Last night, your Rocks traveled to Hamilton Southeastern to face the Royals. Both teams entered the contest undefeated, and the Rocks emerged with the 30-28 victory in dramatic fashion. The win moves the Rocks to 5-0 on the year (3-0 HCC). Westfield started the game on defense for this one, and Jacob Good came up big on the third play from scrimmage, intercepting a Royal pass for his first takeaway of the night. The Shamrock offense was able to convert the possession into 3 points with a Brody Boehm field goal. The teams then traded a pair of punts before the Royals were able to engineer a scoring drive. The Rocks had the ball around midfield at the end of the first, down 3-7. They went on to finish the drive in the second quarter with Mikeah Webster punching it in from short to reclaim the lead (Boehm kick). The teams went back and forth on a pair of drives after that, all resulting in punts. The Royals looked to break the stalemate when they intercepted a Shamrock pass, but Good stepped up again for the defense, snagging his second pick of the night and giving the Rocks the ball back in the waning moments of the half. With time winding down, Westfield elected to try for a long field goal. The kick had the leg, but sailed wide right, keeping the score at 10-7 Rocks at the half. The Rocks received the ball to start the second half, but didn’t get much going on offense and punted. The Royals, however, came out firing and picked up a quick score to take the lead. Westfield’s offense answered the challenge when Jackson Gilbert found Maximus Nosler in the endzone to reclaim the lead (Boehm kick). The Royals punched back with another scoring drive, and HSE would have the 21-17 edge heading into the fourth. The Rocks faced a long fourth down to start the final quarter, and looked to come out punting. They executed a daring fake, picking up the needed yardage and then some on a long Boehm run. With momentum in their corner, the Rocks looked to capitalize but stalled and tried for another long field goal. This one fell short, and the ball went back to Royals with much of the quarter still left to play. The Rock D came up with a big stop, forcing a punt, and giving the ball back to the offense with just over eight minutes to play. The Shamrocks put together a drive that ate up a lot of clock and secured the lead with Gilbert diving in for a score (Boehm kick). The Royals would get it back with around three-and-a-half minutes to play. Despite a valiant stand near the goalline, HSE was able to score a go-ahead touchdown and leave the Rocks with only 39.4 seconds to answer. Backs against the wall, Westfield executed a fancy hook-and-ladder early in the drive to pick up a huge chunk of yardage and set them up on the Royal 17 yard line with 17 seconds left to play. Down four and needing a score, Westfield began throwing quick passes, trying to get one into the end zone. After a completion across the middle was stopped just short at the 2 yard line, the Rocks were able to quickly spike the ball and retain 6.9 seconds on the clock. Their first play from the two resulted in a quick incompletion, leaving only enough time for one final shot at the score. Gilbert faked a handoff, looked right, then turned left, throwing off of his back foot and arching a ball that dropped right into Kendall Garnett’s diving hands just across the goal line. With the nearby line judge confirming the score and no time left on the clock, Westfield walked off the field with the thrilling 30-28 victory. Next Friday, your Rocks will look to provide more edge-of-your seat football entertainment when they come home and host the Brownsburg Bulldogs. This will, yet again, be a battle of unbeaten and top-ranked 6A teams. Kickoff is scheduled for 7pm, but don’t plan on leaving early. These Rocks are proving the old adage that it isn’t over until the clock shows all zeros.