Greenwood’s Brady Cave, left, avoids a diving Shelbyville defender after making a catch during Friday’s game.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
Fifty-four years is a hearty slice of time for two schools virtually equal in enrollment and 24 miles apart not to meet on the football field.
Shelbyville’s Class 4A first-round sectional game at Greenwood on Friday, while perhaps long overdue in the minds of some, could push only one team into November.
The host Woodmen earned that right by virtue of their 37-0 victory, which snapped a skid of five consecutive losses.
Greenwood (3-7) is back at home for a semifinal against Bedford North Lawrence (2-8).
The Greenwood and Shelbyville programs hadn’t met since the final game of the 1970 season, the Golden Bears winning at Greenwood, 14-7. The schools — both slated to join the new Hoosier Legends Conference in the fall of 2026 — also squared off during the 1968 and 1969 seasons.
Hit hard by injuries for much of the regular season, the current Woodmen squad was able to return key personnel to the field this time around.
“It’s been six weeks since we won a game, so we stayed on them,” second-year Greenwood coach Justin Boser said. “I wanted to keep the pressure put on them. It’s the first shutout for our defense this year. Just a good team win. We got five starters back into the lineup, and it’s good to see them all get good action. We’ve just got to keep the focus, and come back and have a great week of practice.”
Among those returning to lead the offense was junior quarterback Ayden Houseman, who completed his first 10 passes on his way to 12-of-15 accuracy, 260 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
If Houseman was attempting to shake any rust, it wasn’t evident.
“I think this is really big for us knowing how the regular season went,” Houseman said. “Over the summer, we had goals. We expected to win just about every game. Just getting the win with most of our guys back, it brings confidence back to the team.”
Shelbyville (1-9), which averaged a paltry 8.6 points per game in the regular season and was held scoreless three of its final four games, managed virtually nothing outside of the play of sophomore running back Grantland Fitzgerald.
By contrast, the Woodmen offered up a buffet spread of offensive options.
The Woodmen cruised to a 30-0 halftime cushion, scoring 14 points before the Golden Bears had a chance to run their first offensive play.
Greenwood marched 66 yards in five plays on the game’s opening drive, a series capped by Ajay Weathers’ 1-yard plunge at the 9:26 mark of the first.
Shelbyville’s return man fumbled the ensuing kickoff, the ball quickly smothered by Greenwood at the Bears’ 30. Junior fullback Anthony Scaramazzo then bolted through a huge hole up the middle and, just like that, it was a two-score game.
Freshman kicker William Thompson put the Woodmen up, 17-0, with a 33-yard field goal with 2:43 showing in the first period. Second-quarter scores came on Houseman’s 60-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Davion Jones, and junior Gunner Ruppert’s 4-yard run.
The final play of the half was a doozy, Greenwood senior defensive back Dominik Williams picking off a pass at his own 9 and running it back all the way to the Shelbyville 5 as time expired.
With 1:41 remaining in the third, Houseman airmailed a 47-yard touchdown pass over the middle to senior receiver Josh Carroll for the game’s final points. The remainder of the game was played with a running clock.
