Who:   North Oldham vs Shelby County 

Where:  Shelby County HS, Shelbyville, KY   Robert Doyle Stadium

When:  Friday, 10/7/22    Kickoff 7:30 pm

Broadcast coverage:   Free, live, hi-def video starts at 7 pm ET on www.pegasussportsky.com   Andy Kerrick and Matt Hill have the call.

Big district matchup in Shelbyille as North Oldham (3-4) and Shelby County (3-4) square off.  

Last year, Shelby won on the road, 20-7, in a game the rebuilding Mustangs thought they should have won.

This year, both are 3-4, but North already has pretty much assured - not guaranteed - themselves a playoff berth by virtue of their 47-7 rout of district rival Waggener.    The Mustangs are 1-1 after an 18 point loss (38-20) to #8 ranked Franklin County last week.    Shelby is 0-2 in the district, but the Rockets have faced the two favorites - #5 ranked Central and #8 Franklin County.     

For North, a win guarantees a playoff berth; a Shelby win guarantees nothing, but puts the Rockets in a strong position to at least gain the fourth playoff seed.

Both teams enter the game off a loss to a ranked opponent:   #8 Franklin County 38 North Oldham 20     #5 Central 34 Shelby County 0

The Rockets come into the game with a strong rushing attack, led by sophomore Gianni Hunter, who already has 935 yards and 12 TDs.    Shelby as a team averages nearly 175 yards rushing per game.   The Rockets aren't as prolific through the air, averaging about 75 yards a game, and throwing twice as many picks (6) as TDs (3).   On defense, Isaac Estrada already has 64 total tackles on the season.

North is something of the negative to Shelby.    North has fared very poorly on the ground this year, averaging just 36 yards rushing per game.   But second year starting quarterback Jace Bullock has blossomed in the passing game.    He already has over 1,200 yards passing on the season and is coming off a 340 yard passing game against #8 Franklin County.   

But the North defense has overshadowed everything in Goshen.    The Mustangs have five defensive touchdowns and Liam Hutson already has 7 interceptions and has returned two for TDs.   In the first six games, North has 14 interceptions and 7 fumble recoveries.     Linebackers Noah Leber (53 total tackles) and Ben Mortensen (47 tackles) lead the team, and defensive linemen Tyler Vance (7 sacks) and Bryce Grady (5.5 sacks) make it difficult to protect the QB.

This should be a very entertaining game as the two teams' strenghts - Shelby's run game vs. the North defense - square off.    If North can force Shelby to the air, and I think that may be likely, then the fates favor the Mustangs and their super-stingy / ball-hawking secondary.   

Thoughts?

 

Mustangs looked solid last week against Franklin.   Picking North in this one.

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