SHELBY — A fast start and a fresh frosh powered Shelby to a convincing win over River Valley on Friday night in a Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference clash.
The Whippets unleashed freshman quarterback Brayden DeVito, who threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score to power his team to a 37-20 victory.
Skyler Winters fueled Shelby’s early thrust with a 60-yard TD dash early in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.
Then DeVito took over. The young gunslinger fired touchdown passes of 38 yards to Grayson Heydinger and 5 yards to Kamdyn Wheeler to make it 20-0 in the second period.
River Valley finally responded on Cayden Shidone’s 71-yard scoring pass.
However, Casey Lantz booted a 30-yard field goal and DeVito added a 13-yard TD scamper with just 29 seconds remaining in the half to push Shelby’s margin to 30-7 at intermission.
Shidone’s 1-yard plunge in the third quarter sliced the gap to 30-14, but DeVito’s 18-yard scoring strike to Lantz expanded the gap back to 37-14 in the final period.
Shidone tossed an 8-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Stirm for the final score.
The Whippets (5-3 overall, 3-2 in the MOAC) piled up a whopping 536 yards of total offense. It was a balanced approached, as DeVito hit 16-of-27 passes for 236 yards. He also ran for 125 yards on 12 carries. For the night he had 366 yards of total offense and four TDs.
Winters ran for 91 yards and Miles Hall tacked on 80 more as Shelby finished with 300 yards rushing on 33 attempts (9.1 yards per carry). Among the receivers, Issaiah Ramsey caught six passes for 92 yards, while Heydinger had 5 catches for 72 yards.
River Valley (5-3, 3-2) had a productive night in the air, too. Shidone was 16-of-35 passing for 277 yards, and the Vikings added another 115 yards rushing, 101 of them by Shidone. Yet it wasn’t enough.
Both teams return to MOAC action next week. Shelby travels to Clear Fork on Friday night, while River Valley hosts Highland.
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