Westfield opened up play in Class 6A Sectional 4 Friday with a 49-6 win over Noblesville in what was the final game at the Millers’ Beaver Materials Field.
Noblesville scored first, using a long eight-and-a-half-minute drive to march down the field. The drive culminated in a one-yard touchdown run by Alairic Rogers-Walton.
“It was the best start that we’ve had all season long with a long, clock-chewing drive, and to see the joy in the kids faces going up 6-0 with about three minutes left in the first qurter was pretty exciting,” said Millers coach Dave Sharpe.
The Shamrocks got on the board with under a minute left in the first quarter. Micah Hauser scored the first of what would be four consecutive touchdowns by punching the ball in from the one.
That put Westfield up 7-6, and the Shamrocks’ lead would become 21-6 by halftime. Hauser jogged into the end zone from four yards midway through the second quarter, then took an 11-yard scoring run with under a minute in the half.
“We played amazing,” said Westfield coach Jake Gilbert. “They scored first. Then we stopped them the rest of the way. They averaged under four yards a carry. Their offense is made for a night like this, playig in that rain. But I was thoroughly impressed by us rallying. But then our offense scored every time we had the ball, so it was an incredible offensive performance by us.”
The ‘Rocks continued to cruise in the third quarter with three more touchdowns. Hauser got the first one on a five-yard run with 10:51 left. Maximus Webster connected with Ian Bruch for a 17-yard pass play score a couple minutes later. Westfield then got another last-minute touchdown when Trevon Hatchett made a 22-yard run into the end zone.
Reece Weyer completed the Shamrocks’ scoring with a seven-yard run in the fourth quarter. Caleb King made all seven extra-point kicks.
Sharpe said Westfield is “so good on offense, it’s quite ridiculous how good they are and they made us look silly at times defensively. It was very hard to match them drive for drive. But we tried our best, we played our hearts out.”
As for the Shamrocks’ defense, Gilbert said his team “did a better job at the line of scrimmage. Just staying stout, hanging in there and tackling over and over, like you got to do against that team. It’s not a fun offense to defend, so very happy with our overall performance.”
Gilbert pointed out how efficient his team’s offense was. Webster completed all seven of his pass attempts for 135 yards, then averaged 13.3 yards per carry. Hauser had just over nine yards per carry, totaling 109 yards in 12 rushes. Hatchett had 82 yards in six carries, an average of 13.7 yards per rush. Gabe Aramboles made three catches.
Logan Shoffner led Noblesville’s rushing with 64 yards, followed by Conner Meinerding with 41 yards. Meinerding was one of many seniors on the Millers’ team, a group that Sharpe said Noblesville is “absolutely going to miss.”
“It’s just going to feel like a diferent place wihtout those guys walking through the locker room every day,” said Sharpe. “We had a lot of fun with them.”
“I’m super proud to be a part of the Miller family and super proud to represent those kids,” said Sharpe.
Noblesville finished the season 2-8. Westfield is now 9-1 and will host Hamilton Southeastern next Friday for the Sectional 4 championship.
WESTFIELD 49, NOBLESVILLE 6
Score by Quarters
Westfield 7 14 21 7 – 49
Noblesville 6 0 0 0 – 6
Team Stats WHS NHS
First Downs 19 17
By Rush 12 12
By Pass 5 3
By Penalty 2 2
Rushes-Yards 28-271 51-179
Yards Passing 135 33
Comp-Att-Int-TD 7-7-0-1 3-8-0-0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 1-10 3-25
Punts-Average 0-0.0 2-30.5
Scoring
First Quarter
NHS, 3:30 – Alairic Rogers-Walton 1-yard run (pass failed)
WHS, 0:24 – Micah Hauser 1-yard run (Caleb King kick)
Second Quarter
WHS, 6:51 – Hauser 4-yard run (King kick)
WHS, 0:58 – Hauser 11-yard run (King kick)
Third Quarter
WHS, 10:51 – Hauser 5-yard run (King kick)
WHS, 8:17 – Ian Bruch 17-yard pass from Maximus Webster (King kick)
WHS, 0:54 – Trevon Hatchett 22-yard run (King kick)
Fourth Quarter
WHS, 5:03 – Reece Weyer 7-yard run (King kick)
Westfield individual stats
Rushing: Hauser 12-109, Hatchett 6-82, Webster 3-40, Jackson Wasserstrom 2-25, Weyer 4-15, team 1-0.
Passing: Webster 7-7-135.
Receiving: Gabe Aramboles 3-71, Wasserstrom 1-23, Bruch 1-17, Nic Depasquale 1-16, Mikeah Webster 1-8.
Noblesville individual stats
Rushing: Logan Shoffner 16-64, Connor Meinerding 9-41, Rogers-Walton 11-40, Sevin Barringer 5-26, Parker Bell 1-3, Brayan Goméz Sànchez 1-3, Jack Skomp 1-3, Gage Gulley 7-minus 1.
Passing: Meinerding 3-8-33.
Receiving: Gulley 2-22, Aiden Brewer 1-11.