The first all-Hamilton County football clash of the season went down to the wire on Friday, as Fishers visited Noblesville at Beaver Materials Field for what was also the Hoosier Crossroads Conference opener for both teams.
The Tigers trailed the Millers after the first quarter, but took the lead in the second period, extended it in the third, then held off a Noblesville comeback in the fourth quarter to escape with a 16-13 victory.
“I thought our defense played outstanding,” said Tigers coach Curt Funk. Fishers had to contend with a Millers offense that had scored 102 points in its first two games. Funk credited his team with holding the line in “some crucial situations there at the end” to get the win.
Noblesville scored first, marching down the field in the first quarter and finally getting in the end zone when Brayan Goméz Sánchez took the ball in from the one-yard line. Fishers answered in the second period when Carson Dunn took a six-yard rush in for a touchdown. Dunn then caught a two-point conversion pass from Dominic Oliverio.
Thus, the Tigers led 8-6 at halftime. Fishers put up another touchdown during the middle of the third period, when Luke Minns found Aidan Zimmer for an 11-yard pass play score. Oliverio then took a two-point run into the end zone.
“It was a great high school football game,” said Millers coach Dave Sharpe. “The execution on the PATs was critical, obviously because of the final score. It made them play comfortably with the lead in the second half. I have to just give them tremendous amount of credit for having tremendous execution on third and long and fourth down in the second half.”
Noblesville kept battling, and cut into Fishers’ lead when Parker Bell punched the ball in from the two-yard line. Jack Letourneau’s kick got the Millers within three. Both team’s defenses stepped up after that: Noblesville broke up an end-zone pass with 5:03 left, then the Tigers stopped the Millers’ final scoring drive.
“I am really just satisfied with how hard they played,” said Funk. “I thought our offense made the plays they needed to. We’ve got some things that we got to fix. But these kids keep getting better and better every week and that’s all we could ask for is that they keep being coachable and they keep improving.”
Minns completed 16 of 22 pass attempts for 135 yards, while Dunn led the rushing with 96 yards. Luke Valerio and Zimmer both had five catches. Dawson Scally made 11 tackles (10 solo, one assist) on defense.
Logan Shoffner continued to pace Noblesville’s offense, rushing for 136 yards.
“I felt like we had a lot of offensive momentum late in the game,” said Sharpe. “It’s a shame there’s not a fifth quarter, because it would have been another dogfight. That’s two evenly matched teams and there’s obviously a good chance in sectionals we can meet back up. They just made a couple of big-time money plays on third down and we were just not quite there.”
Fishers is 3-0 and will host Hamilton Southeastern next Friday in the Mudsock game. The Millers are 2-1 and go on the road to Westfield next Friday.
FISHERS 16, NOBLESVILLE 13
Score by Quarters
Fishers 0 8 8 0 – 16
Noblesville 6 0 0 7 – 13
Team Stats FHS NOB
First Downs 18 13
By Rush 11 13
By Pass 6 0
By Penalty 1 0
Rushes-Yards 42-167 48-252
Yards Passing 135 3
Comp-Att-Int-TD 16-22-1-1 1-2-0-0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 6-35 3-23
Punts-Average 0-0.0 3-21.0
Scoring
First Quarter
2:40 – Brayan Goméz Sánchez 1-yard run (kick failed)
Second Quarter
9:07 – Carson Dunn 6-yard run (Dunn pass from Dominic Oliverio)
Third Quarter
7:25 – Aidan Zimmer 11-yard pass from Luke Minns (Oliverio run)
Fourth Quarter
9:25 – Parker Bell 2-yard run (Jack Letourneau kick)
Fishers individual stats
Rushing: Dunn 26-96, Oliverio 8-55, Lucas Minns 6-11, Luke Valerio 1-5, team 1-0.
Passing: Minns 16-22-135.
Receiving: Valerio 5-44, Aidan Zimmer 5-26, Jeffrey Simmons 3-54, Collin McPeek 2-11, Hunter Strole 1-0.
Noblesville individual stats
Rushing: Logan Shoffner 20-136, Alairic Rogers-Walton 7-31, Gage Gulley 6-32, Goméz Sánchez 9-29, Parker Bell 6-27.
Passing: Gulley 1-2-3.
Receiving: Andrew Page 1-3.