HESPERIA – All season, Hesperia football Head Coach Tyler Fehler has remained adamant that his team was capable of becoming a problem in the West Michigan Conference (WMC) Rivers Division. While an 18-0 lead in the first half of the Panthers’ homecoming matchup with Shelby, Friday, Sept. 27 echoed Fehler’s sentiment, a final score of 30-25 in favor of the Tigers showed room for growth for Hesperia.
“I give Hesperia a lot of credit for coming out and punching us in the mouth the way they did. Our guys respond positively when things go wrong,” Shelby Head Coach Phil Fortier said. “Tonight, we just hung in there and kept on playing, kept on grinding. I’m just so proud of these guys, they showed so much perseverance. It’s hard when you’ve been where we’ve been to still find ways to come back. Hats off to these players. They were not going to be denied tonight.”
Life simply couldn't have been better for the Panthers in the early going against Shelby. After both teams came up empty on opening drives, Hesperia’s senior quarterback Blake Sayer connected with Eli Edens over the middle, allowing him to scamper into the endzone and break a scoreless stalemate.
In the second quarter, the Panthers continued to snuff out any flame Shelby’s offense could conjure. Shelby sophomore Jaylin Henderson – earning his first varsity start at quarterback with senior Isaac Garcia working through a sprained ankle – tried his best to spark the offense, but struggled to find the consistency needed to break through Hesperia’s defense.
“I told (Jaylin), ‘it’s your game and you can control it. Don’t let anyone distract you and go straight to that neutral thinking,” Garcia said.
While Shelby attempted to solve their sluggish start on offense, Hesperia took control. The Panthers pushed their lead to 12-0 in the second quarter, this time on a five-yard carry for senior running back Skyler Stalbaum. The only complaints for Fehler’s squad had been special team blunders. Freshman kicker Lacey Mey – who hadn’t missed an extra point through five games – missed on her first attempt, and junior Noah Walker was thwarted on a two-point conversion following Stalbaum’s touchdown, taking a total of three points off the board between those two plays.
“Lacey is a freshman and it’s homecoming,” Fehler said. “The kids are off at the parade until 5:30 when we’re usually on the field by five. It was just that kind of a day. They’re just kids.”
Missed chances at extra points are one thing, but Hesperia’s biggest blunder on special teams came midway through the second quarter. Panther senior Ian Fox attempted to field a Shelby punt, but instead watched it bounce off his body and onto the ground. AJ Melchor was able to dive on top of the muffed punt, giving Shelby possession near midfield.
In need of points, Fortier made the decision to move Henderson back to his receiver position and put Garcia in at quarterback. Though Garcia’s ankle didn’t appear to hamper him, he did struggle to get into the flow of the game initially.
On Garcia’s first drive of the night, he handed the ball back to the Panthers, throwing an interception to Sayer just second after Shelby recovered Fox’s mishandled punt return.
Hesperia made Shelby pay for that mistake, driving down the field in just over two minutes. That drive ended with a two-yard touchdown run for Panther senior Thor Klaus, adding six more to Hesperia’s lead. Mistakes on special teams burned Hesperia again after that touchdown, as Mey missed her second extra point attempt of the night, leaving the lead at 18-0.
Shelby’s offense came alive with three minutes remaining before halftime. The Tigers pushed the ball down the field on the back of Melchor and Garcia, ending the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run for the former. A failed two-point conversion for Shelby left them trailing by 12 points, as the score sat at 18-6.
“We wanted to go in and make sure that we didn’t pull the trigger too soon on (Isaac Garcia). He’s been walking around in an air cast for three days and he got to practice a little bit for two of those days. We were trying to be careful with him,” Fortier said.”Once we went down (18-0) we needed his leadership in there. No disrespect to Jaylin (Henderson), he’s a sophomore and still young. We just needed a spark and that’s what Isaac gave us.”
A trick play from Hesperia nearly put even more points on the board in the waning seconds of the first half. Fox hauled in a pass from Sayer on the left sideline, but before Shelby could bring him down, he tossed the ball to Stalbaum who fought his way close to the goal line. The Tigers dragged him down just short, keeping the score 18-6 heading into the lockers.
“We played well in the first half. We knew what (Shelby) was going to do and we had the plan for it,” Fehler said. “We were up 18-0 and were stopping (Shelby) every time on defense and scoring the way we wanted to.”
Hesperia’s homecoming court and marching band took the field to celebrate and crown their king and queen. Meanwhile, Fortier and his team kept it simple with their halftime adjustments.
“Neutral thinking. This has been our thing this year,” Fortier said. “I had an expert come in and teach us about neutral thinking. Basically, we can’t do anything about the past or the future. We just deal with the facts and we say, ‘what is the next step?’ These guys have really bought into that and put it to work.”
Throwing out what happened in the first half seemed to work for Shelby. The Tigers entered the third quarter looking like a completely different team. Garcia led Shelby down the field, calling his own number on a one-yard touchdown run. Melchor punched in the two-point attempt, bringing Shelby within a single possession of claiming the lead.
Not to be outdone, Hesperia’s offense answered back quickly. Just a minute after Shelby scored, Stalbaum hammered in his second touchdown of the night, this time on a five-yard run. Having two kickers benefitted Fehler as he replaced Mey on extra point duty with foreign exchange student Roger Be La Sierra. Be La Sierra knocked through the point after and Hesperia pushed their lead back out at 25-14.
Defense seemed to go out the window almost completely in the third quarter. Again, Shelby wasted no time getting back into the endzone. 90 seconds had ticked off the clock before Garcia tossed a 46-yard touchdown to Henderson on the receiving end. Another successful two-point attempt by Melchor had the Tigers even closer, trailing 25-22.
