missing Torrion Mathis who can play both sides of the ball consistently well, and it all matters. We started a freshman at outside linebacker as well. Anytime you don’t have your most talented guys on the field it’s going to hurt.”

The inexperience showed from the opening kickoff, resulting in the Golden Eagles opening the game with the ball at their own seven-yard line. Franklin forced a three-and-out, taking over at the Shelbyville Central 24-yard line less than a minute into the game. However, thanks to a bad snap that sailed over the quarterback Ryder Gregg’s head, the Admirals were forced to punt.

Shelbyville Central went three-and-out once again, and then following the punt, the Admirals began their second drive of the game at the Golden Eagles’ 25-yard line, and this time they would find the end zone two plays later. Gregg found Mina David for 21 yards before Joseph Panaia rumbled into the end zone from four yards out to take a 7-0 lead with 6:51 remaining in the first quarter.

On the Golden Eagles’ third possession, Treyveon Mathis had the ball knocked out of his grasp on the second play of the drive resulting in a turnover, gifting the Admirals their second possession starting on Shelbyville Central’s 24-yard line. Shelbyville’s defense forced Gregg into a 3rd-and-13, but he found Mina in the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown pass to take a 14-0 lead with 4:29 to go in the first quarter.

After another Shelbyville Central punt, Franklin drove 62 yards on four plays to score its third touchdown of the game, this time on a Gregg pass to James Miller from 16 yards out to take a 21-0 lead with 8:14 to go in the first half.

“We had a couple busted coverages that they took advantage of,” Dryden said, “In the first half, all three of their scores were either a busted coverage or a misalignment. That was on us, and that’s where you go back to the film room and you learn from it.”

Neither team scored on their final two possessions of the first half, but the Golden Eagles came the closest. With the ball at their own 20-yard line with just 53 seconds left, a roughing the passer penalty followed by a 43-yard pass from Cyonn Rucker to Laron Brown moved the ball to the Franklin 12-yard line with two seconds left. However, trailing 21-0 and with Franklin getting the ball to start the second half, Shelbyville Central opted to go for the touchdown, but the ball fell incomplete to end the half.

Franklin opened the second half with a 10-play, 61-yard touchdown drive that took 5:09 off the clock and culminated with a nine-yard touchdown run from Panaia to take a 28-0 lead. Panaia finished the night leading all rushers with 79 yards and two touchdowns on 12 attempts.

On the ensuing Shelbyville Central drive, Rucker was picked off over the middle of the field by Cooper Jeter as he was looking for Jackson Themm, eventually resulting in an eight-yard touchdown run by Corey Cooksey to grow the lead to 35-0 with 4:50 to go in the third.

Franklin tacked on another touchdown late in the fourth quarter on a long pass to reach the final score of 42-0. For the game, Gregg finished 8-of-13 for 134 yards and two touchdowns for the Admirals. 

For Shelbyville Central, Rucker went 10-of-21 for 100 yards and one interception. He also ran for 28 yards on four attempts. On the ground, Laron Brown was the Golden Eagles’ leading rusher with eight carries for 40 yards. 

Shelbyville Central looks to bounce back with its first road trip of the season at Region 6-6A foe Independence on Friday night.