By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – When the situation got a little scary, when the specters of the past were haunting, when Halloween’s creepy craziness was stirring up demons, when something strange lurked, Bedford North Lawrence knew who to call.
The Stars did some fourth-quarter ghostbusting. They weren’t frightened of the dark. After their three-score lead all but vanished, BNL crossed the streams to set off a chain reaction, two clinching touchdowns that powered the Stars to another dimension – a sectional final.
For the first time since 2018, BNL blasted past the gatekeeper. With a tense, chippy 41-21 victory over stubborn Shelbyville in Friday’s fright-night Class 4A Sectional 23 semifinal, the Stars earned their ticket to a title clash. Dayson Kirby threw three touchdown passes as BNL (8-3) rumbled into the third round of the postseason, advancing to a rematch with defending champion Martinsville in the championship.
BNL might not have been afraid of no ghosts, but the Golden Bears (5-6) put some fear of finality in the Stars when a stunning fourth-down touchdown got Shelbyville within 27-21, with plenty of time left. Scared? BNL showed no fear, responding with two touchdowns in the final five minutes to reach a sectional title game for only the fifth time in program history.
Take that, Zuul.
This win had a little of everything. Great opening act, a defensive score, some questionable compusure decisions that cast some slime on the luster. BNL shook off the momentary loss of control to clinch the home triumph with late toughness against the headwinds of adversity and shifting momentum.
The first half was outstanding, the fourth quarter was clutch. BNL burst to a 13-0 start with passing brilliance, then pounded out the last two scores with running-game physicality. Now, just one season after beating only one team, the Stars are poised on the brink of a historic title.
“It’s huge,” BNL coach Brayden Tidd. “We believe in them, we believe it’s just the start of where this team can go. I think they’re finally starting to believe it. You could see in the locker room, when we were putting on the pads, it was just different. I knew they were ready to go.”
The opening was sensational. BNL’s first drive, with Kirby taking the short passes while completing six straight, consumed over 6 1/2 minutes, with Brody Horton burrowing into the end zone from a yard out. After stopping Shelbyville’s first drive, Kirby zipped a strike to Jaden Gilbert, who escaped tacklers in the secondary and zoomed 75 yards for an explosive score.
“That was textbook,” Tidd said. “We score, the defense comes out firing, it was a dream start.”
After the Golden Bears answered with an 80-yard march, with running back Donavon Martin doing the bulk of the work and finally scoring from 15 yards, BNL fashioned another beautiful drive. Kirby connected with Parker Kern for 22 yards, then dropped a pretty pass to Kern along the right sideline for 36 yards. Two plays later, rolling left, Kirby snapped a 19-yard touchdown to Cam Gates that gave BNL a 20-7 lead at intermission.
When Cutler Chastain picked off a pass and broke 15 yards with the interception for another touchdown early in the third quarter, the Stars were on their way with a 27-7 advantage. That’s when the weirdness started.
“We got a little too confident, got a little too loose,” Tidd said. “Our minds started wandering.”
And it showed as old habits resurfaced. Shelbyville freshman quarterback Layden Fitzgerald lofted a 31-yard pass to fellow freshman Camden Thomas, setting the stage for Martin’s second touchdown. After Shelbyville’s next possession ended with a punt, a great return by Driven Axsom was erased by a personal foul penalty 30 yards behind the play, costing BNL 65 yards in field position. Another major penalty and dropped ball caused that drive to stall.
Finally, following an ugly sideline skirmish that resulted in offsetting flags and a midfield meeting between the officials and both coaches to calm tempers, Shelbyville went the distance as Martin banged his way to the 25. On fourth down, as the Stars dropped all 11 defenders in pass coverage, giving Fitzgerald all night to dance around and look for receivers, Thoman won a jump-ball battle in the end zone to come down with a 29-yard touchdown that cut BNL’s lead to 27-21.
