On Friday, your Rocks traveled to Hamilton Southeastern to face the Royals. They earned a 21-17 victory, extending their record to 4-1 (3-0 HCC). The Rocks started on defense for this one, and the teams exchanged punts out of the gate. After a short Shamrock punt, the Rock D stepped up and stymied an opportunity for the Royals, forcing a three-and-out. Westfield then put together a promising drive, but they were intercepted at the two-yard line. The Rock D held again, and the subsequent punt was returned deep into Royal territory by Cato June. Westfield tried to take advantage of the short field as the quarter flipped from one to two with no score. The Rocks were unable to convert on a fourth and one, however, and turned it over on downs. The Royals then got on the board first with a long scoring play on their next drive. The Rocks answered, though, when Aiden Grabowski found Broc Parker for 89 yards and a score. A missed PAT made it 7-6 Royals with around eight minutes to play in the half. The Rock D came up with another big stop, and Westfield’s offense started to gain momentum before mishandling a snap and fumbling the ball away. The next Royal drive would suffer from a troubled snap of their own that gave the Rocks a chance to try to drive the field with a little over a minute left in the half. Westfield got close enough to try a long heave into the endzone, but the ball was intercepted as time expired. The Royals would take their scant one-point advantage into the break. Westfield received the ball to start the second half. The drive was gathering steam and looked to be headed for a score when the ball popped out and was caught by a Royal defenseman who returned it 96 yards for a score. The teams once traded punts before Westfield was able to answer with a gritty drive that Deacon King punched into the end zone. Aiden Grabowski powered in a two point try in place of the kick to equalize the score with one minute left in the third quarter. The tie would hold as the fourth quarter started and the Royals put together a drive of their own. They ended up settling for a field goal to give themselves a three point lead early in the fourth. Westfield’s offense answered with another big play when Cooper Melvin found Andrew Noble for 55 yards and the score (Diego Herrera kick). The Rock D then manufactured a big takeaway on the first Royal play from scrimmage when Ja’Deon Smith stripped the ball from the Royal quarterback, bringing possession and a short field back to the Rocks. Westfield settled for a field goal of their own, but the try missed. With the score at 21-17, the Royals would have another shot at putting together a scoring drive with six and a half minutes to play. The Rock D kept up their stalwart trend of the night, stringing together a couple big tackles for loss and forcing the punt with four minutes to play. Westfield’s offense then put together a solid, clock-eating drive that drew out all of the Royal timeouts. After a final powerful King run for a first down, the Rocks were able to kneel and run out the clock. 21-17 Rocks was the final. Next week, your Rocks will come home to host the top-ranked Brownsburg Bulldogs. Brownsburg is undefeated on the season, coming off a 42-14 thrashing of Fishers. Kickoff for the pivotal contest is scheduled for 7pm.