With the defense struggling for both teams, it was Shelby that came up with a big play to shift momentum completely in their favor. Senior Griffin Olmstead made a shoestring interception with just 26 seconds remaining before the fourth quarter, giving his team a chance to claim their first lead of the day with the ball on their own 34-yard line.
Garcia capitalized on the Olmstead interception with 10 minutes remaining in the game. On a wild scramble to his right, Garcia dialed up a cross-body throw that arched from the right sideline to the middle of the field.
Waiting for the ball to come down was DayDay Garcia – cousin to Isaac. DayDay burned the coverage from Hesperia safety Zach Loughridge – who was playing in place of Edens who exited with a shoulder injury – and hauled in the 28-yard throw from Isaac to put Shelby on top. Isaac added a two-point conversion run, diving over the goal line to put Shelby on top 30-25.
Shelby junior quarterback Isaac Garcia goes full extension to punch in a two-point conversion following a go-ahead touchdown connection with his cousin, DayDay Garcia.
“We had just run the same play and threw a shorter route and upstairs (our coaches) are telling us that the back side post was open. I told (offensive coordinator Forrest Courtright) that and he knew – he’d already called the play,” Fortier said. “(Hesperia) overplayed the right side of the field and DayDay is a great player – he has so much speed that it’s hard to stick with him.”
“Our starting safety, Eli Edens, went down with a shoulder injury,” Fehler said. “He was playing fantastic for us in the first half and probably had close to 10 tackles and he had the first touchdown of the game for like 40 yards. He’s our safety and we play a two-high scheme, so when he went out we had to go to one-high. That changed everything and people were getting flipped and we were getting calls against us. We just didn’t know how to respond.”
Plenty of time remained for Hesperia to get back in front, but Shelby’s defense proved stout in the final quarter. The Tigers forced the Panthers into a turnover on downs with just under seven minutes remaining, but were unable to move the ball themselves on offense.
Two minutes remained in the game when Shelby’s offense faced a fourth down decision of their own. At Hesperia’s 42-yard line with 12 yards to go for a first down, Fortier made a risky call to go for it instead of punting, only to watch Hesperia force the second turnover on downs for the Tigers in the fourth quarter.
Fortier’s decision to not punt likely stemmed from his confidence in the defense to stop Hesperia. That confidence wasn’t misplaced either as Shelby – with a little help from some inopportune penalties on Hesperia’s offensive line and a dropped pass from Loughridge on fourth down – forced the Panthers into a turnover on downs with 59 seconds left.
“I think part of the problem is, it’s my third year here and (Hesperia) wasn’t very good before I got here. A lot of these kids, the last winning season they had was 2017,” Fehler said. “At this point of our program, we’re just not winners – we don’t know how to seal the deal. We’re good enough to do it. Being in these games and coming out on the right side of it is more than x’s and o’s.”
The win for Shelby over Hesperia is the latest in a line of hotly contested battles in recent years, shaping a bit of a rivalry between the two schools.
“These communities are 20 minutes apart and it’s almost like we’re developing this rivalry within the county,” Fortier said. “What Tyler (Fehler) is doing here is really really good. He’s giving me fits trying to defend some of those routes.”
“My first year here we lost (to Shelby) in overtime and last year was a close game, but we just weren’t as explosive on offense,” Fehler said. “We still haven’t beat Shelby, we’re 0-3 (in my time here). The worst part was, I believed in my heart that we were the better team. It’s like when you’re playing your dad in basketball in the driveway. He’s 50 and you’re 30 and he’s been beating you your whole life, you just don’t think you can beat him – even though you’re probably better. Then, your dad wins because he knows he should win the game.”
Isaac Garcia broke the huddle in victory formation and with two snaps, took a knee to run the clock out and give Shelby a come-from-behind victory.
As for Isaac Garcia’s ankle, it appears a win was just what the doctor ordered.
“I’m not feeling any injuries right now. All I feel is this win,” Garcia said.
Shelby junior Isaac Garcia pumps up his sideline after taking a knee to run out the clock on a 30-25 win over Hesperia.
Melchor proved to be the bell cow for Shelby, toting the ball 19 times for 151 yards and a touchdown. Issac Garcia added 30 rushing yards and a touchdown on seven carries of his own, going 5-for-8 passing for another 90 yards and two touchdowns. DayDay Garcia had just one catch for 28 yards and a touchdown while Henderson had one for 46 yards and a touchdown.
On defense for Shelby, Max Hagstrom led with 10 total tackles. Melchor added eight tackles and a fumble recovery while Henderson had six tackles.
Hesperia’s offense posted crazy numbers with Stalbaum leading the way with 109 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Sayer went 14-for-18 through the air for 218 yards and a touchdown, adding 45 yards on the ground. A trio of receivers impressed for the Panthers as Fox hauled in four catches for 73 yards, Klaus had four catches for 54 yards and Edens pulled down four catches for 74 yards and a touchdown.
Stalbaum also led the way on defense, making nine tackles while Sayer matched him with nine of his own to go along with an interception. Edens had eight tackles while Klaus and Walker added four tackles each.
Hesperia has now fallen in three straight games and owns a 2-3 overall record with a 1-2 standing in the WMC Rivers. The Panthers will look to rebound on the road against a tough Ravenna (3-2, 2-1 WMC Rivers) team, Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m.
Shelby, on the other hand, posted its second win of the year as the Tigers sit at 2-3 overall with a 1-3 record in the WMC Rivers. Shelby’s varsity team will get a week off as their previously scheduled homecoming game with Holton, Friday, Oct. 4, was canceled with the Red Devils no longer fielding a varsity team.
Instead, Shelby’s JV team will take the field under the Friday night lights for a homecoming matchup with Holton’s JV. That game will kick off Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m.
