Last night, your Rocks hosted the Hamilton Southeastern Royals with a trip to the final four on the line. Westfield secured a regional championship with a thrilling 24-21 victory. The Rocks kicked off to start the festivities, and promptly pinned the Royals deep. A quick stop and a punt led to good field position for the Rocks. They capitalized with a Brody Boehm field goal that started the scoring for the night. The Rock D then engineered another stop, holding through four downs to take the ball back at their own 24. The Shamrock offense didn’t move it much, and a blocked punt led to a recovery touchdown for the Royals. After the extra point, the Royals led 7-3 to end the first quarter. Kendall Garnett and the Shamrock offense came alive on the ground during the next possession, answering a score with a score (Boehm kick). The Royals broke loose of a tackle for a long score on their next drive, however, so the Shamrock lead was short lived. Westfield was unable to answer, punting it back, but Keegan Krupp picked off the Royals to put the ball back in Shamrock hands. Once more the offense stalled, but an excellent Boehm punt pinned the Royals at the 2 yard line. With a long way to go and not much time remaining in the half, HSE attempted to string a few first downs together. The Rock D put the pressure on the Royal QB, and two Westfield linemen collided awkwardly on a play in the waning seconds. With a heartbreaking injury to Colton Vondersaar that required bringing an ambulance onto the field, both teams agreed to run the clock and proceed to halftime. It was a sobering reminder of the risks our athletes accept when they step onto the field, and the sacrifice did not go unappreciated as the team gathered around to see their brother off. With a stern reminder of the mission from their departing teammate, the Rocks headed into the locker room for the break, down 14-10. Refocused, the Rocks came back out and scored on the opening possession with another string of strong Garnett runs (Boehm kick). Westfield’s defense produced a fiery stop with a big sack in their first second half showing, and the Rocks looked to be pulling the crowd back into it to start the half. A Shamrock fumble bounced the momentum back to the Royals, and they cashed in with a score to retake the lead with 1:15 to play in the third quarter. Garnett again led the Shamrocks in answering, busting loose for a 51-yard score to snatch the lead back with 3 seconds to play in the third (Boehm kick). The Rocks would take a 24-21 lead into the final quarter. With HSE attempting to produce a response of their own, the Rock D turned up the heat and secured a stop. Westfield’s offense tried to drive to seal things, making it into Royal territory before coming up just short on fourth down. The Royals got the ball back, but the Rock D again came up big with a stop. They punted the ball back to Westfield with 6:46 to play. The Rocks were unable to string much together and milked only about a minute and a half off the clock before returning the ball to the Royals with a punt. With the clock ticking under 5 minutes, HSE started to march the ball down the field. Eating clock and making gains, the drive moved across midfield and into Shamrock territory. The Rock D stiffened, and the game came down to a big fourth and short conversion attempt. The two teams clashed, with the Royals attempting to power the ball across the line to gain. After a tense measurement from the officials proved the effort to fall short, the Rocks took possession back with only 1:23 remaining. Garnett ripped off a long run for a huge first down to start the final possession, and that sealed it for the Rocks. They would need to kneel it three times to draw out the remaining Royal timeouts, but the clock eventually rolled over to zeroes with the 24-21 final preserved in Westfield’s favor. Your Rocks return to action next week with only four 6A teams remaining in the tournament. They will travel to Crown Point to face the Bulldogs with a trip to the state finals on the line. With a longer bit of travel needed for this one, as well as a timezone change, the exact kickoff time will likely be modified from the normal 7pm start time. Stay tuned for details.