Echo community correspondent Amanda Dodge contributed to this story.
The turnover bug bit Shelby too often Friday night to allow a Tigers' victory, and visiting Ravenna took advantage with a dominant second half, taking a 30-8 win.
The score was deadlocked at halftime, 8-8, with Isaac Garcia running in a short touchdown for Shelby and Brody Fessenden barreling in for the two-point conversion, but three second-half interceptions and some struggles moving the ball by the Tigers turned the tide in Ravenna's favor.
"We can't turn the ball over three times in one half and expect good things to happen," Shelby coach Phil Fortier said. "That's what happens when you do that to a good team. You give them the football back, and eventually they're going to score."
The Tigers managed only 154 offensive yards and only 59 on the ground, but the biggest issue for Shelby was it simply didn't have the ball often enough. Their statistics reported only 36 offensive snaps, which puts any offense into trouble.
Shelby's Trevor Weiss tries to outrun Ravenna defenders during Friday's game at Shelby. Weiss had 67 yards receiving, but Shelby lost 30-8.
"I give a lot of credit to Ravenna," Fortier said. "They came out and played great football, mistake-free football tonight, and we had all we could handle...I don't feel like we reacted terribly well to the adversity that was in front of us."
Trevor Weiss was the top Tiger offensive performer, hauling in six of his team's seven completions for 67 yards. Jaylin Henderson had 56 total offensive yards between passing and throwing. Fessenden had a team-best six tackles on defense.
In the long term, Fortier said, a loss like Friday's is part of "a growth process" as the Tigers continue to build toward becoming a playoff-caliber squad.
"We compete hard, but we're at a stage in our program right now where we've got to figure out, how do we win games when things go wrong? How do we react to that?" Fortier said. "It was a tough night for the Shelby Tigers, but we will regroup and we will get back out there."
Back out there next week, for Shelby, means a homecoming tussle against county foe Hesperia. Fortier said the Tigers will focus on better communication on defense and improving blocking on offense this week in practice.
"We've got some things to figure out," Fortier said. "We've got some things to fix. That's what practices are for, so that's what we'll do."
