By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – Early in the regular season, the Westfield football team won four straight games that were decided by a touchdown or less.
One of those games was against Hamilton Southeastern, so the regional re-match was expected to be close. And it was, with the Shamrocks edging out the Royals 24-21 to claim an exciting Class 6A Regional 2 championship Friday at Riverview Health Stadium.
How close was it? Each time a team scored, the lead changed. The back and forth continued all throughout the game, and the winning play came at the end of the third quarter.
Westfield’s Kendall Garnett had already scored two touchdowns for his team. His third touchdown was the longest one of the game, and it turned out to be the game-winner with three seconds left in the third quarter.
“Kendall’s tough,” said Shamrocks coach Jake Gilbert. “I think he’d rather get the ball that many times, so he’s happy. We’ve really been a little stronger throwing the ball this year. But these last few weeks our offensive line’s been amazing and Kendall’s really coming on.”
Westfield’s first points came on a 28-yard field goal from Brody Boehm midway through the first quarter. Southeastern answered with a defensive play right at the end of the period. Jack Seyferth blocked a Shamrocks punt, then recovered the ball and ran it 25 yards to the end zone. Thus the Royals went into the second quarter leading 7-3.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Jack Seyferth blocked a punt, then returned it for a touchdown in the first half. (Julie Brown)
The call and respond continued in the second quarter. Garnett punched the ball in from the one-yard line to put Westfield up 10-7 with 7:59 left in the period. Southeastern again came up with the big play: On the first play of HSE’s subsequent drive, Chandler Weston connected with Donovan Hamilton, and the senior turned the pass into a 73-yard touchdown run.
That put the Royals up 14-10, and they would maintain that lead through halftime, which was delayed for several minutes after a serious injury to Westfield’s Coleton Vondersaar.
“He is a heart and soul player for us,” said Shamrocks coach Jake Gilbert. “That’s a tough injury.” The coach said his season’s “probably over, but we love him and all he asked for was that we win. And we did that for him.”
Right before the ‘Rocks headed into the locker room, Westfield senior Andrew Lieske was seen firing up his teammates on the field.
“Our seniors are extraordinary leaders, tremendous culture builders and they love each other and they love Westfield football,” said Gilbert.
The Shamrocks scored first in the third quarter. Garnett ran the ball in from the five-yard line, and Westfield regained the lead at 17-14 with 8:25 to go. The Shamrocks’ defense then set an early tone, holding HSE to a three-and-out. Mikeah Webster, Casey Graybill and Alex Aramboles were among those making tackles.
Westfield’s Mikeah Webster made several good offensive and defensive plays. (Julie Brown)
“Our defense was extraordinary because that’s a tremendous offense,” said Gilbert. “They’ve got guys that can take it to the house every time they touch it. So I thought defensively we weren’t perfect, but we were pretty darn good.”
Southeastern stepped up on defense as well. Brody Carlson forced and recovered a fumble, and that led to a Royals’ scoring drive. Jalen Alexander gained the majority of the yards, rushing in to the end zone from the one-yard line. Hugo Belmonte made all three extra point kicks, including one after Alexander’s score to put HSE up 21-17.
But Westfield had one more score. A 14-yard pass from Jackson Gilbert to Beau Braun got the ‘Rocks to their own 49-yard line. That was all Garnett needed, as he ran off 51 yards into the end zone. Boehm made the extra-point kick, as he had already done on the other two touchdowns.
“Anything I see, I’m breaking this tackle and I’m getting to that end zone and that’s what I did,” said Garnett. He carried the ball 35 times for 219 yards. In one instance, Garnett kept moving even after getting hit a couple times.
“You got to do what you got to do for these seniors out here,” said Garnett, a junior. “This is their last year, so we got to go out here and set the tone for everyone around here. We got our younger kids watching us. They look up to us and they want to see what it’s like to be a Westfield football player.”
Neither team scored in the fourth quarter, as both defenses played hard to the end. The Shamrocks won their third regional title in the past four seasons, and seventh in program history.
Southeastern finished its season with a 9-3 record. Alexander totaled 116 yards rushing, while Weston was 6-of-11 for 114 yards.
Southeastern quarterback Chandler Weston was 6-for-11, including a 73-
yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. (Julie Brown)
Royals coach Michael Kelly said his senior class, which includes players like Hamilton, Alexander, Seyferth and Carlson, “had a huge growth over the last four years.”
“They took a huge step in the right direction,” said Kelly. “Where they were as freshman to where they were as seniors, it was a whole new team and a great group of kids that we’re going to miss having.”
Kelly said players like Hamilton and Styles Prescod will be hard to replace.
“We got several kids that did so much for us that I appreciate,” said Kelly.
Westfield is 11-1 and plays at Crown Point next Friday for the Class 6A north semi-state championship.
WESTFIELD 24, HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 21
Score by Quarters
Southeastern 7 7 7 0 – 21
Westfield 3 7 14 0 – 24
Team stats HSE WFLD
First Downs 12 17
By Rush 8 10
By Pass 3 7
By Penalty 1 0
Rushes-Yards 39-141 43-237
Passing Yards 118 87
Comp-Att-Int-TD 7-13-1-1 11-17-0-0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 3-12 5-33
Punts-Average 4-35.5 4-33.8
Scoring
First Quarter
W, 6:49 – Brody Boehm 28-yard field goal
HSE, 0:00 – Jack Seyferth 25-yard blocked punt return (Hugo Belmonte kick)
Second Quarter
W, 7:59 – Kendall Garnett 1-yard run (Boehm kick)
HSE, 7:43 – Donovan Hamilton 73-yard pass from Chandler Weston (Belmonte kick)
Third Quarter
W, 8:25 – Garnett 5-yard run (Boehm kick)
HSE, 1:15 – Jalen Alexander 1-yard run (Belmonte kick)
W, 0:03 – Garnett 51-yard run (Boehm kick)
Southeastern individual stats
Rushing: Alexander 28-116, Hamilton 5-33, Weston 6-minus 8.
Passing: Weston 6-11-114, Hamilton 1-2-4.
Receiving: Hamilton 3-92, Liam Boyd 1-10, Kameron Anthony 1-10, Alexander 1-4, Callen Okerson 1-2.
Westfield individual stats
Rushing: Garnett 35-219, Mikeah Webster 2-21, Jackson Gilbert 1-12, Broc Parker 1-0, team 4-minus 15.
Passing: Gilbert 11-17-87.
Receiving: Nosler 4-35, Broc Parker 3-18, Beau Braun 2-21, Parker Knot 2-13.