The REPORTER
The Fishers Freight began its second season of competition with a victory.
Fishers’ Josiah King scored a 16-yard rushing touchdown. (Joshua Herd)
The Freight defeated the Quad City Steamwheelers 45-27 in their season opener Saturday, March 14 at the Fishers Event Center. Fishers held an early lead, held off a comeback by the Steamwheelers, then finished the game with 21 unanswered points.
JT Stokes scored the Freight’s first touchdown on a two-yard run. After a Quad City touchdowns, Harper threw his first TD pass, finding CJ Windham for a six-yard score.
Calum Sutherland kicked both extra points after the touchdowns, then opened the second quarter with a 29-yard field goal, giving Fishers a 17-6 lead.
The Steamwheelers came back with two touchdowns in the period to lead 20-17, but Harper punched the ball in from the one-yard line in the final seconds of the half. Sutherland’s kick gave the Freight a 24-20 halftime lead.
Quad City scored one more touchdown early in the third quarter to go up 27-24, but it was all Fishers after that. Josiah King took off for a 16-yard touchdown run, then Harper tossed another TD throw to Windham, this one for 12 yards.
Sutherland again made both extra-point kicks, making him 5-for-5 for the game. He wasn’t done yet.
The Freight led 38-27 going into the fourth quarter, and picked up two points early with a safety. Sutherland kicked a 29-yard field goal, then later scored points with a “deuce,” a free kick that passes through the uprights with under a minute left in a half.
Harper was 12-for-16 and totaled 95 yards passing. Windham and Stokes both made four catches. King was the top rusher, with 42 yards in 10 attempts. (An indoor football field is half the size of a regular football field.)
The Freight will play its first road game Saturday, March 21 at the Green Bay Blizzard, then return home to the Fishers Event Center on Sunday, April 5 to host the Arizona Rattlers.