Practice is Underway!

Your Rocks are back for another thrilling season of high school football. Practice has started, and we wanted to share some images and videos from our first practice. Since family and commitment are the foundation of our team, we like to focus on building that up first. As such, you won't see a lot of football in these images, but you will see teamwork and perseverance. We hope you're as excited as we are to get this season started!

Beam Work

Rope Course

Rope Bridge

Hill Climb

Log Carry

#RockReport State Final

Last night, 119 Rocks, led by 40 seniors, took the field at Lucas Oil Stadium, ate, and returned as Champions. Your Rocks captured the school's first ever football State Title on the back of a gritty, physical performance against an equally solid opponent in the Columbus East Olympians. 16-13 was the final score in a game that came down to the wire.

The Shamrock offense produced big first downs when the team needed them, also punching in the lone Rock TD of the night. They protected the ball and set up the special teams for 3 crucial field goals. In the end, it was fitting that this group should be given the ball one last time, kneeling it three times to seal the victory.

This year's Rock D will go down as perhaps the best in school history, allowing just over 14 points per game and holding a potent Olympian offense to only 13 points. They slammed the door in the second half, shutting out their opponent and coming up with huge stops when called upon. No stop was bigger, perhaps, than when East was threatening the goal line near the end of the game, coming as close as the 1 yard line, only to be denied after four downs.

Shamrock Special Teams played the high scorers of the night, generating 9 points and executing perfectly when on the field. They maintained the field position advantage, drilled field goals, and kept all Olympian return efforts contained. Special recognition should be given to Will Harrison's State Finals record 52-yard field goal that was the first of the Rocks' points.

There is so much to find impressive in this group of young men. From the 40 seniors displaying selflessness on a daily basis, finding and embracing productive roles on a team in which a majority of them could not find regular playing time due to their sheer number, to the younger players who thrived beneath the leadership and offered excellent scout team preparation down the tournament stretch. This team was built upon the foundation of "Heart" and "Family," and it used those principles, attacking every day, in order to earn success on the biggest of high school stages.

We have a lot to be grateful for today. Grateful for the opportunity and support within our fantastic community. Grateful for the fans and parents that provide the fertile soil in which the seeds of success are grown. Grateful for the managers and support staff that work tirelessly behind the scenes nourishing and caring for those seeds. Grateful for the 119 young men who put in 339 days of intense effort growing the seeds. But most of all, grateful for the 40 seniors who, finally, were able to taste the fruits of their hard-earned labor.

Congratulations to the 2016 Class 5A State Champion Westfield Shamrocks. We, the coaches, hope that this has been one of the most amazing experiences of your lives, and feel truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to help you reach your full potential as a football family. What a great day to be a Shamrock!

Celebrating 20 Years

We shared this information via social media yesterday, but I also wanted to follow-up with a post on the blog here. Next year marks the 20th year in the current high school facility, and a celebration is planned to honor all athletes that have played during that time period. The link below will direct former athletes to a google form that can be filled out, letting the Athletic Department know you would like to attend and some information about your time as a Rock. If you are a former Rock athlete, please consider attending and marking the special occasion for our community.

CLICK HERE for the link.

#RockReport Freshmen Brownsburg

On Monday, the freshman Rocks lost 28-13 to Brownsburg. Missing a number of players, the young Rocks delivered a gutsy performance, with many players stepping up on both sides of the ball. Kyle Pepiot led the charge at QB, taking snaps for the first time in over a year. He performed admirably and led the Rocks to two great offensive touchdowns. Defensively, the front seven constantly bottled up Brownsburg's running attack, forcing the Dogs to change their plan of attack multiple times. On special teams, Dorian Henson and Kyle Pepiot gave the squad great field position on their kick returns. Alex Bales added special teams consistency in the form of touchbacks.

The freshman Rocks will play next at Avon on Monday, October 5th.

And We're Off!

16 days left until the opening kickoff of the 2015 season. That means practice is in full swing. The Rocks all reported to camp on Monday, and got things rolling. Two practices and one extremely challenging obstacle course later, they have demonstrated what it means to be #unbreakable. Now, we're going to keep that momentum rolling right into the normal practice schedule.

For fans, your first official look at the team can be Saturday morning, when we have our annual Green vs Gold game at 10AM.

We're pretty busy brushing off the dust and warming up our pads, but I wanted to pass along some images from camp.

Goal #4: Fun

The Rocks recently tackled some rocks in a more vertical fashion than we normally do, and Coach Gilbert had this to say after the experience...

Westfield Football is a blast! We love to have fun together. For starters, its fun to win and we are doing a lot of that. We also love to compete and we have fun playing all kinds of sports and engaging in all kinds of competitions every single week. Dodgeball, human tug of war, towel fight, floor hockey, baseball, and obstacle courses are some of our favorites. We also make a point to hang out together and do fun things that have nothing to do with football. Over the past four years we have gone to college football games, had square dances and fall parties, gone to Sky Zone, gone rock climbing, and hired a hypnotist! None of these things help us block and tackle better, but they definitely build family and help us achieve our fourth program goal: FUN!

Check out a couple of the pics below:

For Stan

Our hearts and prayers go out to the Mattingly family at the loss of their mother, Liz. Stan has been a fantastic young man in our program, and it is often that fantastic young men have fantastic parents. We hope for comfort and healing in the days to come, resting in the knowledge that Liz fought the good fight.

Services will be held at 11:00 am on Thursday, April 23, 2015, at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church, 17102 Springmill Road, in Westfield, with Rev. Kevin Haines officiating. Visitation will be Wednesday, April 22, 2015 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm at Randall & Roberts Funeral Center, 1685 Westfield Road, Noblesville. Burial will be at Eagle Creek Cemetery in Westfield.

Memorial contributions may be made to Agape Therapeutic Riding Center, 24970 Mt. Pleasant Rd., PO Box 207, Cicero, IN 46034. Condolences: www.randallroberts.com.