Although just about an hour on Interstate-465 separates these two 6A schools, there is not much these two teams have in common outside of Columbus North’s head coach Logan Haston having a stint as Fishers’ offensive coordinator. With a little under 4000 students, Fishers has about twice the student population of Columbus North, who sits at a little over 2000.
On Friday nights the two teams will be looking very different as well. Fishers will be relying on a senior-heavy team led offensively by quarterback Bennett Gorak, Miami (OH) commit running back Khobie Martin, Ball State commit offensive tackle Grant Haworth and wide receiver Joe Syrus. Defensively, the Tigers are led by senior defensive backs Leo Morrow, defensive back Reagan Thembulembu and Ball State commit defensive end Brady Wolf. For Columbus North, they will be relying on the backs of underclassmen to get the job done. Offensively the Bulldogs will be relying heavily on the connection of 2026 quarterback Asher Ratliff to 2025 wide receiver Braylon Thoman, the young gun-slinger will have plenty of protection with 6’4” 270 pound 2026 Drew Schiefer and 6’3” 290 pound 2025 Bryce Harriman protecting him up front. On the defensive side, Columbus North will still be relying heavily on the class of 2026 with linebackers Anderson Horn, Luke Rusell and 2025 defensive lineman Dumo Kak.
Despite lots of good plays made by both teams, the experience and age was clear all night with Fishers having lots of success on both sides of the ball. During 7 on 7, Gorak was able to find the seam throughout the session hitting Joe Syrus, sophomore Ryan Thembulembu and Joel Gates for big gains down the middle and had a beautiful throw to Junior Millen McCartney over-the-shoulder. The first time starter was without junior Jon Anthony Hall who was nursing an injury. However, Gorak was not perfect during the 7 on 7 session with a handful of overthrows to the flats and an interception into the hands of sophomore Anderson Horn.
On the first play of the full team session, Khobie Martin raced all the way to the end zone, showing why he is poised to have a monster season behind an inexperienced but older Fishers offensive line. Despite the powerful running of Martin, Columbus North sophomore linebackers Anderson Horn and Luke Russell got the best of the old Fishers offensive line on a couple plays, stuffing their running gaps before they reached the second-level of blocking. In pass protection, Gorak would have time to throw for the most part finding Syrus and McCartney on big plays.
For the young Columbus North offense, not much was going their way against a stout Fishers defense, but Asher Ratliff was able to roll out and find Braylon Thoman on the sideline just about whenever he wanted. When Ratliff would stay in the pocket, his young offensive line would hold their own against the strong Fishers defensive line led by Brady Wolf, but the Fishers secondary led by Leo Morrow and Reagan Thembulembu would suffocate all the passing lanes to force plenty of incomplete passes and a fantastic one-handed interception by Thembulembu. In the last team session, the Columbus North defense started to come alive with an interception and a big time sack by Dumo Kak. Gorak and Fishers would respond quickly, finding McCartney on a slant for an easy touchdown and Khobie Martin pummeling his way into the endzone during the goalline session. To end the scrimmage, Ratliff finally would find the endzone connecting on a crazy cross field throw to find the open man.
For Columbus North, I expect them to have some growing pains this season with a lot of young talent that will only get better as time goes on. This season will be a success as long as the young squad sticks together and plays their hardest every Friday night, which I believe will happen under second year head coach Logan Haston.
For Fishers, I am expecting a sectional championship run from this talented senior class they have. Going through the HCC gauntlet is never easy, but it has been four years since the Tigers have beaten Westfield, three years since they last beat HSE and eight years since they last beat Brownsburg. I would not be surprised if one of these losing streaks ends this season.