Fishers High School

The Fishers Tigers traveled to Hamilton Southeastern and battled the Royals for the sectional 4 championship. Both teams went back and forth all night, but the play of the game came from Caden Hill as he found Jase Ruggles for the go-ahead score to win 44-41. Ryan Thembulembu was strong all night as he ran for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns. Caden Hill was strong passing as he finished with 238 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Tigers received the opening kickoff and put together an 8-play scoring drive including two 3rd down conversion runs by Thembulembu. Hall finished the drive as he took a sweep to the right side and went airborne into the end zone to give Fishers the early lead. Southeastern answered right back as they drove down the field with 13 plays capped off by a wildcat touchdown by AZ Wallce from 4 yards out. Both teams continued to play ball control as the Tigers possession ended the 1st quarter. After just one minute in the 2nd quarter, Thembulembu found the end zone. A trick play on the conversion saw a direct snap to Tyler Maynard who ran it in for 2 to give the Tigers a 15-7 lead. But just as before, the Royals would put together a long play of 10 plays covering 85 yards capped off by a 42-yard pass from Chandler Weston to Liam Boyd to get the difference back to 1. The Tigers possession was short-lived as Kian Kelly picked off Hill and returned it back to the Fishers 20. Two plays later, Wallace broke through the left side to give the Royals their first lead of the game at 20-15. An unsportsmanlike penalty on the Royals gave extra yards before the kickoff and a late hit on the good kickoff return by Carsen Eloms gave the Tigers great field position. On 3rd and long, Hill found Hall for a 24-yard touchdown to give the lead back to the Tigers with under 2 minutes to play in the half. However, Southeastern quickly drove down the field as Weston found Boyd on a toe-tapping catch to give the Royals a 27-23 lead going into halftime. The Royals took the opening kickoff and drove down into the red zone of the Tigers. A tipped pass was intercepted by Tristan Johnson, and he returned it to Tigers 30. Fishers then embarked on a 12-play 68-yard drive that ate up almost 6 minutes of the clock. Thembulembu finished the drive with a short run to give the Tigers a 30-27 lead. The Royals were driving late in the 3rd and early into the 4th quarter, but the Fishers defense forced the first punt of the night. On the 2nd play of the Tigers possession, Hill found Hall for a 73-yard touchdown pass as he outran the defender to push the Tigers lead to 10 points. However, the Royals would not go away easy. On 4th down midway through the 4th, Weston found Callen Okerson for a 42-yard pass to keep the drive going and get Southeastern into the red zone. Wallace again finished the drive with a touchdown to make the score 37-34 in favor of the Tigers. Fishers tried to run some clock, but two close incomplete passes forced the Tigers to punt for the first time on the night. Graham Imes connected on a great punt that was downed at the 5-yard line with just over 6 minutes to go. Southeastern drove down the field using a couple QB scrambles along with a couple penalties from the Tigers as Wallace found the end zone with just over 2 minutes to go to give the Royals a 41-37 lead. Fishers would drive down the field as Hill connected with Hall multiple times to get the Tigers into the red zone. On 4th down, Hill rolled out and found Jase Ruggles for a touchdown with less than 1 second to go to push the lead to 44-41 and secure the sectional championship for the Tigers.