The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles wasted no time on Senior Night against Lawrence County on Friday night, scoring on their first offensive play en route to a 42-14 blowout win. 

Shelbyville’s defense, which has been rounding into form as the season has progressed, dominated the visiting Wildcats, forcing four turnovers – including 3 INTs – on the night and giving up less than 150 total yards. Labron Ransom, Stephen Bobo, and William Bobo all recorded an INT, and Palmer Edwards recovered a fumble.

Stephen Bobo got the party started with a 42-yard TD scamper to give the Golden Eagles the 7-0 lead with 11:36 left in the opening period.

After the Golden Eagles defense dispatched of the Wildcats offense on their opening drive, Bobo found Robert Bailey on a well-executed screen pass for a 30-yard TD through the air to double their lead, 14-0, with 6:14 to go in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Lawrence County got on the board after Gage Smith fielded a missed 52-yard field goal attempt and took it the other way for six to cut the lead in half, 14-7, with 5:58 left in the first half. However, this would be as close as the Wildcats would get. On the ensuing possession, the Golden Eagles capped off a long drive with a 3-yard TD run by Nate Zimmerman to go up 21-7 with 1:17 to go in the first half. Zimmerman finished the night with 3 TDs on the ground for the second consecutive game along with just over 130 rushing yards on 19 carries.

Nate Zimmerman (20) finished with a game-high 3 TDs rushing.

Coming out to start the second half, the Shelbyville defense came up with another stop, and the Golden Eagles ground attack kept pouring it on. Zimmerman would cap off the drive with yet another 3-yard TD run to extend the lead to 28-7 with 8:18 left in the third quarter. Exactly seven minutes later, with 1:18 on the clock, Zimmerman found the end zone for the third and final time. This time, it was from seven yards out, and it gave Shelbyville a commanding 35-7 lead going into the final frame.

Stephen Bobo’s second rushing TD on the night – and his third total – from eight yards out put the finishing touches on a dominant night, 42-7, with 8:33 to go in the fourth. Lawrence County did finally manage to find the end zone on offense for the first time with 4:45 left in the game to make it 42-14.

Stephen Bobo finished 8/16 through the air for just over 70 yards and 1 TD on the screen to Bailey. He also ran for 60 yards and 2 TDs to complement Zimmerman’s strong night on the ground.

Lawrence County falls to 2-6 (1-4).

Shelbyville Central improves to 7-1 (4-0) and travels to Lincoln County on Friday night to decide first place in Region 5-5A, LIVE on WLIJ 98.7 at 6:45 p.m.