#10 6A Shelby County moves to 8-2 with a 28-13 win over #6 5A Oldham County, who falls to 6-4.

 

All four of Oldham's losses have come to 6A teams, including top 10 Scott County, top 10 Shelby County, and Conner, who's ranked in the top 10 in some polls (Eastern was the fourth team, and beat Oldham in OT when they chose to go for two after a TD in OT, 22-21)

 

Very good game...details to follow shortly.

#10 6A Shelby County vs. #6 5A Oldham County

 

Very entertaining game by two good teams.

 

Shelby came out of the gate hot, and actually looked ready to blow the Colonels off the field... With kicker Matt Nakatani kicking with a tailwind, the Shelby kicker booted the opening kickoff into the EZ, resulting in a touchback. Oldham went three-and-out on their first three series, and Shelby's first three possessions started at their own 45, their own 44, and the Oldham 47.

 

Junior QB Brandon Cresap and the Rockets opened in a wide-open, five receiver set, and they had little trouble moving the ball early, scoring TDs on two of thier first three possessions and missing a 31 yard FG. 14-0, Shelby, after one, and it was looking like a long night for the Colonels.

 

But Oldham County managed a 60 yard drive on their next possession, before turning the ball over on downs on the Shelby 20. A three-and-out by Shelby left Oldham with the ball at midfield, and moments later, senior QB Chase Hamby found Tyler Oldham for a 37 yard scoring strike with 1:23 to play in the half.

 

14-7, Shelby, at the break.

 

Oldham recovered an onside kick to start the second half. Though they went three-and-out, Kiley Obradovich's subsequent punt was downed at the Shelby 9. When the Rockets later fumbled at their own 27, it took Oldham County just two plays to put it back in the EZ, when Hamby hit Obradovich on a 26 yard catch-and-run for the score. The PAT was just off, leaving it 14-13 Shelby.

 

With all the momentum going Oldham's way, Shelby coach Todd Shipley reached into his bag of tricks (it will be Halloween this Saturday, won't it?) and tricked the Colonels. On first down from their own 38, the Rockets executed a reverse flea-flicker...as WR Ben Axline went in front of Cresap on the apparent reverse, he flipped it back to Cresap, who threw deep to a wide-open Tavis Elzy for an "easy" 62 yard TD.

 

21-13, Shelby County, after three. Shelby with no first downs in the third period.

 

The two teams got a bit sloppy in the fourth; Oldham's QBs threw two picks (one by Hamby when the receiver fell down and one by the backup QB) and a Shelby backup running back lost a fumble. The Rockets put the game away just before putting in the subs, when Cresap threw his third TD of the game, a 19 yarder to Matt Page with exactly 8:00 to play.

 

Final Shelby 28 Oldham 13

 

Good game, although both coaches were obviously motivated to somewhat play it safe. Not in terms of plays - Oldham QB Chase Hamby normally throws ten times a game or less, and the Colonels came out throwing tonight (21 combined pass attempts), with seven different receivers catching passes. Onside kicks. Reverse flea-flickers. Hook & ladder plays. We saw them all as the two rivals left no stone unturned.

 

But both coaches were obviously cognizant of the fact that both teams will be at home for the playoffs next week and the game had no effect on who or where they would play. Key players - especially for Oldham County, I'm less sure about Shelby - spent large amounts of time on the bench as the Colonels got lots of players some playing time and nursed some bumps and bruises.

 

Nine different players carried the ball for Oldham.

 

Very fun game to watch between two very good teams. Kudos to the coaches and the kids of both teams and best of luck next week as both teams host playoff games.

 

UNOFFICIAL stats:

 

First downs:

Oldham 9

Shelby 11

 

Turnovers:

Oldham 3 (all interceptions)

Shelby 2 (both fumbles)

 

Penalties:

Oldham 2 - 15

Shelby 3 - 25

 

Offense:

Oldham Rushing: 39-111 Passing 10-21-3 2 TDs 148 yards

Brett Leary led Oldham with 64 yards rushing on 10 carries.

Shelby Rushing: 24-89 Passing 14-20-0 3 TDs 271 yards

The Rockets got 64 of their rushing yards on a third quarter run by Edwin Thomas. For the rest of the game, Shelby had 23 carries for 25 yards rushing.

 

Shelby junior QB Brandon Cresap has now thrown for over 2,000 yards with a whopping 30 TDs compared to just 2 INTs(!)

 

Total Yards:

Oldham 259

Shelby 360

Cresap is the real deal. Good play by play Mike and both teams got some players in. I think you can say that Shelby ran the ball better than the numbers showed. Only negative on Shelby was the Sacks that Cresap had.

I feel that if Shelby wanted, they could have put 40 on the board with ease.

Thanks for the compliment, SC!

 

It was a fun game to watch...not sure I can quite agree that "if Shelby wanted, they could have put up 40 with ease" as I certainly think the Rockets were trying to do just that - and they didn't.

 

That said, the Rockets are EXTREMELY explosive, and have put up a lot of points this year - against some very good teams. Shelby has the chance to make a lot of noise in the playoffs. You better not take a play off - Shelby has a lot of great receivers for Cresap to throw to. I'm less impressed with the running game - but the runners can fly, and Thomas is lightning in a bottle. His 60+ run when Shelby was backed up to their own 12 was a huge key in this game... And Shelby uses its running game as a change of pace, anyway... The power I was trotted out briefly against Oldham and didn't work very well. I like this team - and the scary thing for Rocket opponents is that the majority of the key skill players are JUNIORS. :scared: Cresap and company will be back next year. I think this is the most disciplined Shelby team I have seen over the past few years; very few mistakes on defense that this observer witnessed (of course, as play-by-play man, I don't get to really analyze the defense well - and I don't have the benefit of video!) They really got to the ball quickly.

 

Todd Shipley does a great job in Shelbyville; hope the fans there appreciate it.

 

I also appreciated the Oldham County effort, although it was hard to tell exactly how they matched up with Shelby, with some key players sitting much of the game or not playing at all. For example, two of the starting defensive linemen who had huge roles in stopping Anderson County the week before - Esmeit Garcia and Zach Littlefield - played hardly at all. Although the play-calling certainly wasn't close to the vest, Coach Brown was certainly trying to "protect his hand" for the important games to come in the playoffs. And Hamby certainly wouldn't have been pulled as starting QB as early as he was - the Rockets had a two-score lead, but the game was still in doubt when OC went to their backup quarterback.

 

Can't say that I blame Coach Brown for the cautionary stance...

 

Still, a very entertaining game. :popcorn: Gotta love the lack of rain, too!! :lol: