With an eye on revenge, here's how Shelby football took care of business at East Gaston
MOUNT HOLLY — For 10 weeks, Mike Wilbanks has not discussed Shelby’s 42-0 drubbing at the hand of rival Burns in the 2022 NCHSAA 2A playoffs. Instead, he opted for a week-to-week approach, asking players and coaches to pour their energy into a certain week’s opponent.
Shelby made sure there would be no missteps on its way to a de facto Southern Piedmont 1A/2A title game against Burns next week, running away with a 49-13 win over East Gaston.
“Now we (can talk about it). That’s the next one up,” Wilbanks said. “We’ve tried to have a ‘next game’ mentality, and now we’re at the (Burns game). Two weeks ago when we came out the bye week, we talked about having a playoff mentality. The first round was Bessemer City, (East Gaston) was the second and Burns the third.
“The games get bigger as you get along, and we’re going to have to play well (next week).”
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Both the Golden Lions (6-3, 5-0 Southern Piedmont 1A/2A) and Burns go into next week’s clash with undefeated records in league play.
Shelby never let East Gaston get settled into the contest, Drew Hollifield’s 7-yard touchdown run coming on his team’s third play from scrimmage. Three minutes later, the Golden Lions added to their lead with a 9-yard TD run by Tristan Tate.
East Gaston used a 12-play, 80-yard drive to cut the Shelby lead in half, punctuated by Trenton Sherrill’s 3-yard TD plunge. It was the closest the Warriors would get, however, Shelby scoring 35 of the game’s next 42 points.
“We challenged (players Thursday night),” Wilbanks said. “I knew East Gaston wanted to run the football. They have a great rushing attack, (Johnny Brown) is a heck of a lineman and Sherrill at quarterback … we couldn’t get a clean hit on him, he’s so slippery.
“I’m just proud of us to come out and get a win on a Thursday night."
Tristan Tate added a second rushing TD in the game, along with those scored by Izay Bridges, Nick Norris and Jaylen Tate. Bridges also had an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
East Gaston’s other touchdown came on a Sherrill 33-yard pass to John Michael Green.
Following a 7-0 start to the season, the Warriors have lost two in a row. East Gaston (7-2, 3-2) caps its regular season by taking on winless Highland Tech.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: NCHSAA football: Shelby football takes care of business at East Gaston
