LocalSportsJournal.com
SHELBY — It’s been a while since the Shelby football team had won its season opener, but on Thursday night, the Tigers had the fans rocking in the stands with a 59-20 non-conference win over White Cloud.
The last time the Tigers won their opening game was 11 years ago, so it was no surprise that few felt like leaving Tiger Stadium afterward.
“Credit to White Cloud, after we got up on them, they came roaring back and matched our physicality and played tough,” said Tigers coach Phil Fortier. “We just had a lot of speed and were able to figure some things out and came out on top.
“It was a lot of fun. We’ve been through a lot of adversity and haven’t won a lot of games the last few years, so this was a big night for us. I’m at loss for words right now.”
Shelby jumped out to a 19-0 lead in the first quarter, including DayDay Garcia’s return of the opening kickoff to the house, but the Indians rallied for a 14-12 advantage in the second. The Tigers still enjoyed a 31-12 lead at half.
Isaac Garcia had a big night at quarterback for the Tigers, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for two more in accounting for five scores … and had a pick six as well on defense.
A.J. Melchor hauled in a 56-yard pass, Griffin Olmstead caught one for six and Trevor Weiss made a 25-yard scoring reception and took one in from 2 yards out.
Fortier credited the offensive line of Ethan Vitema, David Purdy, Oscar Leonides, Casey Lamblin and Colin Fenton with doing a superb job up front.
Brody Fessenden led the Tigers defense with seven tackles, four of which were for loss, plus a forced fumble. Jaylin Henderson had seven tackles, including three for loss.
Shelby (1-0) begins play in the West Michigan Conference Rivers Division next Friday with a home game against North Muskegon.
