The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles came out of their bye week on the road at Spring Hill and dominated the Raiders from start to finish, 54-7, on Friday night. 

A 41-point first half avalanche caused by the visiting Golden Eagles was more than enough to pull away and win comfortably. Star tailback, Robert Bailey, finished with 159 yards rushing and a trio of TDs on just 16 carries, and he was complimented by sophomore Nate Zimmerman who finished with 11 rushes for 80 yards and 3 TDs of his own.

Defensively, the Golden Eagles forced three turnovers against the Spring Hill offense. Maddox Wright corralled two INTs while Zimmerman also came up with a fumble recovery.

Nate Zimmerman (20) finished with a career-high 3 TDs rushing. He also recovered a Spring Hill fumble

On the opening possession, Shelbyville marched right down the field, and sophomore quarterback, Stephen Bobo, capped off the visitors’ first drive with a 6-yard TD pass to Maddox Wright with less than two minutes off the clock. Bobo finished the game a respectable 8/15 through the air for 130 yards and 2 TDs. 

Bailey got his scoring going in the first quarter with TD runs of six and two yards, respectively. The first came with 3:35 left, and the second came almost two minutes later with 1:45 to go in the opening period to give Shelbyville a commanding 21-0 lead.

Spring Hill found their only score of the game five seconds into the second quarter on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Cordell Isaac to Jackson Westbeld, but that would be the last time the Golden Eagles defense allowed the hometown Raiders to find the end zone all night.

On the ensuing drive, the Golden Eagles punched it in from one yard out for the first of Zimmerman’s three TDs with 8:26 left to extend their lead, 28-7.

After the defense came up with a stop, Stephen Bobo capped off another TD drive, this time finding Labron Ransom for a 22-yard TD pass with 4:10 to go in the first half to grow the lead to 35-7.

Stephen Bobo (16) finished 8/15 for 130 yards and 2 TDs

Following one more defensive stand, the Golden Eagles capped off the 21-point second quarter with another Zimmerman TD run, this time from 7 yards out to push the halftime lead to 41-7 after a failed extra point. 

Bailey would tack on his third rushing TD of the night from five yards out with 7:05 to go in the third quarter to make the lead 48-7, and after a one-yard Zimmerman TD run with about three minutes to go in the final frame, Shelbyville would finalize an impressive Region 5-5A road win, 55-7.

Spring Hill falls to 1-7 (0-4).

Shelbyville Central improves to 6-1 (3-0) and continues Region 5-5A play on Friday against Lawrence County, LIVE on WLIJ 98.7 at 6:45 p.m.