There’s no better place to avenge a regular-season loss than in the sectional championship game.
Fishers did just that on Friday. The Tigers won the Class 6A Sectional 5 title by beating Pike 28-7 at Reynolds Tigers Stadium. This marks the third sectional championship for Fishers in its still-young football history; the Tigers also won in 2010 (on their way to a state title) and in 2012.
Fishers will host Ben Davis for next week’s regional championship.
The Red Devils beat Fishers 43-0 in Week 2 of the regular season. According to John Harrell’s website, there are eight teams that avenged regular-season losses in the sectional, and the Tigers’ victory was the biggest swing of all – 64 points.
“I feel like we were capable of playing this way,” said Fishers coach Rick Wimmer. “It’s kind of the way we have to play. We have to control the ball. We’re not going to score a lot of points, but we possess the ball and not give the other team too many possessions, too many opportunities and we’re playing good defense.”
The Tigers scored a touchdown each quarter. The scores in the first half both were on short passes from Matt Wolff to Isaiah Dunnuck. The duo connected on a five-yard pass play late in the first period, then on a six-yard throw with 1:40 left in the second.
Fishers then scored its second-half touchdowns from the ground, both times punching it in from the one-yard line. Wolff ran the ball into the end zone late in the third quarter, then Dylan Scally wrapped things up with a TD at the 4:19 mark of the fourth period. Ben Norton successfully kicked all four extra points.
The Tigers’ defense stepped up big time. Pike averaged 33 points per game coming into the sectional final, but Fishers allowed the Red Devils a lone touchdown in the third quarter. The seven points Pike scored was its lowest output of the season.
“Defensively we didn’t give up big chunk plays for touchdowns,” said Wimmer. “We planned much better. Guys just playing better. Our defensive coaches have done a tremendous job of getting problems fixed that we had early in the year. They get a lot of the credit for this one. We’ve been playing better and better defense the last few weeks.”
Wimmer also credited the offensive line for playing well, saying that his offense is being “pretty efficient.” The Tigers were almost perfectly balanced between the two phases: Fishers rushed for 132 yards and Wolff threw for 126 yards on 9-of-17 passing. Scally ran for 98 yards.
“Best game our offensive line has played,” said Wimmer. “That’s the first time this offensive line played together, and this is what we thought we’d be getting to.”
The Tigers are now 7-4 for the season.
Fishers’ Matt Wolff (8) was responsible for three touchdowns in the Tigers’ 28-7 sectional championship win over Pike Friday at Reynolds Tigers Stadium. Wolff threw two touchdown passes to Isaiah Dunnuck in the first half, then ran the ball in to score in the third quarter. (Kirk Green)
Andrew Voskuhl (77) was part of Fishers’ offensive line in its Friday night sectional championship win over Pike. The Tigers’ blocking on the offensive line made a big difference in the game. (Kirk Green)