By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – Minutes after delivering the biggest field-goal kick of his high school career, Westfield’s Caleb King talked about something his coach Jake Gilbert – “Coach G” – preaches to his players: How much they love adversity.
“Adversity is what builds championships, it’s what makes us in the long run,” said King. “We were pretty calm on the sideline. It was a nervous energy, of course. We stayed hard. We stayed ready.”
The Shamrocks were remaining calm despite watching Hamilton Southeastern grind down the field and eventually take a 22-21 fourth-quarter lead at Riverview Health Stadium with 35.9 seconds left to go in Friday’s Class 6A Sectional 4 championship game. At that point, Gilbert admitted things looked bleak.
But Westfield blasted down the field during those last few seconds, eventually settling on the Southeastern eight-yard line. Once there, King stepped up and booted a 27-yard field goal with three seconds left. Shortly thereafter, the Shamrocks were Sectional 4 champions again, defending their title by winning 24-22 over the Royals.
Both Gilbert and King agreed that the victory came down to practicing for these pressure-packed situations.
“Really, you just have to lock in on executing the plays,” said Gilbert. “We work that scenario all the time. We worked it yesterday. So, that’s not a new thing. Everything we did, we’ve practiced a million times. Great play-calling by Coach Schlicher. Blair Schlicher, offensive coordinator, he’s the best out there. You got to give kudos to the kids for executing.”
“We just do tons of reps,” said King. “Every Monday, we do pressure kicks. If I miss, we got to run. I was focused. I was very trusting on Thadeus O’Neill and Alex Wolf.”
The frantic fourth quarter began with the score tied at 14-14. Westfield scored first in the period when Maximus Webster tossed a 40-yard pass to a waiting Jackson Wasserstrom in the end zone. Wasserstrom was being covered by HSE defenders, but he made the catch. King then made the extra point to put the ‘Rocks up 21-14.
That gave the Royals the ball back at the 7:57 mark at their own 24, and they proceeded to run the ball all the way down into the Westfield red zone. At that point, Southeastern had only made one pass during the game. But the Royals made a big pass to set up a touchdown: Sam Jacobs threw to Jack Wafford, who almost got in, but was stopped just short of the end zone.
That was merely a speed bump, though. Blaine Wertz barreled in to score on the next play. Jacobs then made another pass, this one for a two-point conversion. He easily threw the ball to Ian Bucher, who caught it to put HSE ahead by one.
With 35 seconds left, Westfield went into hurry-up mode. Maximus Webster completed four passes to get the Shamrocks down to the Royals’ 15. Two plays later, Westfield was at the 10-yard line with seven seconds left, so the ‘Rocks went to King, and he made the kick.
“It was nervous energy, but you build off that,” said King. “It was adrenaline running through you. Done that rep so many times that I’m not going to miss in that situation.”
King said it reminded him of Westfield’s earlier win against Brownsburg, in which he kicked a field goal that would ultimately be the game winner.
“The game against Brownsburg, that was a lot of pressure on me, because that ended up winning that game,” said King. “But down to that one, game-winner like that, few seconds left, no, I haven’t gotten to experience that one yet. Not since middle school.”
“I know it’s a team sport, but if there’s ever a part of football where you’re out there all by yourself, I think it’s the kicker in that scenario,” said Gilbert. “To come through, congratulations for that kid. I’m really happy for him to have that moment. He deserves it. He works very hard. He’s a great kid, an amazing kid, so I’m happy for our team, I’m happy for him individually, too.”
Westfield received the opening kickoff, and worked its way to the 18-yard line, where Micah Hauser took the ball in with a sideline dash into the end zone. King made the extra-point kick.
The Royals got their first score in the second quarter. Southeastern began their touchdown drive at the 11:11 mark of the period, then resolutely ran the ball down the field in a nine-minute drive. Owen Jones got the Royals on the board with a three-yard run into the end zone, and Alex Geroulis was good on the extra-point kick.
