The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles fell to the Marshall County Tigers, 47-35, in their home opener at the Eagles’ Nest on Thursday night. 

On a special night where Shelbyville Central honored the history of the all-black Bedford County Training School pregame as is annual tradition under Head Coach Jud Dryden – including presenting a framed #50 jersey to former player Joe Frazier – the Golden Eagles simply ran out of gas on both sides in the second half of their second consecutive non-region contest to open the season.

“It’s always a big game for us to be able to celebrate and recognize them,” Dryden said, “We have a lot of guys on this team that are great-grandsons and grandsons of people that played there and went to school there, so it’s always a big deal.”

Frazier, who played both Center and Linebacker and graduated from the Bedford County Training School one year before schools were officially integrated, said that “it’s a blessing to see how things have progressed since 1966,” after he was appeared taken aback when he was presented with the framed jersey.

“I knew we were coming out here to be recognized, but I didn’t know I was going to be recognized,” Frazier said. “I look forward to this every year because it was an honor to be in the Bedford County Training School, and I am truly thankful that this school and the football team is still recognizing that.”

On the field, the Golden Eagles sputtered coming out of the gates, falling behind 14-0 after Marshall County’s Tyler Thompson rolled out to his right and found senior wideout Aja Jones wide open behind the secondary for a 65-yard touchdown with 22 ticks left in the first quarter. Thompson would finish the game going 14/25 for 339 yards, 5 TDs, and 1 INT. He averaged over 24 yards per completion.

After Shelbyville’s Robert Bailey finally found a couple of holes to run through, the hosts found themselves at the Marshall County 19-yard line. Three plays later, Bailey punched home his first touchdown of the game from five yards out to cut the lead to 14-7 one minute into the quarter. 

The Tigers responded, driving the ball down the field seemingly at will. After a crucial defensive pass interference penalty negated a third down stop for Shelbyville, Marshall County would cash it in from five yards out on a Jones carry this time to extend their lead back to 21-7 with 5:25 left in the first half. 

“They came out in a few things defensively that we hadn’t seen,” Dryden said about their slow start offensively, “We’re still in that learning curve with our offensive line, but once we started to adjust and got it sorted, we started moving the ball and doing some really good things that continued into the third quarter.”

Things did begin to click for the Golden Eagles’ offense after the Jones rushing touchdown as they would respond with 21 unanswered points to take the lead, 28-21, after Stephen Bobo sprinted 77 yards down the left sideline to the end zone with 7:36 left in the third quarter. Included in that run was a 56-yard touchdown scamper from Bailey – his second TD of the night – to open the third quarter and an 18-yard touchdown pass from Stephen Bobo to his older brother, William Bobo, near the end of the first half. That’s not including the pick-six from Labron Ransom that was negated via a chop block on the return that ended up keeping the hosts off the scoreboard completely following the INT. Bailey finished north of 200 yards rushing for the second consecutive game and also had three TDs.

Robert Bailey (31) tacked on three more rushing TDs against Marshall County.

“We got in our own way, made some mistakes, and let it slip away from us,” said Dryden.

In a contest that more resembled a basketball game at times with the massive momentum swings and scoring runs both teams went on, the Tigers would outscore Shelbyville 26-7 in the final 19:36 to win, 47-35. 

The game was tied at 28-28 entering the fourth quarter, but after Marshall County reached the end zone on the very first play of the final frame, Shelbyville Central responded with a game-tying touchdown march of their own that took 6:04 off the clock and ended with Bailey’s third rushing touchdown from five yards out with 5:11 left in the fourth. 

However, Marshall County’s passing attack quickly struck back with Thompson finding Jamahl Gentry on a wheel route down the left sideline for a 50-yard go-ahead touchdown with 4:25 to go, but after the ensuing extra point doinked off the left upright, the hosts still had plenty of life. 

That life would die out almost immediately after the first play of the drive ended in a tip-drill interception on a high throw that careened up into the air off the outstretched fingertips of Ransom and into the arms of a waiting Marshall County defender. Thompson would eventually run it in from five-yards out with 1:19 left to secure the win for the visitors, but this game was much closer than the two-score final might initially suggest. 

“They have athletes all over the place,” Dryden said about Marshall County postgame. “They’ve got a good quarterback, they’re well-coached, they do everything well. You have to play good football against a team like that and we didn’t play enough good football tonight to come away with the win.”

Marshall County improves to 2-0 on the season.

Shelbyville Central falls to 1-1, but have a chance to rebound on the road at Coffee County in their first Friday night game of the season, LIVE on WLIJ 98.7 and AM 1580 starting at 6:45 p.m.