By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – When Westfield took control of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference standings two weeks ago, coach Jake Gilbert spoke of taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.
The Shamrocks have indeed made the most of those opportunities, and received the fruits of that on Friday. Westfield, ranked No. 2 in Class 6A, clinched at least a share of the HCC championship by beating Fishers 45-6 at Reynolds Tigers Stadium.
The ‘Rocks are 6-0 in the conference, just ahead of Brownsburg and Hamilton Southeastern, both of which are 5-1. This is the second time Westfield has won the HCC championship; the Shamrocks tied with Fishers for the conference title in 2013.
“We’ve been a really good practice team, and I’m just so happy that they’ve been rewarded, because they practice with discipline, they practice with competitiveness,” said Gilbert. “They’ve gotten better. We got off to a hot start, but we weren’t arrogant. We’ve been humble and hungry. I’m just so proud of our kids for finishing it. We’re not quite finishing it yet, but we’re HCC champs no matter what. I just couldn’t be happier with our players and coaches.”
Fishers gave Westfield an early scare by scoring the game’s first points. Jeffrey Simmons caught a 37-yard pass from Lucas Prewitt for a Tigers touchdown. But the Shamrocks responded right away, with Magwire Graybill blocking the extra-point attempt.
After that, Westfield took over. Junior quarterback Maximus Webster dominated the game, scoring four rushing touchdowns and passing for one more. Webster punched the ball in from the one-yard line with 3:51 left in the first quarter to get the ‘Rocks on the board, then rushed in for a 13-yard score late in the period.
“I knew we were going to be able to score,” said Gilbert. “Defensively, we have not started games well the last few weeks. We got to fix that. But we have absolutely adjusted and then played well.”
Webster wasted no time scoring in the second quarter, making a three-yard trip to the end zone just 25 seconds into the period. Micah Hauser added a one-yard TD run midway through the quarter, and the half ended with Webster finding Mason Piening for an eight-yard touchdown pass. After all that, Westfield held a 35-6 halftime lead.
“The usual suspects getting involved,” said Gilbert. “I thought Nic Depasquale had a good night tonight. I was happy with Reid Schepers. The O-line, as usual, did a pretty good job.”
Webster had one more touchdown to score, which he did early in the third quarter on a seven-yard run. Sean Sullivan made the extra-point kick, as he did for all six of the Shamrocks’ touchdowns. Webster’s score came at the 9:23 mark of the third and triggered a running clock for the remainder of the game.
Westfield wasn’t done yet. Midway through the fourth quarter, Frankie Ispen kicked a 22-yard field goal.
“She deserved that chance,” said Gilbert. “She’s been great at practice. Very competitive and had a great JV season. I wanted to get her three.”
Webster was nearly perfect, completing 15 of 16 pass attempts for 201 yards. He also rushed for 51 yards. Hauser led the ground game with 64 yards.
Depasquale made five catches, with Schepers and Piening both getting four receptions. On defense, Charles Dager made nine tackles, followed by Hauser with six and Kyle Pape with five.
Prewitt had a solid game for Fishers, going 11-of-15 for 109 yards. Landon Morris had four catches and Simmons finished with three. Carson Dunn led the Tigers’ rushing with 37 yards.
Evan Miller and Joey Slimak both had seven tackles for Fishers, with Curtis Kearshner making five, including 2.5 for a loss.
“We started out playing well,” said Tigers coach Curt Funk. “The game just slowly started slipping away from us there. We got behind and then offensively we had to get a little bit more aggressive and we just couldn’t convert some first downs. And unfortunately, when that happens against a good Westfield team, that score just slips away from you and things start to get out of hand.”
The Shamrocks are now 7-1 and overall and finish the regular season and HCC play by hosting Franklin Central next Friday. Fishers is 2-4 in the conference and 2-6 overall, and travels to Zionsville next Friday to finish its league and regular seasons.
WESTFIELD 45, FISHERS 6
Score by Quarters
Westfield 14 21 7 3 – 45
Fishers 6 0 0 0 – 6
Team Stats WFLD FISH
First Downs 20 12
By Rush 8 7
By Pass 10 4
By Penalty 2 1
Rushes-Yards 31-144 30-91
Yards Passing 211 116
Comp-Att-Int-TD 16-22-0-1 12-18-0-1
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1
Penalties-Yards 4-22 9-66
Punts-Average 1-26.0 4-21.0
Scoring
First Quarter
FISH, 8:05 – Jeffrey Simmons 37-yard pass from Lucas Prewitt (kick blocked)
WFLD, 3:51 – Maximus Webster 1-yard run (Sean Sullivan kick)
WFLD, 1:23 – Webster 13-yard run (Sullivan kick)
Second Quarter
WFLD, 11:35 – Webster 3-yard run (Sullivan kick)
WFLD, 6:29 – Micah Hauser 1-yard run (Sullivan kick)
WFLD, 0:21 – Mason Piening 8-yard pass
from Webster (Sullivan kick)
Third Quarter
WFLD, 9:23 – Webster 7-yard run (Sullivan kick)
Fourth Quarter
WFLD, 4:56 – Frankie Ispen 22-yard field goal
Westfield individual stats
Rushing: Hauser 12-64, Webster 11-51, Cole Ballard 1-12, Nic Depasquale 1-11, Carson Voorhis 1-8, Ryan Creager 2-8, Porter Rode 2-minus 5, Nick Talley 1-minus 5.
Passing: Webster 15-16-201, Talley 1-4-10, Ballard 0-2-0.
Receiving: Depasquale 5-62, Reid Schepers 4-51, Piening 4-40, Voorhis 1-40, Rode 1-10, Hauser 1-8.
Fishers individual stats
Rushing: Carson Dunn 10-37, Shaun Kim 4-25, Dominic Oliverio 5-22, Prewitt 4-10, Josh Thompson 1-9, Kevin Hamilton 2-2, Jaidyn Higgins 1-0, Lucas Minns 1-minus 2, Christian Wayne 1-minus 12.
Passing: Prewitt 11-15-109, Minns 1-2-7, Higgins 0-1-0.
Receiving: Landon Morris 4-22, Simmons 3-57, Dunn 2-155, Caleb Gates 1-9, Andrew Colsten 1-7, Oliverio 1-6.
Fishers’ Grant Shelton defends against Westfield’s Mason Piening during a Shamrocks’ offensive play. (Richie Hall)