By JAMES SEAY
For The Reporter
FISHERS – The Class 6A No. 13 Fishers Tigers beat the 6A No. 15 Noblesville Millers 49-25 as both Hamilton County teams met at the Fishers stadium to open Hoosier Crossroads Conference play.
Both teams got off to a strong start with great offensive plays and key stops in the first half. The second half was a different story as sophomore JonAnthony Hall and senior Carson Dunn powered Fishers to pull away by outscoring Noblesville 28–8 in the second half.
“I’m proud of our kids’ effort, we preach effort. It is important to us and it is a staple of our program and our kids brought effort for all four quarters,” Fishers head coach Curt Funk said after the win on Friday.
Fishers started off what would be 74 combined points from the Hamilton County foes with a five-play, 64-yard drive which was capped off by a 25-yard touchdown run by Dunn. The drive featured a pass from Lucas Minns to Joe Syrus to start and was powered by runs from Dunn and junior Khobie Martin.
“Khobie and Carson are elite, elite, elite – they are the best in the state and are able to turn small gains into big gains,” said Noblesville head coach Dave Sharpe after the game.
Sharpe’s Millers were quick to respond on the following drive as they marched right down the field with a 11-play, 76-yard drive of their own. Noblesville’s rushing attack was crisp and the offensive line got a great push on the Tigers with a rushing attack that featured several different running backs and ended with junior Blake Widget marching in for a two-yard score.
Noblesville’s Blake Widget (12) and Gage Gulley (6) celebrate after Gulley scores a touchdown for the Millers. (Kent Graham)
The Millers were able to keep momentum on the defensive side of the ball and stopped the following drive from Fishers with a turnover on downs. Junior Austin Hastings anchored the Millers defense with nine tackles on the night including being in on the action for the fourth down stop, but it wasn’t enough as the Millers fell short on the following drive.
Junior Logan Shoffner started the drive off strong for the Millers with a 20-yard run. In a beautiful play design by Sharpe, freshman quarterback Landon Hughes slightly overthrew junior tight end Andrew Page for what could have easily been a walk in “big man” touchdown. Two plays later Hughes did connect with sophomore Aiden Brewer for a huge pass, but the play was waved off by an offensive pass interference call.
After a punt by Noblesville, Fishers quickly added a passing touchdown from Lucas Minns to Aidan Zimmer. Noblesville responded quickly as Shoffner ripped off a 67-yard run en route to a Noblesville touchdown which knotted the score at 14. Shoffner would go on to lead both teams in all-purpose yards with 245 total yards.
The following drive, Fishers was able to string together a long drive which ended in the second of Dunn’s three touchdowns runs on the night.
“We knew coming into the game that Noblesville runs a tempo offense and that we would need to score with every possession. It was a great team win as our offensive line was able to move the opponent” said Dunn after the big night which included 340 yards on the ground between him, Martin and Minns.
The result of the drive was a 21-14 lead for FHS. In what became a theme for the first half the Millers marched down field and were able to add a field goal right before the half for a 21-17 lead.
In the second half, the tables turned as Dunn was able to find daylight for a 75-yard run on the first play of the second half for his third TD. The Millers took the next possession on a methodical 13-play, 72-yard drive that was capped off by a Gage Gulley rushing touchdown that bought the score within three late in the second half at 28-25 Fishers.
JonAnthony Hall took the ensuing kickoff 87 yards to the Millers three-yard line which resulted in another Tigers touchdown to push the lead to 35-25.
“We were good enough to win tonight, but it fell apart with kickoff return,” said Sharpe.
According to Hall, he was challenged to make a play at the half and he was able to deliver.
“It was shot for shot in the first half. We scored, then they scored – I knew we had to turn up in the second half and we were fortunate to get it going,” said Hall.
Fishers was able to add two more touchdowns from both Hall and Minns to close out the game with a 49-25 win.
“We have to continue to strive for the perfect four-quarter game. We must put four quarters together on all three phases of our team. We haven’t done it yet, but the effort is there” said Coach Funk.
The Tigers will travel to rival 6A No. 4 Hamilton Southeastern to face their crosstown rivals in the annual Mudsock game next week.
“Our slogan this week was TEAM and we will start tomorrow and come as a team to ensure we don’t have the same result as last year,” said Dunn.
“We are good enough to win all of the games in our conference. We have a similar challenge next week with Westfield, but we know what it will take,” said Sharpe.
The Millers will face 6A No. 7 Westfield at home on next Friday.
FISHERS 49, NOBLESVILLE 25
Score by Quarters
Noblesville 7 10 8 0 – 25
Fishers 7 14 14 14 – 49
Team Stats NOB FISH
First Downs 17 23
By Rush 13 17
By Pass 2 6
By Penalty 2 0
Rushes-Yards 49-272 44-340
Yards Passing 23 92
Comp-Att-Int-TD 2-9-0-0 7-8-0-2
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-Yards 5-55 4-40
Punts-Average 4-37.3 0-0.0
Scoring
First Quarter
FISH, 7:42 – Carson Dunn 25-yard run (Jon Tangara kick)
NOB, 2:40 – Blake Widget 2-yard run (Jack Letourneau kick)
Second Quarter
FISH, 8:18 – Aidan Zimmer 15-yard pass from Lucas Minns (Tangara kick)
NOB, 7:45 – Widget 3-yard run (Letourneau kick)
FISH, 3:16 – Dunn 2-yard run (Tangara kick)
NOB, 0:04 – Letourneau 25-yard field goal
Third Quarter
FISH, 11:47 – Dunn 65-yard run (Tangara kick)
NOB, 4:25 – Gage Gulley 22-yard run (Gulley run)
FISH, 3:22 – Bennett Gorak 1-yard run (Tangara kick)
Fourth Quarter
FISH, 11:00 – Minns 2-yard run (Tangara kick)
FISH, 4:16 – JonAnthony Hall 25-yard pass from Gorak (Tangara kick)
Noblesville individual stats
Rushing: Logan Shoffner 16-146, Gulley 11-66, Widget 8-24, Landon Hughes 7-19, Gabe Bellan 3-13, Cole Schott 4-4.
Passing: Landon Hughes 2-9-23.
Receiving: Widget 1-18, Andrew Page 1-5.
Fishers individual stats
Rushing: Dunn 14-150, Khobie Martin 16-127, Minns 6-42, Gorak 4-16, Ian Jennings 1-5, team 3-0.
Passing: Minns 5-6-60, Gorak 2-2-32.
Receiving: Zimmer 3-37, Hall 1-25, Dunn 1-13, Joe Syrus 1-10, Noah McPeek 1-7.