SHELBY, Ohio — With election season revving up, Shelby quarterback Brennan Armstrong announced his candidacy for Mr. Football on a sultry Thursday evening at W.W. Skiles Field.
Ohio’s top-ranked quarterback in the Class of 2018, Armstrong ran for three touchdowns and threw for two more as the Whippets walloped cross-county rival Madison 49-7 in the season opener.
The junior left-hander completed 11 of 17 passes for 126 yards — all in the first half — and rushed for 114 yards on 12 carries before being lifted early in the fourth quarter.
“There’s a reason he’s the best quarterback in the state of Ohio,” Shelby coach Erik Will said. “He obviously had an incredible game.”
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Armstrong put an exclamation point on Shelby’s opening drive, plowing over a would-be tackler at the goal line for an 8-yard touchdown. The run capped a 10-play drive and gave the Whippets a quick 7-0 lead.
“I can’t say enough about the offensive line,” said Armstrong, who already has offers from Virginia and North Carolina among others. “It doesn’t matter what I do. It’s all up to the people up front and they did a (heck) of a job.”
Madison pulled even when quarterback Tresten Vail hooked up with Blake Dinsmore on a 43-yard scoring strike midway through the first quarter. That would be all for the Rams, however, as Armstrong put on a show in the second quarter. He scored on a 27-yard keeper less than a minute into the period before lofting an 8-yard TD pass to Uriah Gieseler with 7:52 to play in the half. He added a 37-yarder to Brady Hill with 2:13 remaining and capped Shelby’s 27-point second-quarter outburst with a 6-yard run with a minute to go.
“I’m really disappointed in the way that we kind of petered out there in the second quarter,” Madison coach Jamie Masi said. “We just struggled to stop those guys.”
Turning Point: With the score tied 7-7, the Rams drove deep into Shelby territory late in the first quarter thanks to 6-foot-4 wideout Kyle Jackson’s sensational one-handed grab for a 35 yard gain. The momentum was short-lived, however, as a botched snap was recovered by Shelby’s Grant Reiser.
On Shelby’s ensuing drive, Devon Brooks bounced off a would-be tackler and raced 45 yards down the far sideline.
“That’s a huge momentum swing,” Masi said. “We’re driving and then we fumble the ball. Then we come up and smack (Brooks) pretty hard, but we don’t wrap him up and he bounces it outside and flips the field.”
Brooks rushed for 118 yards on 11 carries and scored on a 2-yard run in the third.
“Their running back had a great night,” Masi said. “Offensively, they played with great tempo and we couldn’t match it after the first quarter.”
Madison piled up 123 yards of total offense in the first quarter, but managed just 141 yards the rest of the night. The Rams turned the ball over twice and committed nine penalties for 59 yards.
University of Kentucky recruit Tyrell Ajian caught eight passes for 95 yards. Vail completed 19 of 31 passes for 228 yards.
“We struggled to get our offense going,” Ajian said. “It wasn’t a good game, but there’s nothing we can do about it now so we just have to move on and get better.”
Deja Vu: Shelby knocked off Madison in last year’s opener, but fell to Lexington in Week 2. Will hopes history won’t repeat itself this season when the Whippets visit Lex next week.
“We told the guys we ate at the Madison buffet table four or five days too long last year,” Will said. “This one is over. We’ve got to get better and go get ready for Lex.”
The Rams will host River Valley.
“Win or lose, we know we have a lot of work to do,” Masi said. “We’ll go back to work and get our guys ready for next week.”
