By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
No. 13 Hamilton Southeastern Royals (5-4) at Homestead Spartans (6-3)
The Royals and Spartans meet in Fort Wayne tonight for just the third time. Southeastern has won both playoff matchups, including last year’s 20-14 sectional semifinal.
HSE head coach Michael Kelly is 47-18 in his sixth year and 61-34 overall in nine seasons with his first three at Seymour (2017-19).
The Royals started 3-0 with wins over Fort Wayne Carroll, North Central and Avon before dropping three straight to Fishers, Westfield and Zionsville.
Winning two of their last three over Noblesville and Franklin Central, HSE dropped its regular-season finale at No. 1 Brownsburg.
After a midseason injury to senior quarterback Terry Walker III, freshman Deaken Johnson stepped in and answered the call. Johnson has 920 passing yards to go with his seven touchdowns.
Junior Carter Reed leads the Royal rushers with 508 yards on 139 carries and has scored 7 touchdowns. Kendrick Pennybaker is the top receiver with 723 yards on 34 catches and a half dozen touchdowns.
Head coach Chad Zolman is 173-66 in his 22nd season with five sectional titles, the last in 2020. Homestead was the 1998 5A runner-up to Bloomington South and former Florida Gator and NFL quarterback Rex Grossman.
Starting 3-1, the Spartans have gone 3-2 since and have quality wins over Northrop. Homestead shut out its final two regular season opponents in Fort Wayne North (25-0) and Concordia Lutheran (42-0).
Logan Frieden has 1,433 passing yards, nine touchdowns and has rushed 109 times for 306 yards and five TDs.
Shane Bardwell leads Homestead’s rushing with 426 yards and eight touchdowns. Carter Kennedy has 44 catches for 758 yards to go with four TDs.
No. 9 Fishers Tigers (6-3) at Noblesville Millers (1-8)
Being HCC rivals, the Tigers and Millers have met 23 times with Fishers holding an 18-5 mark. They’ve met just three times in the playoffs, all going Fishers’ way, including the 2024 sectional semifinal (31-21).
Head coach Curt Funk 36-28 in his sixth year at Fishers and 113-64 in 16 seasons overall. Funk spent his first 10 seasons at Mississinewa, winning sectionals in 2017 and 2019.
Funk led Fishers to its first sectional crown in 2024 over Southeastern in a thriller, 44-41. The Tigers have four sectional, one regional, a semi-state and beat Lawrence Central (38-19) for the 2010 5A state title in just its fifth season.
The Tigers have solid wins over No. 6 Lawrence North, HSE, Avon and Franklin Central.
Gage Sturgill is fourth in 6A and 24th in the state with 2,044 yards 59.5 percent passing (128-215) and 20 touchdown passes with four interceptions.
Vincent Rozzi is fourth in the state and first in 6A with 1,149 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Sam Hawkins has stepped up lately with 173 rushing yards. Ryan Thembulembu leads the Tigers in rushing yards with 635 yards and nine touchdowns in seven games. Sturgill also has 356 on the ground, scoring twice.
Head coach John Hebert is in his first season at Noblesville. Hebert spent the past 10 years at Carmel, where he was 82-39. During that span, Hebert won the 2016 and 2019 6A state championships and was runner-up in 2018.
The Millers historically have three sectionals (1979, 1997 and 2000) and two regionals (1997, 2000). Noblesville fell short in the ‘79 2A state championship to Blackford (24-22) and lost the 2000 5A semi-state championship (38-15) to eventual state champion Penn.
Noblesville opened with a 21-6 win at Mt. Vernon. Week 2, the Millers were edged 13-10 by Homestead. After that, the offense struggled with only scoring in double digits in three of the remaining seven regular season games.
Junior quarterback Windsor Hutchins is a 63.5 percent passer, completing 87 of 137 that totalled 707 yards, throwing three touchdowns.
Fellow junior Noah Shinkle leads Noblesville in rushing with 497 yards and seven TDs.
Sophomore Alfred Alwine is Hutchins’ top receiver with 20 catches, 284 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Cody Prater also has 19 receptions, 157 yards and a touchdown catch.
