By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – Just like it did several weeks ago, big plays became a factor in a Fishers-Hamilton Southeastern football game.
Both teams made their share of those big plays when they met Friday at Reynolds Tigers Stadium in the semi-finals of Class 6A Sectional 4. Fishers made two of them in the fourth quarter: A long touchdown pass and an interception in the end zone. That was enough to give the Tigers a 34-29 win over the Royals and advance to next week’s championship game.
“You need a spark. You need a big win for a program,” said Fishers coach Curt Funk, who picked up his first post-season victory as the Tigers coach.
“We talked to the kids all week about moments, and life’s about them and sports are about them,” said Funk. “And they made their moment tonight.”
Fishers trailed 29-20 going into the fourth quarter. The Tigers cut into that lead midway through the period; after Carson Dunn made a big run to get Fishers into scoring position, Lucas Prewitt punched the ball in from the one-yard line. Southeastern blocked the extra-point kick, but the Tigers were now within 29-26.
Minutes later, Fishers would get the ball back. The Tigers made their way down to the 42, where Prewitt threw a pass to Luke Valerio, who weaved his way into an open space and ran into the end zone. That put Fishers in front, and it added to its lead when Prewitt threw a two-point conversion pass to Shaun Kim.
The Tigers were now up by five points with 1:27 to go. The Royals began a furious drive, getting down to the Fishers 7. But with less than 10 seconds to go, the Tigers’ Shawn Dunnuck intercepted a pass in the end zone, sealing the victory.
“I knew somebody had to make a big play,” said Dunnuck. “They were driving it down the field that whole drive. And it was my man and I did my job and did what I could. All thanks to my teammates. They played their hearts out. They motivated the whole team and we kept it going the whole game.”
“For years they’re going to talk about the Seth Dunnuck interception,” said Funk. “What a way to end an outstanding game, and HSE, they played their tails off. They had a great season and Coach (Michael) Kelly’s done a great job there in his first year.”
Fishers set the tone of the game early. Carson Dunn blasted off on a 78-yard run into the end zone early in the first quarter to get the Tigers on the board first. Justin Sharkey’s extra-point kick gave Fishers a 7-7 lead.
Southeastern was in control for the remainder of the first half. John McCall found Dylan Conner for a 38-yard touchdown pass, and Alex Geroulis tied it up with his extra-point kick. The score was now 7-7, and would remain so through the end of the quarter.
McCall stepped up again for the Royals in the second quarter. He ran in two touchdowns, the first from nine yards and the second from one yard, the latter with 13 seconds left in the half. Geroulis kicked both points afterwards, and HSE led 21-7 at halftime.
“I thought our kids played really well,” said Kelly. “They had a phenomenal game plan and played really hard. I thought our guys showed a lot of heart, showed a lot of poise. At the end of the night, Fishers was the better team than what we were.”
The Tigers mounted a comeback in the third quarter, with Dunn once again making big plays. He zoomed into the end zone on a 69-yard touchdown run early in the period, then caught a 76-yard scoring pass from Prewitt midway through the quarter.
“Carson Dunn did an outstanding job,” said Funk. “We challenged him. We told him, ‘You’re going to have to come out here and you’re going to have to bring it all night long,’ and he did. He just did an awesome job. Real proud of him.”
The Royals blocked the extra point attempt after the second touchdown to preserve a 21-20 lead. Then with less than a minute in the period, McCall scrambled into the end zone from 18 yards. He followed that up with a two-point pass to Will Gerig to put Southeastern ahead 29-20. That lead would hold until Fishers began its fourth-quarter comeback.
Dunn finished the game with 193 yards rushing on 20 carries, giving him the vast majority of the Tigers’ rushing yards. Prewitt completed 14 of 19 pass attempts for 220 yards, with Silas Martin making five catches. Dunnuck totaled 13 tackles, with Collin Malone making seven stops.
McCall was 13-of-21 as the HSE quarterback, totaling 185 yards. Conner made five receptions for 103 yards, while Jace Alexander had four catches. Blaine Wertz led the rushing with 100 yards, followed by McCall with 96. Cole Earlewine led the Royals tackles with six stops.
Southeastern finished its season 6-3, and tied for second in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference standings.
“We grew a significant amount,” said Kelly. “I appreciate what our seniors did for the program, just setting the tone, setting the expectation. I thought they did some great things for us.”
Fishers improved to 3-7 after the win and will travel to Westfield next Friday to play for the Sectional 4 title.
FISHERS 34, HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 29
Score by Quarters
Southeastern 7 14 8 0 – 29
Fishers 7 0 13 14 – 34
Team Stats HSE FISH
First Downs 19 14
By Rush 11 5
By Pass 8 8
By Penalty 0 1
Rushes-Yards 43-253 29-206
Yards Passing 185 220
Comp-Att-Int-TD 13-21-3-1 14-19-0-2
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 6-60 4-22
Punts-Average 4-43.3 5-29.0
Scoring
First Quarter
F, 8:18 – Carson Dunn 78-yard run (Justin Sharkey kick)
HSE, 4:16 – Dylan Conner 38-yard pass from John McCall (Alex Geroulis kick)
Second Quarter
HSE, 9:04 – McCall 9-yard run (Geroulis kick)
HSE, 0:13 – McCall 1-yard run (Geroulis
kick)
Third Quarter
F, 10:42 – Dunn 69-yard run (Sharkey kick)
F, 6:18 – Dunn 76-yard pass from Lucas Prewitt (kick blocked)
HSE, 0:55 – McCall 18-yard run (Will Gerig pass from McCall)
Fourth Quarter
F, 7:05 – Prewitt 1-yard run (kick blocked)
F, 1:27 – Luke Valerio 42-yard pass from Prewitt (Shaun Kim pass from Prewitt)
Southeastern individual stats
Rushing: Blaine Wertz 16-100, McCall 13-96, Jace Alexander 12-50, Evan Sherrill 1-5, Clayton Wilke 1-2.
Passing: McCall 13-21-185.
Receiving: Conner 5-103, Alexander 4-59, Wilke 3-18, Martice Taylor 1-5.
Fishers individual stats
Rushing: Dunn 20-193, Dominic Oliverio 3-8, Kim 2-4, Prewitt 3-1, team 1-0.
Passing: Prewitt 14-19-220.
Receiving: Silas Martin 5-62, Dunn 3-78, Valerio 3-60, Andrew Colsten 2-16, Kim 1-4.