"We're a family...I'm so proud of them."”

John Dryden

It was a performance to remember for Shelbyville Central’s Robert Bailey, and it came in front of a statewide audience in Thursday night’s season-opening wire-to-wire 34-22 win at the Siegel Stars. 

Bailey was a superstar workhorse for the entire night, tallying 37 carries for 307 yards and a trio of touchdowns, but the second half is when he really took over and reached the end zone all three times.

Robert Bailey (31) gets ready to lower the boom on SCHS' opening drive.

With a sophomore quarterback in Stephen Bobo under center, most knew coming into this one that the Golden Eagles would try to lean on a young but talented offensive line in the running game to try and ease the young quarterback into his role. For Jud Dryden, the offensive line personified the message he attempts to ingrain in his team as a whole every day.

“They showed a continual improvement every snap,” Dryden explained. “They would make mistakes, we would go to the bench, get 'em fixed, come back out, fix those, make a few different mistakes because those were fixed and then we’d go back, it was just a full process. We get into halftime and we get even more things fixed, and you can’t be more proud of them for just following the process, learning through everything, and having that growth mindset. You just can’t say enough about it.”

They weren’t making too many mistakes on the Golden Eagles’ opening offensive drive though. The visitors took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field into the end zone after Bobo’s eight-yard scamper punctuated a drive that took 7:23 off the clock before Siegel even ran their first offensive snap. 

Sophomore QB Stephen Bobo (15) opens the scoring on an 8-yard TD run in the 1Q.

Siegel would go three-and-out in response, but the visitors would turn the ball over on downs in the Stars’ territory on the ensuing drive.

Siegel only found themselves on Shelbyville’s side of the field with about nine minutes to go in the second quarter after a rolled snap to the punter on fourth down ended with Siegel getting the ball at the four yard line. To no surprise, the hosts would punch it in on the next play with Corey Jennifer finding the end zone. However, Siegel muffed the ensuing extra point snap, and the score stayed 7-6 with 8:45 left in the first half. 

The Golden Eagles got all the way down to the Siegel 27 yard-line on their next drive where they faced a fourth and two. To everyone’s surprise, Bobo dropped back to pass and aired it out to the end zone where it was intercepted at the one yard line. After discussion, it was ruled a touchback instead, but Shelbyville’s defense shut down Siegel’s offense and forced another punt after a three-and-out.

The visitors started their final drive of the first half with great field position at midfield, and this time they found the end zone, although they benefited from a very fortunate deflection in the process. With about 90 seconds to go in the first half, Stephen Bobo seemingly airmailed a quick screen out to his left intended for his older brother, William Bobo. A Siegel defender jumped up to make a play on the ball, but it was thrown so high that it deflected off of his fingers even higher into the air and nestled in the waiting arms of Bobo who was escorted to the end zone with 1:24 left in the second quarter to take a 14-6 lead into the halftime locker room.

Siegel would receive the ball to begin the second half, but once again, the Shelbyville Central defense imposed its will on the Stars’ offense, forcing another three-and-out. The Golden Eagles then went on a 70-yard touchdown march that was capped off with a 31-yard touchdown scamper by Bailey to extend the visitors’ lead to 21-6 with 8:02 left in the third quarter.

Unfortunately for Shelbyville, after celebrating the touchdown run, they were hit with not one, but two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, pushing the kickoff all the way back to their own seven yard line. 

“It’s kind of a balance, if they do that over here on our sideline it never gets called, it’s just because it’s over there in that corner,” Dryden explained. “We want them to celebrate with their brothers, and that’s what they were doing, but it was just the wrong place. Something we’ll have to talk about and deal with.”

After the return, Siegel began their drive at the visitors’ 22-yard line, and on the very first play, wide receiver Jadyn Willis found the end zone with 7:44 left in the third quarter to make it a 21-13 game and inject some belief into the hosts’ sideline.

The Stars’ defense certainly played like it, as they forced a three-and-out on the ensuing possession. After yet another bad snap to the punter, Siegel had the ball on the plus-28 yard line. Facing a fourth and seven, the Stars threw short of the sticks for a six-yard completion, and the Shelbyville Central defense celebrated on the sideline. 

Unfortunately for them, the offense fumbled the ball right back to Siegel on the very next play. The hosts would take advantage of their second chance, capping off the 17-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Drew Hostetler. After the Golden Eagles stuffed the two-point conversion attempt, they held onto a slim 21-19 lead with 3:36 left in the third quarter and needed a response from their offense. 

They got just that after Bailey broke one down the right sideline for 53 yards to Siegel’s 17-yard line. Facing a 4th-and-4 at the 11-yard line, Stephen Bobo kept the ball on a read option and pounded his way to the one-yard line. After Bailey punched it home on the very next play, the Golden Eagles went back up by two scores, 28-19, to end the third quarter.

John Dryden (left) and Robert Bailey (31) on the sidelines following one of his three touchdowns.

After trading possessions, Siegel finally found a chunk play offensively after a 46-yard completion to Hostetler moved the Stars down to the visitor’s 30-yard line. A few plays later, the Shelbyville defense forced a chip shot field goal with the Stars facing a 4th-and-6 at the seven-yard line, cutting their lead to 28-22 with 7:03 to go.

Needing one long drive to put the game away, the Golden Eagles got just that after Bailey broke free through a massive hole created by the offensive line for a 53-yard touchdown down the left sideline for what would be the final points of the game with 5:59 to go.

Siegel would go three-and-out once again, and after another punt, the Golden Eagles were able to lean on their offensive line to run out the final 4:52 and secure the 12-point road win, sparking a rather enthusiastic and jubilant celebration along the sidelines.

“We’re a family,” Dryden said with a huge smile. “We preach it, we do things to try and make it happen, we bring them together, we’re constantly working on them, and truly believe in servant leadership and a brotherhood where all I do is for you and not necessarily for me. That’s been a big thing for us since we took over, and it’s really starting to pay dividends even in tough moments.”

“I’m proud of them.”

While the performance of Bailey was nothing short of impressive, Dryden acknowledged that this is only the beginning of their journey as a team, but also offensively for the games ahead.

“We’ll have to continue to look to expand a little bit offensively,” he concluded. “Marshall and Coffee County are both going to get this film, so we’ll have to continue to expand, but the nice thing is this is the beginning.”

We haven’t topped out yet because we are so young,” Dryden emphasized, “so that’s really a positive in this case that we’re looking forward to.”

Siegel starts the year 0-1 and will travel to LaVergne on Friday.

Shelbyville Central gets their first win of the season to move to 1-0, and will host Marshall County in their home opener on Thursday night where they will honor the historic Bedford County Training School, LIVE on WLIJ 98.7.