Football: Shamrocks have sights on first 6A title

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

The Westfield Shamrocks and Brownsburg Bulldogs meet up Friday in the Class 6A state football championship at 7 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. This will be just the third time that a Hoosier Crossroads Conference school will be represented in 6A and the first title game in which both schools are from the HCC.

“I think we hope to represent it well. It’s just a credit to how competitive this conference has become. There’s a lot of great teams that help you get prepared for some of these big moments here down the stretch, too,” Westfield head coach Josh Miracle said.

This will also be the first in the 12-year history of Class 6A that there will not be a team that was a current or former member of the MIC vying for the state championship. Center Grove (4), Ben Davis (3), Carmel (2) and Warren Central (2) have combined for the first 11 trophies. (Center Grove and Carmel left the MIC in 2021.)

The Shamrocks won the 5A state championship over Columbus East (16-13) in 2016. In 2013, they were upended in the 5A state title game by Cathedral, 42-18. Their first appearance in program history at the state finals was in 1992, when they fell to Bishop Luers in the Class 2A final at the Hoosier Dome, 17-0.

The Bulldogs have two previous appearances in the state finals but have not been there in 39 years. Brownsburg won the 1984 Class 3A state championship over Concord (17-12) and moved up to 4A in 1985, defeating Hobart (23-17) for back-to-back state titles. The purple-clad team from Hendricks County has eight sectional, four regional and two semi-state titles.

Head coach Josh Miracle is off to quite the start in his first season leading the Shamrocks.

His second-ranked Shamrocks jumped out to a 5-0 record winning at Center Grove (34-28), home against Carmel (17-13) and Zionsville (28-10), at Noblesville (38-18) and an overtime nail-biter with Hamilton Southeastern (21-14).

The Shamrocks have lost three in a row to the Bulldogs, but this year’s matchup was closer (17-13) than the previous two. The proverbial roadblock came in Week 6 at Brownsburg. Westfield got up 7-0 through one quarter, but the Bulldogs scored 17 to the Shamrocks’ six the rest of the way for the 17-13 win.

Avon (45-13) was the first victory of the current streak, followed by a similar score in Week 8 at Fishers (46-12). Westfield ended the regular season with a 44-7 rout of Franklin Central to finish tied atop the HCC with Brownsburg.

Harrison (49-0) fell first to the ‘Rocks in the sectional semifinal and Zionsville (35-13) next in the sectional championship.

A repeat trip to Fishers in the regional resulted in a 42-28 win. The semi-state last week was a rematch of last year between Crown Point and the Shamrocks. The Bulldogs won last year at their place, but this time, Westfield took advantage of their home field. After the Bulldogs tied it 7-7, the ‘Rocks scored 23 unanswered points on the way to a 30-7 semi-state win.

Senior quarterback Carsen Melvin has played with precision in his first year as the starter. Melvin is 133 for 200 (66.5 percent) for 1,793 yards and 16 passing touchdowns. He has also rushed for 326 yards and 10 TDs.

Junior running back Deacon King has burst onto the scene with 1,353 yards on 215 carries for a 6.3 yard per carry average and 16 rushing TDs. Broc Parker (402) and Mikeah Webster (289) are great backfield depth with nine touchdowns. As a team, Westfield has rushed for 2,549 (5.8 average) yards and 36 TDs.

Senior Gabe Aramboles leads the receivers with 38 catches, 548 yards and five scores. Fellow seniors Beau Braun (434), Parker Knott (285) and Preston Pakala (285) have all caught three TD passes.

Keegan Krupp is the top tackler with 101. Mikeah Webster (89, 12.5 for a loss), Lennox Williams (76), Samuel Poriah (62) and Alex Aramboles (15.5 tackles for a loss, 9.5 sacks) are also key defenders. Drew Law heads up the secondary with six interceptions and Cato June had two pivotal picks in the semi-state against Crown Point last week.

Junior lineman Alex Aramboles said a key to playing Brownsburg is picking up “each phase of the game. Special teams, offense, defense. When one phase is struggling, defense, we need to pick it up more and it applies to all the other phases.”

Head coach John Hart is no stranger to the state finals. Going 81-19 in his first nine seasons at Brownsburg, Hart also has an undefeated 4A title with Evansville Reitz in 2007 and in 2009 at Warren Central in 5A. Overall in 40 years, Hart holds a 348-100 mark.

The Bulldogs started off 8-0 before HSE ended their win streak on the road, 30-23.

Sophomore Oscar Frye throws a comfortable 63.9 percent (149-233) for 2,283 yards and 22 TDs. The majority of those have been caught by Branden Sharpe with 64 for 1,132 and six scores. Avin Robinson has 853 on 39 catches and 12 TDs.

Shakavon Sumpterbey (721), Brady Lewis (707) and Iosua Stephens (565) are a dangerous backfield trio that combined for 25 TDs on the ground.

“They’re excellent. Coach (John) Hart, they do a phenomenal job, their staff over there. They have playmakers everywhere. They’ve only improved since we played them mid-year. We definitely have our work cut out for us,” Miracle added.

Alex Burke leads the defense with 91 tackles (22.5 for a loss) and six sacks. Eli Richardson (79) and Mason Keifer (48) teamed up for 28 for a loss. Quentin Russ has six interceptions, along with Jamere Pendleton’s five interceptions make it difficult to pass.