In a battle between the two remaining teams still unbeaten in Region 5-5A play, the Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles forced four turnovers en route to defeating the hometown Lincoln County Falcons, 35-7, on Friday night.
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In a battle between the two remaining teams still unbeaten in Region 5-5A play, the Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles forced four turnovers en route to defeating the hometown Lincoln County Falcons, 35-7, on Friday night.
The Golden Eagles needed to throw the ball just eight times, but Stephen Bobo took full advantage, finishing 4/8 for 105 yards and 1 TD. He also led the Golden Eagles in rushing, carrying the ball just four times for 75 yards.
Lincoln County was held to less than 200 yards of total offense with Brett Dobbs leading the way with 105 yards rushing and 1 TD on 32 carries, averaging just 3.3 yards per attempt against a stingy and physical Golden Eagles’ defense.
The first Shelbyville score was set up late in the first quarter after senior Palmer Edwards picked off a Maddox Edwards pass and was brought down in Falcons’ territory at the 41-yard line. A 14-yard Bobo run on 4th-and-3 gave Shelbyville a first down, and three plays later, Nate Zimmerman found the end zone from five yards out for the first score of the game with 1:28 left in the first period. Zimmerman finished the night with just over 30 yards rushing on seven attempts. After Ben Betzelberger connected on the extra point, Shelbyville had a 7-0 lead going into the second quarter.
The second 12 minutes were a defensive battle of field position, but then Bobo connected with Labron Ranson down the left sideline for 37 yards to get inside the 10-yard line. A few plays later, Robert Bailey found the end zone from a yard out on a sweep around the left side to double the Golden Eagles lead with 1:09 left in the first half. Bailey finished with just over 40 yards rushing on nine carries against a stout Falcons’ defense. Shelbyville then took the 14-0 lead into the halftime locker room.
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To start the second half, the Falcons took advantage of a nice kickoff return to put together their first and only scoring drive of the night. Dobbs punched it in from the 2-yard line to cut the Shelbyville lead to 14-7 with 10:40 left in the third quarter. Neither team could break through the other’s defense for the rest of the period, sending this massive Region 5-5A contest into the fourth as a one-score game.
Then, on the first play of the final frame, Bobo found Ransom left all alone on a stack release down the right sideline for a 66-yard TD to put the Golden Eagles back on top by two scores, 21-7, with 11:48 to go.
On the ensuing Falcons’ possession, Shelbyville forced the hosts into a 4th-and-7 at midfield. Edwards dropped back to pass, then retreated to his own 35-yard line scrambling in circles against a ferocious Golden Eagles’ pass rush. Eventually, Edwards was brought down at his own 30-yard line, but not before the ball was put on the ground with Zyon Bonner picking the ball up and scoring on a scoop-and-score from about 30 yards out to extend the lead to 28-7 with 9:15 to go in the fourth.
Shelbyville tacked on one final score on a 66-yard pick-six by Labron Ranson, who jumped an underneath crossing route in Cover 2 for an easy house call to put the Golden Eagles up by the final margain, 35-7, with 7:37 left in the fourth quarter.
Lincoln County falls to 6-3 (4-1) on the season.
Shelbyville Central improves to 8-1 (5-0) and will travel to Tullahoma on Friday night with a chance to repeat as the Region 5-5A regular season champions with a win, LIVE on WLIJ 98.7 at 6:45 p.m.
