‘It was pure happiness’: South Shelby’s defense stands tall in winning first district title since 2015

SHELBINA, MO. — As he replayed how the game-saving fumble recovery came to be, all Aadon Magruder could see was a blur of bodies and overwhelming joy.

“Oh, my,” he said. “It was a crazy one for sure.”

A historic one, too.

With the Monroe City football team facing second and 6 from the South Shelby 9-yard line and a little more than a minute remaining in regulation Friday night, the Panthers fumbled the ball into a scrum in the middle of the field. The Cardinals’ Daniel Timbrook recovered the loose ball at the 11-yard line, sealing a 6-0 victory in the Class 2 District 7 championship game at Charles Rash Memorial Field.

“It was pure happiness,” South Shelby junior quarterback Chase Moellering said. “Everyone was so happy.”

They knew the top-seeded Cardinals’ first district title was secure.

“We were all just happy for each other,” said Magruder, the senior two-way lineman.

South Shelby kneeled down twice to run out the clock on their toughest test yet.

“When we took that last knee, I was really emotional thinking about those guys,” South Shelby coach Adam Gunterman said as he rattled off names of former players. “The list goes on and on of kids who have built this program. They were great football players but never got to hold this trophy.”

With it comes a trip across the state next week.

South Shelby (10-1) advances to the state quarterfinals and will face Mid-Buchanan at 1 p.m. next Saturday in Faucett, Mo., which is off I-29 midway between Kansas City and St. Joseph.

The Dragons (12-0) defeated Brookfield 26-14 in the District 8 championship.

“We’ll look over everything,” Moellering said. “We’ll be better next week.”

It was difficult to be efficient offensively with both Monroe City and South Shelby making plays defensively, especially in critical situations.

The Panthers’ best opportunity to score came late in the second quarter when a reverse pass from wide receiver Trey Smyser to quarterback Wyatt DeGrave picked up 20 yards left Monroe City with fourth and goal from the 2-yard line.

Quincy Mayfield was stuffed for a 2-yard loss on a sweep to the right edge on the next play, the first of three times the Cardinals stopped the Panthers on fourth down in South Shelby territory.

“That goes to the toughness of our kids,” Gunterman said. “We talk about tough people win. That’s kind of the slogan of our team. You don’t become tough unless you go through tough times. Our kids in every one of those moments stepped up and made plays.”

It was a fourth-down play that finally broke the scoreless deadlock.

The Cardinals reached the Monroe City 25-yard line a little more than a minute into the fourth quarter and called timeout to discuss a fourth-and-2 situation. That’s when Gunterman gave Moellering instructions if the pass play called broke down.

“I told him if the right side defensive end goes too far up the field to run through the gap and get the first down,” Gunterman said. “He took that gap, and he just kept on running.”

Moellering scampered 25 yards for the game’s lone touchdown with 10:45 remaining.

“We had a pass play called and I went through my progressions,” Moellering said. “He said if there is open grass, run. I went to go get the first down. That’s all I was looking for. There was green grass and I got a couple blocks and the touchdown.”

The drama was far from over.

South Shelby forced Monroe City forced an incomplete pass on fourth and 6 from the Cardinals’ 28-yard line with 3:27 to play, but the ensuing offensive drive stalled and South Shelby was forced to punt. Trey Smyser picked up the all on the right side of the field, ran to the left sideline and scampered to the 15-yard line with 1:52 to go.

Two plays later came the fumble and the euphoria.

“It feels amazing,” Magruder said.