Fishers High School

The Fishers Tigers traveled to Lawrence North and came home with an exciting 31-28 victory as Micah Hillen connected on a field goal with under a second to play. The Tigers played well on offense racking up almost 400 yards on offense. Ryan Thembulembu had 125 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground and a 59-yard touchdown reception. Quarterback Gage Sturgill passed for 246 yards. The Tigers received the opening kickoff and were quickly forced to punt. A bad snap on the punt gave the Wildcats great field position, but the Tigers defense was up to the task. Owen Stout had a big pass break up to force a 22-yard field goal attempt by Griffin Smith to get the Wildcats on the board. Both defenses were solid as the Tigers turned the ball over on downs, but forced a punt to get the ball right back. Fishers manufactured a methodical 12-play 84-yard drive including a 4th down run by Thembulembu. Sam Hawkins Jr found the end zone to give the Tigers a 7-3 lead going into the 2nd quarter. Each team only had the ball twice in the 2nd quarter as they each put together long drives that ate up the clock. Fishers drove 78 yards including a great 30-yard catch by Darian Girton right on the sideline. Thembulembu finished the drive to stretch the lead to 14-3 in favor of Fishers. The Wildcats answered back with a long drive of their own including a 4th down conversion at midfield. However, the Tigers defense stepped up huge with tackles inside the 5 from Emmanuel Cowherd, Mason Cantwell, and Jaxson Andrews. Lawrence North was forced to kick another field goal to make the score 14-6 going into the locker room. The Tigers wasted no time starting the 3rd quarter. Sturgill connected with Thembulembu on a wheel route out of the backfield for a 59-yard touchdown just under one minute into the quarter. Lawrence North answered back at Prather found Moshun Sales for a 31-yard pass and then Prather scrambled on 4th down to keep the drive alive. The Wildcats scored as Prather found Sales in the end zone. Fishers needed only two plays to find the end zone themselves as Sturgill again connected with Rozzi before cut back and bounced through for a 26-yard touchdown. As time expired to end the 3rd quarter, Prather connected with Amari Moore to cut the lead to 28-21 in favor of the Tigers. The Tigers drove down the field to start the 4th quarter including a 37-yard scramble by Sturgill. However, a bad snap on the field goal attempt gave the Wildcats the ball at midfield. Lawrence North drove down the field through the air and Prather found Jones wide open in the middle of the end zone to tie the game. As time was winding down, the Tigers drove down the field but a field goal attempt was wide left. With about 2 minutes to go in the game, the Wildcats attempted to put together a go-ahead drive, but Emmanual Cowherd intercepted Prather and returned the ball into Lawrence North territory with under 20 seconds to play. Sturgill connected on a pass to Thembulembu and another to Rozzi to get the Tigers into field goal range. Micah Hillen connected on a 29-yard field goal to give the Tigers a 31-28 lead with under 1 second to go. A series of laterals was no good on the kickoff as the Tigers secured their first win of the season.