By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
And now, just one county team is left standing in the football state tournament.
Overall, the six classes are now down to the final four with a trip to the state championship on the line Thanksgiving weekend.
Tonight, the No. 2-ranked Westfield Shamrocks (11-1) stay home to host the No. 3-ranked Crown Point Bulldogs (12-0) in the Class 6A north semi-state at Riverview Health Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.
This is the second consecutive season that Crown Point and Westfield are the top two teams in the north, meeting up in the semi-state for the chance to advance to the Class 6A state championship game on Nov. 29 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Last November in their first meeting, the two played to a double-overtime thriller with the Bulldogs winning 38-31, earning their first trip to the state finals.
Head coach Josh Miracle has taken off from where his predecessor and mentor Jake Gilbert left and has settled in quite nicely. He was promoted to lead the Shamrocks upon Gilbert’s hiring at Wabash College during the off-season.
After defending their regional crown, the ‘Rocks have now won four regionals in the last five years. Westfield’s regional championship last week came on the road at Fishers, 42-28.
The Shamrocks got off to a great start with a 21-7 lead at halftime. Deacon King scored first on a 28-yard touchdown pass from Carsen Melvin. After Fishers scored in the second, Cato June returned the ensuing kickoff 94-yards to the house for a 14-7 advantage. Melvin ran in the third score of the half.
Fishers tied 21-21 it on a pair of Ryan Thembulembu runs, but that just fueled the Shamrock offense.
Westfield took control offensively in the fourth. A touchdown pass to Beau Braun, another rushing TD for Melvin and King raced 49 yards with 1:09 left for his second rushing score to ice the cake for the second regional title in a row.
King dominated on the ground with 220 yards on 33 carries. Melvin was an efficient 7 of 11 for 79 yards, completing those to five different receivers.
Melvin, a Bowling Green commit, is now 121 of 184 (65.8 percent) on the season for 1,655 yards with 15 TD and just four interceptions. King is having quite the breakout junior campaign with 1208 yards on 187 rushes (6.5 per carry) and has 15 TDs on the ground. He also has two receiving touchdowns.
Gabe Aramboles (548), Beau Braun (350), Preston Pakala (279) and Parker Knott (269) have combined for most of Melvin’s passing and 12 touchdowns.
Defensively, Keegan Krupp is the leading tackler with 94, an interception, three pass deflections and a fumble recovery. Drew Law leads the team with six INTs and one fumble recovered and three passes deflected. Mikeah Webster also has a pair of INTs and fumble recoveries, along with 77 tackles.
Kicker Owen Wright has made 46 of 49 extra-point attempts and 8 for 9 on field goals.
The Shamrocks are looking for the program’s sixth semi-state title. This would be their third Class 6A state finals appearance and first since 2021. Westfield is 54-11 from the 2020 season to present.
The ‘Rocks have a pair of 6A runner-up trophies, dropping both to Center Grove in 2020 and 2021. The won the 2016 5A state crown over Columbus East, Westfield was 5A runner-up to Cathedral in 2013. Prior to the recent five appearances, 1992 was a season they were 2A runner-up to Fort Wayne Bishop Luers.
Crown Point is a program that’s come alive in recent seasons and emerged as the top team in the Duneland Conference and northwest Indiana, going 13-1 in 2023 and 10-1 in 2022. The Bulldogs went 7-0 in league play, finishing ahead of Merrillville, Valparaiso, Chesterton, Michigan City, Portage, Lake Central and La Porte.
Head coach Craig Buzea is 40-7 in his fourth season and 256-96 overall in 32 years. Prior to Crown Point, he was at Michigan City, Homewood-Floosmoor (Ill.) and Portage. Buzea led Homewood-Flossmoor to 10 straight playoff appearances, including a Class 8A state runner-up in 2014. In the state of Illinois, teams have to qualify for the football state tournament. His longest stint of 13 seasons was at Portage, where led the Indians to a 1994 Class 5A runner-up finish to Castle, along with four other sectional titles.
The Bulldogs have won 35 of their last 37 games since the beginning of 2022. Winning last year’s semi-state battle with Westfield, Crown Point lost the 6A state title game to Ben Davis, 38-10, their lone state finals appearance.
This season, CP has been quite dominating. They average 41.6 points per game and give up just 8.7. In the first eight games, they scored at least 41 points and had a season-high against Portage on Sept. 20 with a 58-20 win. The running clock has been in place during 11 of their 12 games so far this season, including at Merrillville on Sept. 6. The Pirates are also playing at Warsaw for the 5A north semi-state tonight.
Crown Point’s individual statistics are not available.
In the south, Westfield’s Hoosier Crossroads Conference rival and No. 4 Brownsburg (11-1) visits seventh-ranked Center Grove (8-4) for another clash of titans.
*The winner of the Crown Point-Westfield and Brownsburg-Center Grove semi-state games will play for the Class 6A state championship on Friday, Nov. 29 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis at approximately 7 p.m.