Coming off a thrilling one-point win over Carmel in the sectional semifinal, there was little time to celebrate for the Zionsville Eagles.
With third-ranked (No. 1 in Sagarin) Westfield Shamrocks awaiting, the Eagles have had to put that win behind them quickly as they get ready for sectional title game.
“Our coaches and our leaders have done a good job of getting past that,” Zionsville head coach Scott Turnquist said. “You come into school on Monday and hear all about it and that kind of stuff, and then it becomes a challenge to make sure you move forward – and our guys have done a really good job of that. We’ve been really focused the last few days and that’s a good positive sign.”
While they have put the celebrations behind them, last Friday was an important win for the Eagles.Â
Outside of the obvious keeping their season alive, the win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Eagles, and gave them so positive things to build on heading into the sectional final.
“You have use it in a good way,” Turnquist said. “You still have to analyze the things you need to clean up, but if you take the energy and positives and apply them to this week, it’s a good thing. We have done that.”
The two teams played in Week 3 this year, with Westfield winning 28-10.
It was their 12th-straight win in the series.
Zionsville hung close for most of the game, being down 14-10 with the ball in the third quarter, but the Shamrocks were able to pull away late.
“We have to take the experience from playing over there in that environment,” Turnquist said. “Both teams are different and have come a long way from that first game. There are some differences, but you can carry over experiences, especially playing on the road.”
For Westfield, quarterback Carsen Melvin is 111 of 169 for 1506 and 13 touchdowns.
Deacon King has 145 carries for 919 yards and 13 scores rushing.
Gabe Aramboles has 37 catches of 499 yards and five scores and Beau Braun had 24 catches for 343 yards and a score.
They are scoring 33.5 points a game.
“They always play really good, team football,” Turnquist said. “They have talented players and are well coached. They are playing really well up front, on both sides of the ball. Their offensive line is playing really well, their quarterback has progressed throughout the season and is playing really good football right now. When you have that combination of talent that’s well coached and a team that really buys into the system, cares about their program and knows how to win, that’s a big challenge.”
For Zionsville,Â
Quarterback Zach Trent is 117 of 210 for 1213 yards, 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Sam Manna leads the rushing attack with 742 yards and nine scores.
Eugene Hilton has 658 yards and 14 touchdowns, with Nolan Teising having 38 catches for 464 yards and two scores.
“There is always stuff every week to clean up,” Turnquist said. “There were a lot of positives from last weeks game, but things to clean up as well, so the focus all week has been cleaning up what we can before Friday night.”
Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.