Shelby held possession of the football for the entire first quarter and grabbed an early lead Friday against West Michigan Conference Rivers foe Ravenna, but the Tigers couldn't capitalize on that start and took a 28-14 defeat.
The Tigers (1-4, 0-4 WMC Rivers) ran a 17-play drive to start the game, with 'ran' the operative word; there were only two passes on the drive, both vital to the drive's success. The first was a key 17-yard completion from Jaylin Henderson to Ashton Moore on a third-and-13, and the second was a 14-yard touchdown from Henderson to Elijah Dashiell on fourth-and-goal. Shelby led 6-0 after the PAT was blocked.
Ravenna quickly responded to take the lead and had a 14-6 advantage before the Tigers tied it up, taking advantage of a short field to convert a 32-yard scoring run by Brody Fessenden. The two-point conversion evened the score at 14.
Shelby, though, didn't get anything else going on offense from there, with only one more first down on offense - quickly followed by a fumble that the Bulldogs recovered.
Fessenden had 96 yards rushing to lead Shelby's offense, and Henderson had 71 offensive yards in all. Henderson had seven solo tackles and Fessenden chipped in five. Jayden Casiano recorded an interception.
