By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – The last time Hamilton Southeastern won a football sectional game, senior running back Blaine Wertz was an elementary school student.
It had been nine years since the Royals had gotten a sectional victory, and Wertz and his teammates decided that was long enough. Southeastern triumphed in a Class 6A Sectional 4 semi-final game at the Royals’ TCU Field Friday night, beating district rival Fishers 34-0 in a rain-filled game.
“It’s a huge step for this program,” said Wertz. He played a huge part in the win, scoring four of Southeastern’s five touchdowns in the game. The Royals’ defense also did its job well, throwing HSE’s first shutout of the season.
“We play fast, we play physical, and a great job to our defensive coordinator,” said Royals coach Michael Kelly. “Coach (Jordan) McCaslin does a phenomenal job getting them ready. And then our kids believe in what we’re doing. And they go out and execute. We tell them all week long, ‘Do your job. Just do your job, read your keys, do your job, play with great fundamental technique’ and that’s what they did tonight.”
It took until the second quarter for Southeastern to get on the board, but it did with just under four minutes when Wertz pushed the ball into the end zone from the one-yard line. The defense was starting to get going as well: Noah Wolf made a quarterback sack, and Dylan Conner ended the half with an interception, stopping a Fishers drive.
If it was beginning to feel like the momentum was going HSE’s way, Owen Jones confirmed that on the first play of the second half. Jones took the opening kickoff 78 yards to the Tigers’ nine-yard line. A few plays later, Wertz scored his second touchdown with a three-yard run.
“He did a phenomenal job,” said Kelly of Jones. “That just blew the game open. You start to feel a little life in them and our guys did a phenomenal job just pouncing on it.”
The Royals scored 21 points in that quarter. Wertz punched in another touchdown from the one with 7:09 left in the quarter, then Jones took off on a 48-yard run to the end zone with 2:25 left. Alex Geroulis kicked all three extra-points, adding to the one he kicked in the second quarter.
Southeastern scored one more time, early in the fourth quarter when Wertz went on a 50-yard run to get his fourth touchdown of the game. Wertz finished with 159 yards on 29 rushed; the Royals had 319 yards total rushing. Quarterback Sam Jacobs was next in line with 87 yards rushing, followed by Jones with 49 yards.
Fishers quarterback Lucas Minns was 10-of-23, totaling 98 yards. Colin McPeek collected three receptions, while Carson Dunn led the rushing with 39 yards.
“Our kids played ’til the very end,” said Tigers coach Curt Funk. “They played hard. Against a good team, you need to convert, catch some breaks. Unfortunately, when we caught a break, we just couldn’t convert on that.”
Fishers finished its season with a 6-4 record, improving its victory total by 100 percent from last year, when the Tigers finished 3-8. Southeastern, meanwhile, is 8-2 and travels to Westfield next Friday to play for the Sectional 4 championship.