On Friday, your Rocks hosted the Hamilton Southeastern Royals. The Rocks came into the contest riding a 4 game win streak, and continued that streak by the slimmest of margins, winning by a score in overtime. The game proved to be a defensive battle, with a lot of punts from both teams. The Rocks started with the first initial kickoff, after being delayed by lightning for almost an hour. Westfield’s defense produced a three-and-out, transferring possession of the ball quickly to the offense. Deacon King brought his own lightning with a 62-yard run that put the Rocks up 7-0 (Oliver Church kick). The Royals attempted to answer with a scoring drive of their own, but the Rocks stopped them just short of the line to gain on fourth down, taking the ball back. The first quarter would end with the Rocks on top 7-0. The second quarter saw the teams exchange a pair of punts before Preston Dirks stepped in to intercept a Royal pass. This set the Rocks up with a short field, but they were unable to capitalize, falling short through four downs after a series of penalties had them backed up. The Royals took back possession with only a couple minutes left in the half, and put together a clock eating drive that chipped away at the yardage. They never quite got enough as time was running down, and settled for a long field goal attempt. It fell short and the Rocks 7-0 lead would hold at the break. Westfield received the ball to start the second half, but promptly fumbled it away with a poor exchange in the backfield. Dirks came up big for the D again with a huge sack to stop the subsequent Royal drive, and spoil the good field position. The teams exchanged a couple of punts before the Royals were able to make a deep connection on a double move. The receiver broke free for the score, and things were back to even with a little over five minutes to play in the third. The defense from both teams produced another pair of stops, with the Royal punt coming as time wound down in the third. The Rocks would start the fourth quarter with the ball, score tied. Carsen Melvin found King along the sideline for a 59 yard scoring strike, opening up the final period with a 14-7 Shamrock lead (Church kick). The Rock D stopped the Royal answer, and it looked like the Rocks might put together a drive to extend the lead. They missed a mid-range field goal that doinked off of the left upright and the crossbar before tumbling forward. The Royals took over with around nearly seven minutes left in the game, and put together another clock-eating drive that ended in a score this time. With things all tied up again, the Rocks had just a little under two minutes to try to engineer a game winning drive. They weren’t able to gain much ground, but did exhaust the clock and sent things to overtime. In OT, the Rocks got first crack at offense, and again King rode the lightning, scoring on the first play and giving the Rocks a 21-14 lead (Church kick). The Rock D then needed a stop to secure the win, and the Royals would chip away at the 10 yards they needed with a pair of runs before threatening the end zone. On third down, as the Royal running back strove to punch it in the paint for the equalizer, Alex Aramboles was able to knock the ball loose. It bounced away from the Royals and Mikeah Webster scooped it up for Westfield. The second takeaway of the night secured the 21-14 victory for the Rocks, ending overtime. Next Friday, your Rocks will travel to Brownsburg to face the Bulldogs in a battle of the two remaining unbeaten teams in the conference, and the top two ranked teams in the state. Kickoff is scheduled for 7pm.