Just a week after pushing Royal Irish in the final of the Midwest HS Club Championships, Indiana-based Fishers HS will play in the team’s annual Mudsock rivalry game with Hamilton Southeast.

The game stems from the days when HSE was the only high school in Fishers, Ind. Then as the town grew, Fishers HS was built, in essence splitting the town down the middle. A youth football field sits in the middle of the town on the banks of Mudsock Creek, and that area is considered sort of a neutral area for the two schools.

So the annual Mudsock Game is about a meeting of the two rivals. HSE won last year, and took the traveling trophy, a statue of a lion with tiger's stripes - a nod to the HSE mascot (lion) and the Fishers mascot (tiger).

This year, under coaches Curt Trout and John Harley, Fishers is looking the stronger team. Built up out of a youth program that has seen massive growth in recent years, Fishers is more than just a HS program. Kids from the HS team actually work within the overall program to help middle school gym teachers introduce the game to kids there. This development of athletes continues through the ages. Atavus has been there to work with the players, and you can see kids playing 5-on-5 indoor rugby through the winter.

Left, the first Mudsock Game, which raised $6,000 for a local hospital. And right, the Liger trophy.

Coming out of last weekend, Fishers has enjoyed a boost of confidence. They scored three tries against Royal Irish in the Midwest final. Royal Irish also scored three tries - and won because they converted all three. Fishers, whose youth programs provide several players to the nearby Royal Irish team, is looking to build on the performance, and will go into this weekend's Mudsock game as favorites. 

But in rivalry games, you never know.