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Freshman running back Hunter Harvey breaks toward the sideline on his way to a first down. Colton Bragg | The Light and Champion)
The Dragons are headed to the area round of 2A Division I Playoffs after pulling off an upset victory over the Groveton Indians. Shelbyville entered this matchup as the three-seed from District II, while the Indians represented District 12 as their runner-up.
The two teams met last Friday at Nacogdoches High School to face one another in the bi-district round. Rain drizzled down for the entire four quarters and made field conditions less than ideal. The Dragons have adopted a tough, next-man-up mentality as two freshmen stepped up to take on the key roles of quarterback for Dallas Murry and running back in the case of Hunter Harvey.
“That’s kind of how we have to live, and it’s been like that for a while,” said Shelbyville coach Jerred Wallace. “We’ve talked about this several times. It goes back to how we work throughout the year. Back in the spring and through fall camp, it doesn’t really matter who we put in the game, we have faith in them. We believe they’re going to get the job done, and we coach the freshmen just like we coach the seniors that are out there.”
Dallas Murry played an outstanding game standing in for injured senior DJ Barnes at the quarterback position. His play in far-less-than-ideal conditions played a huge factor in the Dragons’ success.
“For [Murry] to be able to step up and play like he did, manage the offense in the rain, throw the ball down the field was great. He did an amazing job for us.” Said Wallace Murry’s first touchdown came in the second quarter with the Dragons trailing 14-0. He was able to connect with Geechi Mathis on a wide receiver screen that went 18-yards for the touchdown. Groveton answered with a touchdown, throwing a bomb to a receiver on a go route down the middle of the field.
Shelbyville was able to squeeze in one more touchdown just before the half when Murry found fellow freshman Hunter Harvey on the right side of the field for an 18-yard touchdown. Heading into halftime the Dragons were behind 21-13.
Despite getting the ball to start the second half, Shelbyville fell behind 28-13 early in the third quarter. The turning point occurred when defensive lineman Obed Solis picked off an interception and carried the ball inside the 10 to give the Dragons the spark necessary to steal the momentum. Shelbyville would go on to score on a three-yard handoff to Cameron Mason.
Murry then connected on a 32-yard pass to Jon Jon Mathis. On the twopoint conversion, Murry found his previous target’s brother Geechi. The Dragons were behind 2827 heading into the final quarter of play.
Shelbyville regained possession of the football and continued their late-game dominance. Dylan Parker hauled in a pass from Murry that went for 62 yards. Unfortunately, Parker had the ball stripped by a Groveton defender, but thanks to a heads-up play by Eli Ferguson, Shelbyville maintained possession. Ferguson came to play on this drive. Following the fumble recovery, he caught a six-yard touchdown pass as well as a twopoint conversion. His play gave the Dragons their first lead of the night. Shelbyville would maintain that lead for the remaining six minutes of play.
Twenty-two unanswered points is no easy feat when trailing in the second half of Texas high school football. Shelbyville showed tons of heart late in a game when their backs were against the wall.
The Dragons will now face off against the Cooper Bulldogs on Friday, November 17 in Bullard at 7:00 p.m.