By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – The Carmel Unified flag football team hosted Fishers Wednesday at Brian Murray Stadium.
The two teams put on a show by playing an exciting game filled with touchdowns and great plays. The Greyhounds pulled away in the second half to beat the Tigers 66-53, starting the 2024 season with a victory.
Carmel coach Jamie Stephen said it was technically her team’s second game, but the first one barely got started: the Greyhounds tried to play at Westfield last week, but only got one play in before thunderstorms forced it to be canceled. Fishers, meanwhile, was playing in its first game of the season.
The Greyhounds won the school’s first-ever Unified flag football state championship last year, beating DeKalb in the title game at Grand Park. Now they want to repeat: Stephen said the Carmel team is “more determined to win this year I’ve ever seen before.”
“They have been more determined to win this year than I’ve ever seen before,” said Stephen. The coach said her team “got a taste of it last year and they just want to keep going.”
This year’s Carmel team has several players returning from last year’s championship squad. That includes senior captains Stone Stephenson, Will McKee, Eleanor Stock and Hannah Pettee. Also returning is sophomore Joseph Gasta, who Stephen said is “by far our best player on the team. He’s our center.”
Stephen said her team “did great” for its first game. She said the Greyhounds have a “great group of seniors that were able to lead us and be very positive role models for all their peers. I think it’s a great start for our season.”
Carmel graduated 30 seniors from last year’s team, but Stephen said that several of this year’s seniors came out and “did the research and knew what they were doing, and we now have another strong team.”
Fishers has 35 players on its roster, with Carter Schmidt, Caleb Hartman and Jackson Keller among those making big plays for the Tigers.
“I think it was a great game, both teams, high-powered offenses,” said Fishers coach David Rawlins. “It was a lot of fun to get back into flag football and start the season off.”
“I think there’s a lot of competitive spirit, but also really good sportsmanship, camaraderie between both sides. Hard-fought game, but it’s really fun to get out there.”
The Greyhounds’ next game is Wednesday at Franklin Central, while the Tigers play tonight at Westfield.
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