No. 10 Fishers airs it out in opening win at North Central

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

INDIANAPOLIS – Fishers took to the road Friday night and it took no time at all for their offense to get off on the right foot.

Junior quarterback Gage Sturgill seemed poised and in a comfortable mode and mindset from the opening kickoff. Sturgill was able to throw with ease and did so, tossing a school-record six touchdowns en route to leading the Tigers to a 49-35 road win at North Central.

“Our offense made the plays when they needed to. Really, both sides of the ball in the first half did some really nice things,” said Fishers head coach Curt Funk.

“Also, at the same time, we had a couple of drives that stalled and then defensively we gave up a couple of touchdowns in the first half. Overall, when you can take a 49-14 lead into halftime, you’ll take that any day, obviously,” continued Funk.

Fishers struck early and had North Central on its heels from the get-go. The opening drive spanned seven plays and 79 yards, resulting in junior Ryan Thembulembu taking a screen pass from Sturgill for a 16-yard touchdown grab for 7-0.

The next drive was a short one, starting at the Panthers’ 36. Two plays later, the steady Sturgill found Stanford commit JonAnthony Hall for an 18-yard strike for a quick 14-0 score.

“He (Sturgill) was able to start a couple games last year when Gorak was out. He’s a football junkie, Gage is. He lives and breathes the sport of football 24/7 and he’s just been waiting for his moment to come out here and be the starter at Fishers High School. And tonight, I couldn’t have asked for a better performance out of our quarterback,” Funk said.

The lead grew to 21-0 when senior linebacker Nathan Ash picked off North Central quarterback Caleb Foor and ran it back for a 30-yard interception return touchdown. And just like that, the Tigers were up three scores.

At the beginning of the second, Hall snagged his second TD, this time from 15 yards away for a 28-0 cushion.

The Panthers figured out what will be their bread and butter. The next series, they marched 80 yards in 10 plays, nine of those pass plays. But they found their first score on a one-yard dive from Foor to cut it to 28-7.

Hall would score for the third time in the first half, this time a short seven-yard catch that jumped the lead to 35-7.

A few possessions later, Antonio Grace grabbed a Foor pass as it was tipped into the air. That gave the Tigers the ball at its own 39.

The first play, Sturgill found Hall open down the sideline for a 61-yard pass play that made it 42-14.

“He’s a special athlete, JonAnthony is, and you could see that tonight,” Funk stated. “We try to get creative in ways that we can get him the ball. If certain teams are doubling him or dictating their coverage, then we like our other receivers in Ryan Thembulembu and Denkota Fletcher to be able to get open in space as well,” continued Funk.

Speaking of Thembulembu, he reeled in a 30-yard TD toward the end of the second quarter for a 49-14 halftime lead.

North Central put three touchdowns on the board in the second half, but that wouldn’t be enough to sport a comeback, giving Fishers a season-opening win on the road, 49-35.

The Panthers found their stroke in the passing game, thanks in big part to senior quarterback Caleb Foor. It was his first start and threw for a walloping 428 yards, connecting on 31 of his 46 passes for four touchdowns, but also threw four interceptions.

Eli Thompson led North Central with 10 catches for 172 yards and three scores. Donavan Norris caught eight passes for 118 and a TD, while Demetrius Averitte grabbed six for 80 yards.

North Central (0-1) hits the road Friday at Hamilton Southeastern (1-0). The Royals were road winners at Carroll last night, 45-21.

Gage Sturgill had a solid night, going 14 for 21 for 224 yards and six touchdowns. Hall caught nine for 151 yards and four TDs and Thembulembu had four for 65 and two scores.

Fishers (1-0) will host Pike (1-0) next week. The Red Devils won 31-20 over Zionsville at home on Friday.

“Pike’s going to be really tough. We know we’re going to have our hands full with them. There’s a lot of things we need to fix. We were by no means firing on all cylinders tonight, but that’s what Week 1 is for. I loved their effort and poise and I thought our varsity kids did a great job on taking care of business,” Funk added.