TULLAHOMA, TN – The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles won their second-consecutive Region 5-5A Regular Season Championship after outlasting the Tullahoma Wildcats inside of Wilkins Stadium, 28-27, on Friday night.

The Golden Eagles finished their second straight season with an undefeated region record under third-year head coach, Jud Dryden, and wrapped up a top seed for the upcoming playoffs after sophomore Stephen Bobo’s game-sealing diving interception at midfield with 44 seconds left to slam the door shut on the Wildcats. 

“He’s a competitor,” Dryden said about Bobo, who accounted for 237 total yards offensively as well as the game-winning INT. “He’s just a great leader by example, great kid, I mean you can’t speak kindly enough of him. He’s very talented, but at the same time his character and competitive nature is just as big as his talent.”

A Chase Dodson missed extra point following Tullahoma’s fourth and final touchdown proved to be the difference in the end. Marvancy Johnson was the game’s leading rusher, tallying 151 yards and 2 TDs on 20 carries for the Wildcats to offset a passing attack led by Lucas Reed that struggled. Reed finished the night 5/14 for just 91 yards, but did throw 2 TDs along with 1 INT. 

Stephen Bobo went 6/14 for 109 yards and 1 TD while also running for 128 yards and 1 TD on 18 carries for the Golden Eagles. Robert Bailey also ran for over 100 yards, tallying 103 yards and 1 TD on 24 carries.

After both teams ended their opening drives with a punt, Tullahoma got the scoring started after Marvancy Johnson scampered for 43 yards down the left sideline to the end zone with 5:43 left in the first quarter to give the Wildcats an early 7-0 lead. 

On the ensuing possession, Shelbyville got Stephen Bobo going on the ground to get inside the Tullahoma 30-yard line before he found his older brother, William Bobo, for a 21-yard completion to get to the Wildcats 5-yard line. After Bailey pushed forward for two yards, the younger Bobo pulled the ball on a read option to saunter in untouched for a 3-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 with 1:17 to go in the opening period. 

After Tullahoma punted twice to sandwich a Shelbyville punt, the Golden Eagles got the ball at their own 20-yard line with just under seven minutes to go in the first half and began marching down the field. After Bailey ran for two yards on the first play, Shelbyville converted a Bobo-to-Bobo connection for 45 yards on a double move to the Tullahoma 36-yard line. Three plays later, Bobo ran for four yards on 4th-&-5, but a facemask penalty called against the Wildcats gave the Golden Eagles a first down inside the red zone. A few plays later, Nate Zimmerman punched it into the end zone from one yard out to give Shelbyville their first lead at 14-7 with 2:43 left in the first half. Neither team could get anything going on their next possession to close out the half, sending both teams to the locker room in a one-score game. 

To start the second half, the Golden Eagles came out of the break and went on an 80-yard touchdown march with an emphasis on the ground game. Robert Bailey punctuated the 13-play, 80-yard drive with an 18-yard touchdown run to double the Shelbyville lead to 21-7, taking 6:37 off the clock.

Robert Bailey (31) reaches the end zone on his 18-yard TD run on Friday.

With their backs against the wall, the Wildcats responded with an 80-yard touchdown drive of their own that included a 40-yard bomb from Reed to Alex Bobo to get to the Golden Eagles’ 21-yard line. A few plays later, Marvancy Johnson found the end zone for the second time on a 9-yard touchdown run with 2:45 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 21-14.

Then, Tullahoma was handed a gift from Sehlbyville’s special teams. On the kickoff, the Wildcats pooched the ball to one of the Golden Eagles’ upbacks, and a miscommunication led to the ball falling to the ground and the hosts finding a way to recover at the SCHS 30-yard line.

The Golden Eagles defense did all they could, but a few too many penalties all of a sudden in a game that was pretty flag-free before this possession gave Tullahoma extra chances. The Wildcats finally found the end zone on an 8-yard fade route TD catch by Alex Bobo to tie the game at 21-21 with 58 seconds left in the third quarter.

However, on this kickoff, the Golden Eagles made a play on the pooch kick. Junior Xzayvier Jordan, one of the up-men, reversed field down the left sideline and was shoved out of bounds at the Tullahoma 41-yard line to set up the eventual game-winning touchdown drive.

After two Bailey runs totaling six yards and a Bobo incomplete pass, the Golden Eagles faced a 4th-&-4 from the Tullahoma 35-yard line. Dryden decided to go for it, and Bobo dropped back, delivering a pump fake to Labron Ransom as the Shelbyville WR put a double move on his defender to give Bobo just enough space to drop it in over his shoulder for a 35-yard touchdown to give SCHS a 28-21 lead.

Labron Ransom (2) caught the game-winning 35-yd TD in the 4Q against Tullahoma.

“It was set up well earlier in the game, and a 4th & 4 is one of those where it could be a run or a pass and having something at that hitch level where it’s a first down, that’s big, and then being able to go score, it’s awesome,” Dryden said about Ransom’s big play touchdown.

On the Wildcats ensuing drive, Johnson quickly got Tullahoma to the Shelbyville 30-yard line. Reed then dropped back to pass for the first time on the drive, finding Khani Johnson on a post down the middle of the field for a 30-yard touchdown to cut the lead to one. However, what should have been an easy extra point was doinked off the right crossbar by Chase Dodson, preserving the Golden Eagles’ one0-point lead with 8:32 to go in the final frame. 

Following the kickoff, Shelbyville started what would be their final offensive drive at their own 28-yard line with 8:25 left in the fourth quarter. Leaning on their offensive line, the Golden Eagles went on a 13-play, 70-yard drive that stalled at the Tullahoma 8-yard line with 1:55 to go. Dryden sent out Ben Betzelberger for a 25-yard field goal, and after making the first attempt that didn’t count because of offsetting penalties, he pulled the second kick wide left, giving Tullahoma the ball at their own 20-yard line, but with just 1:48 left in the fourth quarter needing to get in field goal range.

With the clock against them, Tullahoma managed to pick up one first down on a Reed third-down scramble at their own 30-yard line with just 50 seconds left. On the very next play, Stephen Bobo came up with his game-sealing interception off of a deflection at midfield to seal the victory.

“Nice and long…those drives are huge,” Dryden said postgame about his offense’s two long drives that drained the majority of the clock and limited possessions, “That’s all Coach [Jc] Hunsaker and those guys on offense, and that offensive staff does such a great job.”

Tullahoma falls to 6-4 (4-2) and finish third place in Region 5-5A.

Shelbyville improves to 9-1 (6-0) and will host Hillsboro at the Eagles Nest on Friday night, LIVE on WLIJ 98.7 at 6:45 p.m.