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Riding his team’s effective game plan to success, Anthony Palmieri rushed for 426 yards and four touchdowns as the Shelby County Wildcats held off the Northside Rams and took the region lead with a 5-0 record. (For the Reporter/Neal Wagner)

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

COLUMBIANA – The Shelby County Wildcats had a simple game plan to start the season undefeated: run the ball early and often.

Simple, but effective.

Shelby County got all of its 445 offensive yards on the ground and powered its way to a 35-28 win over the undefeated Northside Rams on Sept. 20 at Papa McCombs Stadium, and by sticking to that game plan, it continued its own undefeated run with its first 5-0 start since 2008.

Of those 445 yards, senior running back Anthony Palmieri had a staggering 426 yards and four touchdowns off 36 carries as he and the offensive line dominated a tough Rams defensive front.

“It feels really good,” Palmieri said. “Me and my team, we’re very happy. We’re going to go out there and get the next week.”

Shelby County coach Zeb Ellison was proud of the way his team fought to hold off Northside down the stretch and stay undefeated, taking the lead in Class 5A, Region 3 in the process.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Ellison said. “They had a lot of adversity against them, and we played a sloppy game but at the end of the day, the only stat that matters is the scoreboard. We’ve got a got a lot to work on and a lot to fix, and it’s good to do it with a win instead of a loss.”

After the Wildcats elected to let their stout defense lead the way off the toss, Northside looked to have the early momentum off a pair of fourth down conversions and a defensive pass interference call.

However, disaster struck for the Rams as a snap went loose in the backfield, and Eli Carlisle was there to capitalize, landing on the ball at midfield to recover.

A pre-snap penalty meant the Wildcats would start on the Rams 45, and Anthony Palmieri took advantage of great blocking at the new line of scrimmage to burst through and score on the first play of the drive.

The Wildcats continued to bring the pressure up front on Northside’s next drive, getting frequent quick stops at or near the line of scrimmage. This time, the pass defense got them off the field as Andres McGinnis made a play in one-on-one coverage downfield to get a third down stop, forcing a punt.

Palmieri carried the load once again as he was responsible for most of the drive’s positive plays, including its emphatic capper. Hitting his gap at the Rams 27, he hit his second level and juked out a defender near the goal line to make the lead 14-0 with 6:27 left in the first.

Northside wouldn’t need long to respond as the Rams got out of the crowded right sideline of the kickoff and found space on the opposite side, returning the kick to cut the lead in half.

Palmieri got another first down run on the next drive, but Ryan Sipes’ downfield shot to Skylar Smith came up just short after Smith couldn’t haul it in with one hand.

The Wildcats were forced to punt, but the ball went careening wide left into the home stands at midfield.

That gave Northside a better starting spot, and it quickly got down to 14 as the Rams receiver spun out of the initial stop at the sideline. His 35-yard gain was only halted by a McGinnis tackle in midfield.

Shelby County had another defensive miscue as a near stop broke down into a wide open pass in the end zone to tie the game at 14-14 with 9:59 left in the second.

A hold penalty negated another Palmieri touchdown run and stalled the Wildcats drive, but Cooper Pennington came up with a big punt that was downed by Eli Holliman at the 2.

That field positioning paid off as three plays and three yards later, the Rams snap on the punt went through the back of the end zone for a safety, restoring Shelby County’s 16-14 lead.

Palmieri dominated the ensuing drive, getting a 28-yard run early, a third down conversion and a 26-yard run to set up his 9-yard touchdown scamper, increasing the lead to 22-14 before the failed 2-point conversion.

That left Northside 1:45 to work with in the second quarter, and it got a slight boost from a Wildcats defensive pass interference. However, the defense recovered with a big sack by Cale Blevins followed by a third down tackle from Pennington to force a punt and the end of the half.

The offense got the ball back to start the third and quickly got back to its first half success. Palmieri took the ball 60 yards to the 1, and Sipes punched it in from there to make the lead 28-14 just a minute into the third.

Northside then worked all the way to the Shelby County 25 before an incompletion on third down led to a big fourth down sack by Dominic Woods, forcing the turnover on downs.

Then, after Palmieri moved the sticks on third down, the next few plays weren’t as successful and ended with a failed fake punt.

The Rams took over on their own 46 and made short work of the short field. A short pass turned into a missed defender and a 51-yard score to make the score 28-21.

Shelby County needed a response and got a big one on the ensuing drive. Palmieri took the first carry of the drive 80 yards for the touchdown, his final of the night to put the Wildcats up 35-21 with 3:04 left in the third.

That 14-point lead would be threatened down the stretch as Shelby County had trouble getting off the field.

Northside got a 40-yard second-down pass early in the ensuing drive, and a face mask on third down put the Rams on the 11. They got to the 2-yard line as the third quarter ended, but the Wildcats defense then came up with its biggest stop of the game.

On fourth-and-goal, Ethan Burnette and Campbell Aderholt sent Northside backwards to keep it out of the end zone and force the turnover on downs.

Shelby County then used its run game to milk five minutes off the clock before punting with 6:40 to go.

The Wildcats defense made some big plays in the next drive, but late-down mistakes kept the drive alive. A fourth down offside and a fourth-and-9 conversion kept the Rams going down the field.

However, they couldn’t get past the Shelby County 37 as Layten Kent, Woods and Blevins got a big third down stop before the Wildcats tackled the receiver short of the line to gain on 4th-and-15.

Shelby County briefly opened the door after a Palmieri fumble led to a 45-yard touchdown pass from Northside to make it a one-score game.

The Rams needed an onside kick to keep their hopes of winning alive, and the Wildcats recovered to ice the 35-28 win and get to 5-0.

After the game, Ellison credited Northside for putting up a strong effort, but he said their response to that adversity was the polar opposite of what would’ve happened during last year’s 2-9 season, and that made the difference.

“I’ll tell you if it was a year ago, this team would have folded,” Ellison said. “They would have started pointing fingers and we would have had a lot of issues, but hey it didn’t happen that way, and these young men, they really come through for us and like I said, you’ve got guys that are playing their absolute tail off. They held us all night long.”

As for what that difference is, Palmieri said that the team has worked hard this year and has the drive to keep improving to turn themselves into region contenders.

“We’re really serious this year,” Palmieri said. “There’s a lot of hunger going on. We get after it in the weight room every single day, and yeah, we’re coming.”

Ellison praised Palmieri as a man who embodies Shelby County’s complete turnaround and as one of the reasons along with the offensive line and other playmakers why they are 5-0.

“This young man has come so far from where he was at a year ago, and I’m not talking about a football player. I’m talking about a young man,” Ellison said. “He’s really grown, and listen, that’s why we do this, OK? Yes, the wins, the losses and all that kind of stuff. But 10 years from now, we’re going to see where this young man came to us a year ago from Chicago and has completely changed his attitude, his mentality and he’s a big reason for the success we’re having right now.”

In addition, the defense had another strong night as Blevins grabbed nine tackles and a sack, Pennington had eight tackles and a sack, Hunter Brown secured eight tackles and Aderholt recorded six solo tackles and two pass breakups.

Woods also took two sacks and McGinnis had four pass breakups and four solo tackles.

In the end, Ellison was proud that the team got to 5-0 in front of the Columbiana crowd and hopes to keep working to refine that simple but effective game plan to become the best team they can be.

“I’m just excited for our kids, excited for our community and to be 5-0,” Ellison said. “Let’s just see where the road takes us and how the rest of the season ends.”

The next stop on the road is homecoming against St. Clair County on Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. at Papa McCombs Stadium.

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