By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – The Fishers Tigers set out on a mission on the short road trip to Noblesville. Both teams were looking to get to a 3-0 start on the young season and unfortunately only one could still remain undefeated.
From the opening drive on defense, there seemed to be nothing that was going to stop, or even slow down, the visiting Tigers on their way to a 48-22 romp of Noblesville.
“We knew that we had to get a quick start on them. We wanted to take control of the game early. Our offense, they were just clicking,” stated Fishers head coach Curt Funk.
After three plays, the Tigers forced Noblesville to punt. Then, Fishers made it look easy on its first drive. Ten plays and 56 yards later, quarterback Bennett Gorak plunged across the goal line for the first score and a 7-0 lead.
The next Tiger drive didn’t take much time at all. Fishers had a third down and six at the Noblesville 39 and took advantage.
Tailback Khobie Martin ran up the middle almost untouched for a 39-yard rushing TD for a 14-0 cushion.
“They executed tremendously on third down. Were we out of position? Not by much,” said Noblesville head coach Dave Sharpe.
“We told Khobie to go out there and dominate. And, he was possessed tonight and ready to go,” said Funk.
Noblesville cut the Fishers lead in half early in the second. On third and goal from the 17, Jacob Baker found Aiden Brewer for a 17-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-7. But, that would be the closest that the Millers would be all night.
Noblesville’s Aiden Brewer caught a second-quarter touchdown pass for the Millers. (Kent Graham)
The Tigers would answer midway through the second. A short field helped Fishers on its third series, starting at the Miller 49.
Martin would find his way into the end zone from 13-yards out for his second score, pushing it to 21-7.
The game started to get out of hand following Noblesville’s third punt. The Tigers executed yet another scoring drive. This time, Gorak orchestrated the Tigers down the field with his arm. The drive finished off with a 21-yard touchdown grab to Noah McPeek from Gorak for a 28-7 advantage.
“Bennett keeps improving every week. His best is yet to come. He’s just a great kid and he works hard and with that, you’re always going to see improvement. He has the characteristics that you look for in a leader,” continued Funk.
Gorak looked completely comfortable and in a zone all night, because everything was working.
“We watched a ton of film, scouted them, so we had a really good idea what was happening,” said Fishers quarterback Bennett Gorak.
“The o-line gave me all of the time in the world that I could ask for and really helped me out,” continued Gorak.
The Millers wasted very little time to get its second score. Logan Shoffner caught a screen pass from Baker and sprinted 58-yards to the end zone. After an offside penalty on Fishers, the ball was placed at the one. Gabe Bellan then dove his way over the goal line to convert the two-point conversion for a 28-15 score.
That gave Fishers too much time. They were able to march quickly down the field, grabbing a three-score lead at halftime. Tight end Joel Gates was all alone up the middle of the field for a 28-yard touchdown. That accounted for the 35-15 halftime score.
“Bennett Gorak played just beautifully tonight. The conditions were beautiful to throw and obviously they have Khobie in their back pocket. That is a great team. They play really well on defense,” Sharpe continued on Fishers.
The Tigers started to drive well again in the third, but that came to a screeching halt. Gorak got anxious and threw to the end zone, but the ball was picked off by Gage Gulley for a touchback.
“They played really well on defense and got us out of our offense pretty quickly, because of the big lead they were able to get,” stated Sharpe.
Martin was at it again late in the third. The Miami (Ohio) commit scored for the third time on a four-yard run. The snap for the PAT was low, forcing the holder to scramble and get tackled, leaving the score 41-15.
“Teams are keying on Khobie. I would too, he’s a monster. He opens up our offense so much. It’s awesome to have him in the backfield,” continued Gorak on Martin.
“We were playing from behind by two, three, four scores the whole night. Just a bad start by us. When we get off to a bad start, we’re not a great team,” Said Sharpe.
The Millers started putting together a decent drive that ended early in the fourth, but wound up turning the ball over on downs.
