SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – Trailing 7-0 with two minutes to go and facing a 4th-and-7 at the Tullahoma 25-yard line, Shelbyville Central (1-0, 0-0) looked to be one play away from being shut out in its season opener. Instead, sophomore quarterback Cyonn Rucker dropped back, uncorked a beautiful touch pass down the left sideline, hitting Jackson Themm perfectly in stride to give the Golden Eagles a second wind heading into overtime, before Themm eventually kicked the game-winning field goal to secure a 13-10 win in 2OT.

Rucker, who finished 6-for-23 through the air for 73 yards and a touchdown for the game, orchestrated a masterful late-stage scoring drive that took 5:01 off the clock by going 4-of-9 for 58 yards and capping it off with the 25-yard touchdown pass to his tight end, Jackson Themm, with 1:49 remaining in the final frame. Themm was also the recipient of all four completions on the game-tying drive.

“Everything is worked on in practice, and it gets dialed up as needed in a game,” Golden Eagles’ Head Coach Jud Dryden said postgame, “You can go back across all kinds of games that we’ve had where plays get made that we work on in practice. The big thing there is that the guys believe because of the practice reps we take under stress, and it helps us even when we have young guys out there.”

Neither team scored again before overtime, and both defenses bowed up in the first extra frame to force a field goal. Tullahoma (0-1, 0-0) got the ball to start the second overtime, and on second-and-goal from the seven-yard line, Wildcats’ quarterback Patrick Riddle attempted to scramble, but fumbled the football into the clutches of a Golden Eagle defender.

Shelbyville Central got all the way down to the one-yard line, but they had to settle for a 21-yard field goal to try and walk off the Wildcats. Themm, who is also the Golden Eagles’ starting middle linebacker, calmly stepped up and knocked it through to complete the comeback rivalry win. 

“Watching Jackson [Themm] kick the [earlier] PAT, we thought, might as well,” Dryden said, “He hadn’t gotten many reps kicking in practice [despite kicking for much of last season].”

Thanks to his overall performance, Themm was awarded the team hammer postgame.

“Part of what we talk about in the program is having the intensity of focus that is hammer-like,” said Dryden, “In order to drive a nail hard, you have to hit it directly and with a ton of force. That takes focus and intensity.”

Early on, the Golden Eagles were able to drive the length of the field on the backs of a strong running game and reach the red zone on two first-half possessions, but ultimately came away with zero points. The second drive saw Shelbyville Central take 15 plays to run 6:17 off the clock, but the Golden Eagles were stuffed on back-to-back running plays from the Tullahoma one-yard line with 1:41 left before halftime.

To make matters worse, this came after Tullahoma had put together a nearly six-minute touchdown drive of their own, capped off with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Riddle to Landin Johnson with 8:04 to go in the first half. Riddle finished 14/27 with 167 yards passing and the one touchdown for the game.

However, despite the untimely offensive struggles, the Golden Eagles’ defense completely shut down the Wildcats run game, allowing Shelbyville Central to stay within striking distance for the entire night.

“A lot of [our defense’s] success came from controlling the run game,” Dryden said, “Controlling the running game is huge because then we can help impact the passing game by affecting the quarterback. If you don’t have to worry about one phase of the offense, then there’s only one phase left. We’ve talked a lot about inexperienced youth in the secondary, and it showed up at times, but the talent also showed up at times.”

Neither team scored in the third quarter, but Tullahoma came the closest. After forcing a three-and-out to open the third quarter, the Wildcats reached the Golden Eagles’ 18-yard line before being stopped. On 4th-and-13, Aiden Walker’s 35-yard field goal attempt was denied by the right upright, preserving the score at 7-0 with 7:17 to go in the third.

Shelbyville Central managed a pair of first downs on the ensuing drive, but eventually were forced to punt. Despite starting on their own seven-yard line, the Wildcats drove all the way inside the Golden Eagles’ 10-yard line. However, penalties pushed Tullahoma back to the 29-yard line, and Walker’s 46-yard field goal was well short with 20 seconds to go in the third.

After both teams traded punts, the Golden Eagles got the ball at their own 17-yard line with 6:50 remaining in the fourth quarter. Rucker found Themm for 15 yards over the middle on 2nd-and-10. Long, who came in for the injured Torrion Mathis and finished with 18 carries for 62 yards on the night, picked up two yards, plus five more for a Wildcat facemask. Two plays later, on third down, Themm once again delivers, hauling in a 12-yard catch to move the chains to the Tullahoma 48-yard line.

Long ran for exactly 10 yards over the next three plays to move the sticks again before Tullahoma was drawn offsides with 3:22 to go. A six-yard completion to Themm right at the marker moved the chains yet again on third down, and then after an incompletion, the Golden Eagles were facing a 3rd-and-7 before using their second timeout of the half. Rucker was unable to find an open receiver, bringing up the pivotal fourth down, but the Wildcats lost Themm in man coverage down the left sideline, and Rucker lofted a perfectly-placed pass into the waiting arms of his tight end for the game-tying 25-yard touchdown.

Despite the close scoreline, Shelbyville Central dominated the ground game, finishing with 41 rush attempts as a team for 202 yards. Torrion Mathis, even after he was forced to leave the game early due to an injury, finished as the game’s leading rusher with 66 yards on five attempts. Treyveon Mathis went 15 for 51, and the aforementioned Long totaled 62 yards on 18 rushes.

“Treyveon [Mathis] ran hard. He had a few misses where he could have popped for more, but Titan Long coming in and being a bruiser I think was huge.”

The Golden Eagles host non-region foe Marshall County on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m.