October 10, 2016 – The Shelbyville Dragon’s season varsity football record fell to 1-5 last Friday when they fell at home, to their fellow District 11 2A rival, San Augustine Wolves by a 40-24 score. The Dragons are now 0-1 in conference competition. This was the Dragons’ fourth straight loss but the first under interim Head Football Coach, and Athletic Director, Lance Gamble. Gamble was placed at the helm following Jason Ferguson’s resignation just over one week ago.
The Wolves got an early 6-0 lead when Kenneth Davis Jr. capped a 77-yard Wolves scoring drive with a 31-yard touchdown run. Teammate Jesse Cortes tacked on the extra point kick to extend San Augustine’s lead to 7-0 with 9:37 left in the opening period.
Shelbyville pulled to within 6-7 with a 55-yard scoring drive which saw Kyle Tindol blast into the endzone on a 1-yard touchdown run. The Dragon’s extra point attempt failed and they trailed by just one point.
The Wolves turned over the ball with 5:22 left in the first period but got the ball back at the Shelbyville 34-yard line after a Dragon’s fumble with 5:11 left in the first stanza. Davis made two consecutive 17-yard runs to score the Wolves second touchdown with 4:44 left. This gave SAHS a 15-6 lead.
Shelbyville didn’t quit and bounced back with a 54-yard scoring drive with 1:04 left in the first quarter. CJ Kirkwood capped the drive with a 5-yard scoring run. The extra point was no good and the Dragons trailed 12-15.
On the first play of the second quarter, Quay Johnson scored a Wolves touchdown by weaving and dodging Dragons defenders for a 92-yard touchdown. The Wolves led 21-12 with 11:54 left in the first half. Davis Jr. added his third touchdown on the night with 6:08 left in the second period to put SAHS up 27-12.
The Dragons next drive stalled but they got the ball back when Terrell Cartwright intercepted a Wolves pass and returned it to the Dragons 26-yard line. Shelbyville’s next drive stalled when an illegal substitution penalty put them in a 4th-and-ten situation, and their pass attempt fell incomplete with 44 seconds left before the midway intermission.
The Dragons began the second half with a drive that went 23 yards before a fumble gave the Wolves the football at their 31-yard line. They held the Wolves to minimal yardage on their next drive and regained possession after a 10-yard Wolves punt was downed at the San Augustine 42-yard line. Tavion Barnes capped a 42-yard Dragons’ scoring drive with a 1-yard keeper which pulled SHS to within 18-27 of the Wolves with 5:15 left in the third quarter.
San Augustine extended their lead to 33-18 when Davis Jr. scored his fourth touchdown, from 12 yards out, with 1:11 left in the third frame. Cortes added his second extra point kick to give SAHA a 34-18 lead.
Barnes scored his second touchdown by beating the Wolves to the corner of the endzone , on second down and goal, with a keeper, with 7:01 left in the game. The extra point conversion attempt was no good and SHS trailed 24-34.
The final Wolves scoring drive was all Kenneth Davis Jr. as he covered 80 yards on three plays with runs of 52, 6 and 22 yards to score the game’s final touchdown with 5:25 left in the contest.
San Augustine held an advantage in total yards by a 455-345 margin. They had a slightly better night running the football with 362 yards, opposed to Shelbyville’s 320 yards rushing, with two fumbles. SAHS completed five passes on 11 attempts for 93 yards with 1 interception. Shelbyville passed for 25 yards and completed two passes of seven attempts with no interceptions.
Shelbyville Head Coach Lance Gamble said, “We as coaches here, and our kids, are focusing on the little things and playing with pride. I’m proud of our kids. I feel like our players are buying into what we are trying to do. We had a week and a half’s time to get people in place and start district play. Our kids fought hard and I told them that I really don’t think the scoreboard showed how hard we worked. We have some things to work on. If we had not dropped a touchdown pass or gotten a penalty on the interception, this would have been a much closer game.”
Shelbyville will next travel to Joaquin next Friday, October 14 for their second district game, with the Rams, who defeated Alto by a 24-7 score at home. Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. JHS is 4-2 and are 1-0 in conference action.
