MURFREESBORO — Shelbyville Central faced the two-time defending Class 6A state champion Oakland and the Patriots look to be primed and ready for a three-peat after rolling past the Golden Eagles 65-0 in the opening round of the TSSAA state playoffs on Friday night.
The Patriots (10-1) scored in all three phases of the game, including a pair of pick-sixes to go along with a punt return.
"Oakland is just a dominant team that is coached extremely well," Shelbyville Central coach Jud Dryden said. "They are the model of a football program that we would like our football program to be like."
The best scoring opportunity the Golden Eagles had was a 27-yard field goal try that was blocked in the second quarter.
Oakland complied 285 yard of total yards while Shelbyville Central (1-10) collected 161.
Junior receiver Micah Threatt hauled in 65 yards on four catches for the Eagles.
With the loss, it ends the high school career for the Shelbyville Central seniors.
“These seniors we've had for four years and the fact that they have played for three different head coaches say a lot about their ability to adapt to change. You can't play for that many coaches over four years and not have faced adversity," Dryden said. "Hats off to them and we will miss them dearly."
The future look bright for the Eagle football program with a good number of quality underclassmen that logged valuable playing time this season as well as the recent success of the feeder schools.
"I am really excited with the direction of the football program," Dryden said, "We played a lot of young guys this season and they played well. We had a great meeting with the players at Harris and Liberty and both those programs are extremely important to the growth of our program."
The Golden Eagles moving back down to Class 5A will help in the future success of the program as well.

Shelbyville Central 0 0 0 0 — 0
Oakland 28 10 14 13 — 65

First Quarter
O — Tre Johnson 44 interception return (Jacob Taylor kick), 9:31.
O — Eric Taylor 7 run (Taylor kick), 4:34.
O — Taylor 55 punt return (Taylor kick), 2:43.
O — Mason Bell 13 pass from Kade Hewitt, (Taylor kick), 0:22.
Second Quarter
O — Jeremiah Collins 8 pass from Hewitt, (Taylor kick), 1:45.
O — Taylor 35-yard field goal, 0:02.
Third Quarter
O — Khalil James 13 pass from Hewitt, (Taylor kick), 7:26.
O — Taylor 56 interception return (Taylor kick), 4:31.
Fourth Quarter
O — Tamari Hill 17 pass from Kyler Creasy, (Noah Rogers kick), 5:06
O — Max Lovinski 1 run (kick failed), 2:16