When you think of HSE football you think of two games, Fishers against HSE, but most importantly Carmel against HSE. Carmel has decided to move on to a different school to play for the first game of the year.

“Carmel opted out of our contract of four years,”Athletic Director Jim Self said “We only had one year left.”

We have played Carmel for many years, however now we are not going to play them in sectionals. The only place we can meet the defending state champs is state.

Carmel went 10 and 4 last season in a battle on the road to the state title. One of the four losses was against HSE. HSE has played Carmel for three years and each game has been a close one. They might think that we are not improving them in a way because they are state champions now, but they never have tried opting out of the contract until now.

“Carmel was looking to improve their game,” Self stated. “They we’re a very hard first games for us.”

We beat Carmel last year during the regular, however we lost to them in sectionals. Carmel has moved on to improve their game as a whole playing a 22 time state champion, who has 8 undefeated seasons.

The problem with the school not playing Carmel is that most of the student body is upset about not being able to watch the intense game.

“I feel that we don’t get a chance to prove ourselves against the defending state champs,” senior Mitch Dunagin said.

We did not have a game one for a while after Carmel opted out.

“Thank God for Kokomo,” Self said. “They had an opening and took us in under a condition that we play them at their new field.”

Self did not want to waste a home game, but he had too because it was one of the games that needed to be played to prepare us for sectionals.

“I think that this will improve us and them,” Self stated. “It is something that eventually going to end.”

The Carmel against HSE game was a good game however we will never see them in regular season until another contract is signed.