SHELBY — Brady Bowman didn’t waste any time getting to it in his senior season debut.
His six-reception, 114-yard and two-touchdown game helped the Whippets to a 54-0 victory over the Madison Rams in Week 1 of the 2026 high school football season.
And that wasn’t all.
Bowman surpassed Issaiah Ramsey’s 3,235 career receiving yards in the first quarter, to give him the honor of being Shelby’s all-time receiving yards leader. He now sits at 3,305 with the rest of the season still at hand. He is also only two receptions away from passing his brother Blaine, for Shelby’s all-time reception record.
“It's an unreal feeling to be in that spot, I'm blessed. Thanks to all the coaches who get their playmakers the ball,” said Bowman.
As humble as Bowman is, Shelby coach Rob Mahaney knows how much time he puts in.
“Brady is a guy who was blessed with athletic ability, but it's been his work ethic that sets him apart. His understanding of the game too, to be able to find space and find windows.”
Shelby wasted no time getting on the board. Griffin Yeager picked off a Madison pass on the first play from scrimmage and took it in for a score.
The Whippets broke in a new quarterback in senior Michael Shepherd, who played a huge role on last year’s state runner-up team as a tight end and defensive end. He will head to Miami (OH) next season to play tight end. His QB tenure would not start as planned, however, as he threw an interception to Madison’s Namarious Elliot on the Whippets’ own first play from scrimmage.
From there, he settled in quite well. Shepherd finished the night connecting on 13 of his 17 passes for 239 yards and three scores and added 64 more yards and a touchdown on the ground. The instant success was no surprise to Mahaney.
“I thought that Michael did a great job of operating and didn’t let that early mistake cost us anything," Mahaney said. "He came right back that next drive and threw a touchdown to Brady, and another on the next drive.”
First-game jitters were apparent on both sides. It showed in the turnover margin. A total of seven were created. Shelby capitalized by scoring three of their respective five. Yeager’s pick-six started things off, before Casyn Koch picked up a fumble, and Brady McQuillen ran back an interception for touchdowns each in the third. Conner Hartz also had an interception, and Barron Walp forced a fumble for the Whippets. Namarious Elliot’s early interception was huge, and the Rams later forced a fumble of their own
Also adding scores for the Whippets were Gavin Baker on a six-yard run and Kayden Paz on a 13-yard reception from Shepherd. One offensive bright spot for Madison was Camden Moysi, who caught three passes for 20 yards.
Shelby graduated many key players from last year's squad but will have to look upon another huge senior class this year. There are 23 of them. Many of whom have to step into larger roles.
“What a performance by our defense. That’s where we replaced the most; I think we replaced nine guys out there. And offensively, with a new quarterback and some new guys out there, I thought we did a great job. Overall, we want to be who we are, and I thought our kids did a great job of that,” said Mahaney.
Shelby (1-0) heads to Lexington next week. Madison (0-1) looks to regroup hosting River Valley.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Bowman's record-breaking day propels Shelby to shutout over Madison
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