Lights go out on Shelbyville’s season

A power outage in the fourth quarter brought about an abrupt end to the Shelbyville Dragons’ season during their bi-district matchup with the Centerville Tigers. At the time of the outage, Shelbyville trailed 51-13 and elected to bow out gracefully rather than wait an undetermined amount of time for power to be restored.

This was the second power outage to delay the game. When both teams arrived at Diboll for their scheduled contest, they found the stadium without power. This caused the game to be pushed back from its original 7:00 p.m. start time.

Shelbyville entered the game as the underdog. Centerville was the first to score, putting them up 6-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Dragons secured a 7-6 lead when sophomore quarterback D.J. Barnes hit junior wide receiver Dylan Parker with an 11-yard touchdown pass. The Tigers scored twice more before the half setting the score at 20-7 heading into the third quarter.

During the kickoff to start the second half, Centerville fumbled the return and allowed Shelbyville to secure the football. The Dragons then narrowed the lead when Barnes connected with sophomore Scotty Garrett for a 10-yard touchdown.

Things began to spiral for Shelbyville beyond that point. Centerville scored 31 unanswered points to give them a 51-13 lead before the stadium went dark early in the fourth quarter.

“Big roller coaster for us this year with a lot of ups and downs,” said Shelbyville head football coach Jerred Wallace. “We had some seniors that really stuck it out. Collin Lloyd, Jed Wagstaff, Ashton Bragg, Tim Mason, and Carlos Garrett. Collin Lloyd, just an incredible player for us this year, bounced around on the offensive line and really stepped up. Ashton Bragg just played football for two years, really stepped up, came out, and gave it his all. Those other guys are great dudes. They were role players that stepped in, knew the role, and accepted it. They’re all great teammates that were there every day and worked really hard.”

Despite a few key departures, the future is bright for the Shelbyville Dragons. Quarterback D.J. Barnes has proven to be a threat to opposing defenses both in the running and passing game.

Freshman running back Benny Smith has been a standout for the Dragons earning a starting position despite being an underclassman. Dylan Parker was a difference- maker and will return for his senior campaign next year. Sophomore center Chance Gray will also return to anchor the Dragons’ offensive line.