The Shamrocks answered back quickly, moving the ball down to the HSE 11. Webster then made a strong run, getting stopped just short of the end zone. But on the next play, the Ball State recruit punched the ball in from the (less than) one-yard line, putting Westfield back in front with 29 seconds left in the half. King’s kick made the score 14-7, and that would be the halftime margin.
The Royals received the ball to start the second half, and they made another long run into the end zone. Jacobs scored the touchdown, scrambling into the end zone from 29 yards. Geroulis tied the game with his extra-point kick, and the score would stay 14-14 until the fourth quarter.
“Big time kudos to HSE,” said Gilbert. “They deserved to win the game, honestly. They played great, they’ve got great coaches. That’s an awesome program. It’s hard to beat a team like that twice, as you can see. I think the adjustments they made from last game to this game were tremendous and they worked. And we need to give our hats off to those guys. I hate that anybody had to lose this game…man, they did a fantastic job.”
“I’m super proud of our team,” said Royals coach Michael Kelly. The coach was pleased with the fight his team had after trailing at halftime, coming out and scoring to tie the game.
“It was a battle,” said Kelly. “I was proud of our guys, how they responded. At the end of the day, it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Webster finished the game going 11-for-14 and totaled 216 yards. Wasserstrom led the receptions with four (for 61 yards), while freshman Gabe Aramboles made three catches for 75 yards, and Ian Bruch had two catches for 94 yards. Hauser led the rushing with 75 yards.
Southeastern had a stellar performance on the ground, gaining 309 yards. Wertz totaled 159 yards in 37 rushes. Jacobs ran for 89 yards and Jones totaled 61 yards.
“I think our offensive line opened up some big holes and Blaine Wertz had a night, just running the football, ran his heart out,” said Kelly. Cramps twice. Owen Jones coming in and doing a phenomenal job as well.”
The Royals finished their season 8-3.
“We had a lot of positives this year with our guys,” said Kelly. “So thankful to be where I am and thankful to be with the guys that we have in our program. I think we’re heading in the right direction. I’m very thankful for our senior class.”
Westfield won its 11th sectional championship and improved to 10-1 with the victory. The Shamrocks will play at Fort Wayne Carroll next Friday for the Regional 2 championship.
WESTFIELD 24, HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 22
Score by Quarters
Southeastern 0 7 7 8 – 22
Westfield 7 7 0 10 – 24
Team Stats HSE WHS
First Downs 20 16
By Rush 17 6
By Pass 1 8
By Penalty 2 2
Rushes-Yards 64-309 24-112
Yards Passing 19 216
Comp-Att-Int-TD 2-2-0-0 11-14-0-0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 10-70 5305
Punts-Average 0-0.0 2-42.5
Scoring
First Quarter
WHS, 8:24 – Micah Hauser 19-yard run (Caleb King kick)
Second Quarter
HSE, 2:06 – Owen Jones 3-yard run (Alex Geroulis kick)
WHS, 0:29 – Maximus Webster 1-yard run (King kick)
Third Quarter
HSE, 5:59 – Sam Jacobs 29-yard run (Geroulis kick)
Fourth Quarter
WHS, 7:57 – Jackson Wasserstrom 40-yard pass from Webster (King kick)
HSE, 0:35 – Blaine Wertz 1-yard run (Ian Bucher pass from Jacobs)
WHS, 0:03 – King 27-yard field goal
Southeastern individual stats
Rushing: Wertz 37-159, Jacobs 10-89, Jones 16-61, team 1-0.
Passing: Jacobs 2-2-19.
Receiving: Jack Wafford 1-15, Will Gerig 1-4.
Westfield individual stats
Rushing: Hauser 9-75, Webster 13-21, Trevon Hatchett 2-16.
Passing: Webster 11-14-216.
Receiving: Wasserstrom 4-61, Gabe Aramboles 3-75, Ian Bruch 2-94, Nic Depasquale 1-9, Hauser 1-minus 23.