371 days — that is how long a heart-breaking 38-31 double-overtime loss has been lurking over the shoulder of Westfield. 

“We have been talking about Crown Point all season,” junior ATH Deacon King said. “I feel like our preparation throughout the week really helped us out against them.”

Over a year later on Nov. 22, it was all Westfield from the opening drive in a 30-7 rout of their Northern region foes. 

The two teams exchanged turnovers to start the game — first, a fumble by Westfield recovered by Austin Emanuelson, then a Cato June Jr. interception returned to the six. The impressive return set up a four-yard keeper from senior quarterback Carsen Melvin to put the first points on the board. 

On the ensuing drive, Noah Ehrlich would find Logan Urbaniak for a 47-yard pitch-and-catch to tie things up after the opening quarter. 

Midway through the second quarter, Melvin found senior wide receiver Beau Braun for a 66-yard score. On their next offensive possession, King did the dirty work with a few big runs — including a 19-yard score to extend the Shamrock lead. 

“Our O-Line really helps me get through,” King said. “Even if I am not getting 20 yards every play, it opens up their defense.” 

Going into the locker room up 24-7, things remained rather stagnant for both teams offensively outside of a few Owen Wright kicks. He finished off the night making three of his four attempts, as Westfield held on to win their sixth semi-state championship — their third in the last five years. 

While the Shamrocks’ balanced effort was a leading factor in the win, their defense ultimately stepped up to hold Crown Point to 34 points under their season average while forcing two turnovers and creating havoc in the backfield. 

“Our defense is really good,” King said. “We hold a lot of teams to minimal points — our defensive line and linebackers really help with that.”

Westfield will get a rematch against Brownsburg in the state championship game, who they lost 17-13 to during a Saturday matinee on Sept. 28. 

It will be the first 6A championship game without at least one of Warren Central, Ben Davis, Center Grove or Carmel playing in it.

“We worked really hard during the week, we’ve been working for this all season,” King said. “I hear a lot of people say that our way to state isn’t that hard, two of the teams we played during the season are on the other side of the bracket and I feel like Brownsburg making it there proves how hard we’ve been working.”