No. 4 HSE takes advantage of No. 8 Westfield’s miscues, stay unbeaten with road win
By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
WESTFIELD – The Hamilton Southeastern Royals and Westfield Shamrocks played in front of a packed crowd at Riverview Health Stadium for football Homecoming 2022.
The visiting Class 6A No. 4 Royals were able to take advantage of the 6A No. 8 ‘Rocks’ three miscues and fended off the hosts late for a 26-21 Hoosier Crossroads Conference road win.
After a touchback on the opening kickoff, it took no time at all for the quirkiness to start.
Cole Ballard dropped back to pass on first down and threw a lateral to the left that was dropped by his running back. The ball was recovered by the defense at the 10-yard line. By rule, it becomes the Royals’ ball, because the ball was passed laterally and dropped.
From there, HSE set up shop for first and goal at the Westfield 10. Two plays later, Jalen Alexander dove into the end zone for the early 7-0 lead with not even a minute off of the clock.
“It’s huge against a team like this. Any time you can come away with something big like that is huge,” said Hamilton Southeastern head coach Michael Kelly, now in his third season.
“We were able to execute in the red zone, even though we weren’t able to later in the game. For us, that was huge setting the tone early, being able to punch it in on the second play was big for our program,” continued coach Kelly on the immediate momentum the Royals gained in scoring early.
“Obviously, that’s about the worst way you can start a game. And, when you’re going against a really good team that has a great defense, you don’t get a whole lot of chances,” said Westfield head coach Jake Gilbert.
“When you’re minus three in takeaways, you’re going to lose. The lack of discipline killed us. The three personal fouls is what I’m maddest about,” stated Gilbert on his frustration on his team’s miscues and penalties not helping its cause.
Southeastern forced Westfield to punt their next series and then went 12 plays on their next drive. They were able to cap it off with a 28-yard field goal from Carter Gutt, putting the Royals out in front now 10-0.
After forcing an HSE punt, Westfield was able to cut the deficit to 10-7. They went nine plays and 75 yards. Kendall Garnett ran it in from two-yards out.
Westfield’s Kendall Garnett scored
three touchdowns for the Shamrocks. (Joshua Herd)
Late in the second quarter, the ‘Rocks defense was able to get a stop. Southeastern had the ball 4th and 2 at the Westfield 16 and they stuffed Ty Bradle on fourth down. The Shamrocks were unable to do anything with under a minute left, so they took a knee before halftime.
The third quarter started out just how HSE wanted it to. They chunked out almost four and a half minutes. The drive began with two statement runs 18 and 10 yards by Clayton Wilke. Alexander finished off the drive diving in from one-yard away, pushing the lead back to 10 at 17-7.
Southeastern’s Clayton Wilke makes a run during the game. (Joshua Herd)
Westfield was confident, but that quickly vanished.
Donovan Rhodes stepped into the passing lane and tipped Ballard’s pass up, intercepting it, running it clear down to Westfield’s eight-yard line.
“A young guy making a big play, challenging him to be in the right spot. He made the most of his opportunity,” said coach Kelly on Rhodes being exactly where he should have been for the interception.
That was the Shamrocks’ second turnover, resulting in a 26-yard field goal from Gutt, pushing the lead to 20-7.
Westfield did everything it could to possibly come back. The ‘Rocks had a third down and 3 at the HSE 11. Garnett took to the outside, scoring his second TD on the night, cutting it to 20-14 with 7:06 left.
Then, the Royals went up by double digits again. Clayton Allen read Ballard just right and intercepted a pass and took it all the way back 53-yards for a touchdown to extend it to 26-14. The two-point attempt failed.
“All I know is that I said, run fast!” exclaimed coach Kelly on his reaction to Clayton Allen’s interception return TD. “He’s a big-time player for us, fought some adversity last year and has come out and really become one of our best players,” said Kelly on Allen and his contributions.
“Jack Seyferth knocked the ball out of the quarterback’s hand and I think that’s the second time he did that tonight,” continued Kelly on what set up Allen’s pick for six.
The Shamrocks scored with 1:21 remaining on a Garnett one-yard TD run to make what would wind up as the final score of 26-21.
Westfield’s onside kick attempt only went eight yards, giving HSE the ball at the Westfield 48 and only 1:19 left.
The Royals faced third and 5 at the Westfield 39. Ty Bradle bootlegged to his right for seven yards to get the first down with 1:01 and counting to ice the game.
“Our offensive coordinator just found that one up,” stated Kelly on the third down conversion that iced the win.
“Nevertheless, it’s a big moment for our program,” said Michael Kelly on this HCC win for the Royals. “They won 18 straight conference games and 22 in a row against conference opponents, so that’s a big gain for us. Now, it’s how we respond next week,” continued coach Kelly on how big this win was.
“We faced a little more pressure,” said Jake Gilbert on the effect the HSE defense had on his offense. “This is the best D we’ve played (against), so with three touchdowns, that’s not enough to beat this team tonight, obviously,” continued Gilbert on Westfield just not having enough against Southeastern’s defense.
Westfield (3-2, 2-1 HCC) will again face their toughest test and have to hit the road at top-ranked Brownsburg (5-0, 3-0 HCC), who won at Fishers last night, 41-28.
Hamilton Southeastern (5-0, 3-0 HCC) has jumped out to a 5-0 record for the first time since 2008. That season, they finished the regular season 9-0 under Scott May.
The Royals host Zionsville (4-1, 2-1 HCC) next Friday. The Eagles got a convincing home win on Friday over Noblesville, 39-7.
HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 26, WESTFIELD 21
Score by Quarters
Southeastern 10 0 10 6 – 26
Westfield 0 7 0 14 – 21
Team Stats HSE WFLD
First Downs 14 18
By Rush 11 9
By Pass 2 9
By Penalty 1 0
Rushes-Yards 44-212 35-113
Yards Passing 41 198
Comp-Att-Int-TD 6-12-0-0 14-23-2-1
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1
Penalties-Yards 5-40 7-56
Punts-Average 3-31.0 2-41.0
Scoring
First Quarter
HSE, 11:02 – Jalen Alexander 5-yard run (Carter Gutt kick)
HSE, 3:12 – Gutt 28-yard field goal
Second Quarter
W, 3:34 – Kendall Garnett 2-yard run (Brody Boehm kick)
Third Quarter
HSE, 7:30 – Alexander 1-yard run (Gutt kick)
HSE, 3:07 – Gutt 26-yard field goal
Fourth Quarter
W, 10:19 – Garnett 12-yard run (Boehm kick)
HSE, 4:15 – Clayton Allen 48-yard interception return (pass failed)
W, 1:21 – Garnett 1-yard run (Boehm kick)
Southeastern individual stats
Rushing: Alexander 21-120, Clayton Wilke 5-38, Eli Brantman 8-26, John McCoy 1-13, Ty Bradle 2-10, Jack Osiecki, 1-5, Chander Weston 1-1, Azariah Wallace 3-minus 1, team 2-0.
Passing: Bradle 6-12-41.
Receiving: Donovan Hamilton 3-29, Mason Alexander 2-7, Osiecki 1-5.
Westfield stats
Rushing: Garnett 22-64, Cole Ballard 10-58, Gabe Aramboles 2-minus 5, team 1-minus 4.
Passing: Ballard 14-23-198.
Receiving: Aramboles 7-126, Max Nosler 2-40, Garnett 2-18, Mikaeh Webster 2-16, Patrick Schramm 1-minus 2.