By DREW DENNIS/For the Reporter

Despite late-game heroics from SCHS, the John Carroll Cavaliers defeated the Shelby County Wildcats, 33-27, in a Sept. 6 matchup.  Shelby County led at halftime 15-14 but could not keep up with John Carroll in the second half.

Shelby County found the scoreboard first, going up 7-0, but John Carroll responded with by tying up the score 7-7 with a little over a minute left in the first quarter.

On the succeeding drive, John Carroll blocked a Wildcat punt.  The block gave the Cavaliers excellent field position on the Wildcat’s 6-yard line.  John Carroll scored on a 6-yard touchdown run by Jelani Bender with 11 seconds left in the first quarter.  The extra point gave John Carroll a 14-7 advantage.

On Shelby County’s following drive, the Wildcats put together a six-play drive capped off by Ty Proctor’s 1-yard touchdown run. A bad snap on the PAT was picked up by Proctor, who found a wide open receiver in the end zone on a wild two point conversion, giving Shelby County the lead at 15-14 at halftime.

After a stalled SCHS drive, John Carroll took the ball on its own 19-yard line and put together a five-play drive to take the lead back on Jelani Butler’s 38-yard touchdown run.  The two point conversion was no good making the score 20-15 with 4:26 left in the third.

Shelby County was unable to put a drive together on their next drive and was forced to punt.  Byrd made the Wildcats pay taking it back 66 yards for the touchdown that swung the momentum in favor of the Cavaliers.  The PAT was blocked, leaving the score 26-15.

Shelby County had a bad snap on 4th and 17, giving John Carroll excellent field position on the Wildcats 22-yard line.  John Carroll took only 2:14 to score on a 15-yard Bender run, giving him three touchdowns for the game.

Shelby County refused to give up, and  put together a 14-play drive that resulted in a 1-yard touchdown run by Marterius McGregor with 2:58 seconds left. The two point conversion was no good, making the score 33-21 John Carroll.

Shelby County’s defense stepped up and got the ball back for its offense with 1:11 left  in the game.  The Wildcats put together a six-play, fifty-second drive that ended in a 7-yard touchdown run by Proctor.  They were unable to recover the onside kick and John Carroll closed out the game coming out on top 33-27.

“We got beat in the special teams game and just couldn’t put together enough consistency on offense to score enough points,” said SCHS head coach Brent Smith. “When things go bad, the offense has to put up points to keep up, and we didn’t do that tonight.”