The game would be put completely out of reach on a Joe Syrus two-yard TD catch for a 48-15 lead.
“It’s no secret that we want to control the clock, the pace and tempo of the game,” said Sharpe.
That’s what their normal game plan is, but Fishers took them out of that from the start.
Logan Shoffner returned Tangara’s ensuing kickoff back 99-yards for a kick return touchdown and would be the final score of 48-22.
Baker was 11-for-20 for 166 yards and two TDs. The Millers were limited in their normally dominating rushing attack. Gage Gulley had 38 yards on six carries, Baker 11 for 29 yards and Shoffner 27 yards on eight rushes. Gabe Bellan scored a TD and ran in a two-point conversion.
Shoffner caught five passes for 91 yards and a TD, while Aiden Brewer snagged four for 66 and a touchdown.
Next week is rivalry week for both squads. The Millers (2-1, 0-1 HCC) head to Westfield (3-0, 1-0 HCC) to face the Shamrocks.
Khobie Martin led all with 17 carries and 165 yards, scoring three times. Gorak was nearly flawless in the pocket, completing 23 of his 27 passes for 289 yards and three TDs and an interception.
Three receivers shared the totals. JonAnthony Hall could 10 passes for 98 yards. Noah McPeek reeled in five for 83 yards and Syrus had seven for 79 yards. Joel Gates grabbed one for 28 and a TD.
The Mudsock will be a battle of two unbeatens and a top 10 matchup in 6A. Hamilton Southeastern (3-0, 1-0) makes the shortest drive in the state for a road trip at Fishers (3-0, 1-0.
“It’s going to be a wild night. It’s great for our community and what we look forward to,” said Funk on the Mudsock game with HSE.
FISHERS 48, NOBLESVILLE 22
Score by Quarters
Fishers 14 21 6 7 – 48
Noblesville 0 15 0 7 – 22
Team Stats FISH NOB
First Downs 29 16
By Rush 11 9
By Pass 17 6
By Penalty 1 1
Rushes-Yards 37-254 33-126
Yards Passing 289 166
Comp-Att-Int-TD 23-27-1-x 11-19-0-x
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 7-56 6-45
Punts-Average 0-0.0 3-31.7
Scoring
First Quarter
F, 8:21 – Bennett Gorak 2-yard run (Jonathan Tangara kick)
F, 3:28 – Khobie Martin 39-yard run (Tangara kick)
Second Quarter
N, 11:23 – Aiden Brewer 18-yard reception from Jacob Baker (Jack Letourneau kick)
F, 9:46 – Martin 13-yard run (Tangara kick)
F, 4:12 – Noah McPeek 21-yard reception from Gorak (Tangara kick)
N, 3:24 – Logan Shoffner 58-yard reception from Baker (Gabe Bellan run)
F, 1:43 – Joel Gates 28-yard reception from Gorak (Tangara kick)
Third Quarter
F, 2:46 – Martin 4-yard run (run failed)
Fourth Quarter
F, 6:15 – Joe Syrus 2-yard reception from Gorak (Tangara kick)
N, 6:01 – Shoffner 99-yard kickoff return (Letourneau kick)
Fishers individual stats
Rushing: Martin 17-164, Sekai Bogle 9-47, Syrus 3-23, Denkota Fletcher 2-7, Gorak 3-6, Paxton Badua 2-4, JonAnthony Hall 1-3.
Passing: Gorak 23-27-289.
Receiving: Hall 10-98, Syrus 7-79, McPeek 5-84, Gates 1-28.
Noblesville individual stats
Rushing: Gage Gulley 5-31, Baker 11-27, Shoffner 8-26, Brody Gump 2-23, Bellan 4-11, Luke Hile 1-6, Dylan Prange 1-2, team 1-0.
Passing: Baker 11-20-166.
Receiving: Shoffner 5-91, Brewer 4-66, Max Miller 1-15, Gage Gulley 1-minus 6.