“Our kids really battled all night long,” Shelbyville coach Scott Fitzgerald said. “That’s been our season. There’s been a lot of times we could have given up, and we continued to battle. In this game, at one point things got out of control in the first half. We could have very easily put our head down and said ‘we’re done.’ We didn’t.”
BNL could have thought ‘Oh no, not again’ at this point. But it didn’t. Kirby hit Malakai Goodman for 7 yards, found Gilbert for 5, then rifled a perfect pass to Goodman for a 23-yard touchdown with 5:01 left. The Stars finally put the ghosts to bed, after the Golden Bears were stopped on fourth down in their own territory, as Horton broke away for a 21-yard score with 2:03 left.
”We just executed,” Tidd said. “We didn’t get too fancy, we got the ball to the open guy, and the line really stepped it up where we needed it the most.”
Kirby was on target, hitting 17 of 24 passes for 252 yards. He was given the green light to call some of his own plays, with obvious success. Gilbert caught 8 passes for 127 yards, and Horton was a balance to all that with 102 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
”Dayson is finally understanding, he’s getting on the same wavelength as me,” Tidd said. “There were times where I let him call the stuff, I trusted him. He’s out there and the one seeing the things on the field.”
“I just found the matchups I wanted, took advantage of it,” Kirby said.
“We needed to keep him in the pocket, and we didn’t do a good job of that,” Fitzgerald said. “He made a lot of off-schedule throws, did a great job of making those throws when he needed to make them.“
Martin, who set the school record for carries this season, was a force with 32 carries for 167 yards. “He definitely carried the load,” Fitzgerald said. But the Stars also forced two turnovers, with Luke Morris and Chastain grabbing interceptions.
“I don’t even know if I had anyone around me,” Chastain said. “It came right to me, and I took it to the house.”
BNL will visit Martinsville for the sectional final. The Artesians (5-6) slammed Charlestown 52-20 in the other semifinal. The Stars are one win away from their second sectional title in 50-plus years of football.
“It’s awesome,” Chastain said. “If you had told me this time last year, we would be in this position, I would not believe you one bit. Not one bit.”
”It’s amazing, all the hard work this team has put in, all the work behind the scenes,” Kirby said. “It’s just amazing.”
Shelbyville 0 7 7 7 – 21
Bedford NL 13 7 7 14 – 41
First quarter
BNL – Brody Horton, 1 run (Parker Beeson kick), 5:23; BNL – Jaden Gilbert, 75 pass from Dayson Kirby (run failed), 2:32
Second quarter
S – Donavon Martin, 15 run (Rolando Saucedo kick), 10:38; BNL – Cam Gates, 19 pass from Kirby (Beeson kick), 1:22
Third quarter
BNL – Cutler Chastain, 15 interception return (Beeson kick), 8:31; S – Martin, 3 run (Saucedo kick), 4:54
Fourth quarter
S – Camden Thomas, 29 pass from Layden Fitzgerald (Saucedo kick), 8:38; BNL – Malakai Goodman, 23 pass from Kirby (Beeson kick), 5:01; BNL – Horton, 21 run (Beeson kick), 2:03
Team statistics
S – First downs 15 (11 by run, 3 by pass, 1 by penalty); Rushing 38-168; Passing 9-19-2-109; Total yards 277; Fumbles 1 (lost 0); Penalties 5-40
BNL – First downs 14 (7 by run, 6 by pass, 1 by penalty); Rushing 27-146; Passing 17-24-0-252; Total yards 398; Fumbles 2 (lost 0); Penalties 6-65
Individual statistics
Rushing – (S) L. Fitzgerald 5-4, G. Fitzgerald 1-(-3), Martin 32-167; (BNL) Kirby 6-44, Horton 21-102
Passing – (S) L. Fitzgerald 9-18-2-109, Myers 0-1-0-0; (BNL) Kirby 17-24–0-252
Receiving – (S) G. Fitzgerald 3-7, Thomas 3-62, Martin 1-25, Reed 1-6, Myers 1-9; (BNL) Kern 3-64, Gilbert 8-127, Gates 3-21, Goodman 2-30, Short 1-10
