WINCHESTER – Overcoming adversity is nothing new to No. 10 ranked Shelbyville Central this season.

With sophomore starting quarterback Kade Cunningham out due to an illness, senior backup quarterback Slayde Simmons turned in a stellar performance for the Golden Eagles in a 43-14 Region 5 5-A matchup on Thursday evening.

Simmons connected on 8-of-13 passes for 205 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

He also rushed for 92 yards on nine carries with a touchdown.

***Filling gap

“Great job by Slayde to step up and play as well as he did at quarterback with basically just a couple of practices,” Shelbyville Central coach Justin Palmer said. “It’s the first time in my coaching career I’ve had to start a backup quarterback. I wouldn’t want any other guy doing it because Slayde can play anywhere on the field and play well.”

It wasn’t the start of the game Shelbyville Central had hoped for as Franklin County got on the scoreboard first when Dakote Waggoner scored on a one yard run midway through the opening quarter. Matthew Kreidenweis connected the kick after for the 7-0 lead.

Shelbyville Central (8-1, 3-1 5 5-A) responded with 35 unanswered points to take control of the game.

Simmons connected with Devyn DeFilipo on a 12 yard touchdown pass, Demarcus Smalls scored on a 33 yard run, Jordan Henderson had a scoop and score, returning a fumble 37 yards, while Simmons hooked up with Mason Wright for a 38 yard TD pass, all of which came in the second quarter. Harrison Canter was perfect on each kick after to give Shelbyville Central a 28-7 advantage at halftime.

***Closer focus

“I think part of the issue at the beginning of the game was lack of focus. We had gone through a lot of adversity this week, just like we have all season,” Palmer said. “Hats off to the team. Once again, they handled the adversity the way they needed to and I’m proud of them doing that.”

The Eagles added a touchdown in the third quarter when Smalls found the end zone on a 10 yard run. Canter’s kick after increased the lead to 35-7.

The Rebels final score came late in the third quarter off a six yard run by Tahj Taylor. The kick after was good making the score 35-14.

Simmons scored on a six yard run early in the fourth quarter the rushed for the two-point conversion to round out the scoring in the game.

***Stats

Shelbyville Central senior Myson Day had his most productive performance of the season with five catches totaling 147 yards.

Smalls finished with 91 yards on 15 carries.

Rebel quarterback Isaiah Sisk connected on 21-of-35 for 229 yards and an interception while Waggoner had 16 touches for 74 yards.

Defensively, Simmons had an interception to go along with Henderson’s scoop and score.

Elijah Malone was in on 14 tackles, while Gary Smith III finished with 12. Laquan Young added 11 and Henderson 10 and Austin McBee ended with eight apiece.

“Our defense continues to get turnovers and create points and that always great to see, Palmer said. “We may have given up a few too many big plays, but they did a good job of not allowing many points.”

The Eagles close out the regular season on the road at Columbia in a region matchup on Friday night at 7.

Shelbyville Central 0 28 7 8 - 43

Franklin County 7 0 7 0 - 14

First Quarter

FC – Dakote Waggoner 1 run, (Matthew Kreidenweis kick) 7:07.

Second Quarter

SC – Devyn DeFilipo 12 pass from Slayde Simmons, (Harrison Canter kick) 11:11.

SC – Demarcus Smalls 33 run, (Canter kick) 10:31.

SC – Jordan Henderson 37 fumble return, (Canter kick) 10:05.

SC – Mason Wright 38 pass from Simmons, (Canter kick) 5:49.

Third Quarter

SC – Smalls 10 run, (Canter kick) 4:42.

FC – Tahj Taylor 6 run, (Kreidenweis kick) 0:22.

Fourth Quarter

SC – Simmons 6 run, (Simmons run) 10:20.

THE YARD STICK

SC FC

Rushing Yards 183 118

Passing Yards 205 229

Total Yards 388 347

First Downs 12 21

Penalties-Yards 6-85 8-65

Turnovers 0 2

Returns-Yards 1-37 6-96

3rd Down Conv. 2-of-6 2-of-10

4th Down Conv. 1-of-3 2-of-6

Time of Poss. 17:26 30:34

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