The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles put forth an emphatic performance in front of the homecoming crowd against the visiting Wilson Central Wildcats, 44-0, on Friday night.

Stephen Bobo continues to grow as the starting quarterback, finishing 11/17 for 246 yards and 3 TDs with zero turnovers. The Golden Eagles as a team finished with 186 rushing yards and 3 TDs, spearheaded by star Robert Bailey. Bailey, who has 9 rushing TDs this year, is averaging just shy of 165 yards/game on the ground, and he was a problem for the Wildcats on Friday night as he went over 100 yards rushing for the third time this season already.

On the flip side, the Golden Eagles’ defense pitched their first shutout of the season. After keeping Shelbyville within striking distance against Columbia Central a week ago until the very end, they gave Wilson Central zero chance in the hosts’ final non-region game of the regular season.

Both defenses exchanged forcing punts before the Golden Eagles’ offense began to kick it into gear on their second possession. Robert Bailey got the scoring started for Shelbyville with a 5-yard TD run to put the hosts in front, 6-0, with 5:12 left in the opening frame.

After forcing another punt, Shelbyville drove into the red zone once again before fumbling the ball away to Wilson Central on a botched exchange inside the five-yard line right before the end of the first quarter. 

As the Golden Eagles’ defense continued to stifle the Wildcats, Ben Betzelberger would connect on a 32-yard FG with 7:22 left in the first half to extend the lead to 9-0. 

Shelbyville then put up another pair of touchdowns before the half, taking a commanding 23-0 lead into the halftime locker room. 

The Golden Eagles’ defense continued their dominant performance into the second half extending their shutout streak to five consecutive quarters. Meanwhile, Shelbyville’s offense found the end zone three more times in the second half as the Golden Eagles continued to separate themselves from the Wildcats, outsourcing them 21-0 in the final 24 minutes to win their 4th game of the season, 44-0.

Wilson Central falls to 2-3 (0-1).

Shelbyville Central improves to 4-1 (1-0). They are scheduled to dive right back into Region 5-A play on Friday night at home against Franklin County, who is 0-5 on the season.