SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles (5-5, 4-2) wrapped up regular season play with a 28-14 win on Senior Night at home against Coffee County (2-8, 1-5) on Thursday in a Region 6-6A contest.

The Golden Eagles, in their return to the highest classification in Tennessee High School Football, finish the regular season with a .500 record overall and a winning record in region play. Most importantly, Shelbyville Central is headed back to the postseason.

“Through 11 weeks, we have just grown so much,” Golden Eagles’ Head Coach Jud Dryden said postgame, “Our seniors and leadership have grown, our young guys have grown, our young guys have grown, everybody has grown, and it is an absolute testimony to them, their mindset, and what they wanted to accomplish this year. Especially since everybody said that it probably couldn’t happen, so we are incredibly proud from those seniors on down.”

Even without Robert Bailey, who was held out for precautionary reasons after re-aggravating a lower-leg injury a week ago, Shelbyville ran for 425 yards as a team, including a career high 246 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries from sophomore Torrion Mathis. Stephen Bobo finished with 15 rushes for 124 yards and one touchdown, and Treyvion Mathis chipped in with nine carries for 55 yards and one touchdown. 

“Those dudes [offensive line] have been playing ball week after week,” said Dryden, “Everybody knows about Robert [Bailey], but that offensive line shows just how important they are in all those yards that Robert has because there hasn’t been a let-off, at all. Two more backs come in and have the same production.”

Torrion Mathis (16) fights hard for extra yards. Mathis led all players with a career-high 246 yards rushing to go along with 2 TDs on just 21 carries (11.7 YPC) in Thursday's win.

T-G Staff Photo - Noah Maddox

Early on, however, Coffee County came out looking like the more inspired team, marching right down the field on its opening drive with a 11-play, 94-yard TD drive that took 5:28 off the clock, punctuated by a 26-yard touchdown run from Jett Trussler to take an early 7-0 lead with 5:10 to go in the opening period.

The Golden Eagles did respond, generating a 9-play, 82-yard scoring march that took 4:40 off the clock that Stephen Bobo capped off with a 13-yard touchdown run, his eighth of the season. However, the extra point was missed, and Coffee County still held a 7-6 lead with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.

Coffee County drove down into Golden Eagles’ territory, but Shelbyville’s defense forced a turnover-on-downs. However, the Red Raiders forced a three-and-out thanks to a holding penalty, and they tipped a Stephen Bobo pooch punt which gave the visitors excellent field position at their own 49-yard line.

The Red Raiders would find the end zone on a 19-yard touchdown run by Cam Stafford, who finished as their leading rusher with five carries for 53 yards and the one score. His run capped a 7-play, 51-yard touchdown drive that used up 3:45 of the clock, extending Coffee County’s lead to 14-6 with 5:04 to play in the first half.

Shelbyville yet again found a response, and after Bobo sprinted for 45 yards into Red Raiders’ territory, Torrion Mathis found the end zone from eight yards out before Bobo ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14-14 with 2:12 to go in the half. The Golden Eagles went 81 yards in seven plays and took just 2:39 off the clock, and sent the hosts into the halftime locker room in a tie game.

“You get past the emotions of the first half with it being senior night and everything going on, mistakes put us behind the chains several times, so you get into halftime and you have a moment to stop and reset your mind,” Dryden explained. “All of a sudden, it’s not about emotions, it’s about focus and intensity. There’s no emotions in that, it’s focus and intensity, and that’s what they brought out in the second.”

After Ladarius Sparrow blocked a 45-yard field goal attempt on Coffee County’s drive to start the second half, a Bobo screen pass interception thwarted the Golden Eagles ensuing offensive possession in the red zone. However, with Coffee County threatening near the red zone, Sparrow picked off an overthrown slant from Kaysen Lowery on the first play of the fourth quarter to give Shelbyville the momentum for good.

The Golden Eagles used 5:21 off the clock to drive 79 yards in 11 plays, capped off by a 10-yard touchdown run by Torrion Mathis on 4th-&-Goal from the 10-yard line with 6:30 to go. After Mathis ran in the two-point conversion, Shelbyville took its first lead of the night at 22-14.

Shelbyville’s defense picked the perfect time to force its first three-and-out of the night, giving the ball back to its offense with 5:20 remaining. 121 seconds later, Shelbyville nearly doubled its lead when Treyvion Mathis ran in his first touchdown of the night from three yards out with 3;19 left in the game. The two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score at 28-14.

On Coffee County’s final drive of the night, Reager Edwards, who dropped a sure-fire pick-six at the end of the first half, got in the way of a Lowery pass over the middle of the field for the interception, sealing the Golden Eagles’ fifth win of the season in the process. After completing his first five passes of the game, Lowery finished 13/22 passing overall for 145 yards and a pair of INTs.

With the win and the Antioch Bears taking down Rossview, the Golden Eagles are officially the 3-seed from Region 6-6A in next week’s playoffs and will travel to Antioch, the 2-seed from Region 5-6A, on Friday, November 6th, at 7:00 p.m.

“It’s going to be interesting. We’re going to be looking at going up against possibly one of the top four quarterbacks in the state of Tennessee [Andre Adams], so that’s going to be a challenge in and of itself. We feel like our offensive line can compete with most anybody, so it’s going to be interesting to say the least.”

Heading into last night’s contest against Rossview, Adams had compiled 30 touchdown passes, 11 rushing touchdowns, and thrown just one interception while leading his team in both passing and rushing yards. The 3-star quarterback recruit in the Class of 2027 has scholarship offers from Vanderbilt, Arkansas, and Auburn, among others.